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r/legaladvicecanada•
cornofear

Building threatens eviction for blocking hallway in apartment while away

:24px-Flag_of_Ontario:Ontario

My spouse and I live in a one bedroom apartment in Toronto. The building is owned and managed by a large corporation. This summer we had an opportunity to get out of the city and see our families for a good seven weeks. On July 4 we sent our building manager an email letting him know we'd be away for the summer and asking him to email us notices instead of putting them under the door. We didn't get a reply, but we assumed we were good.

We also gave our keys to a friend to check our mail and water our plants. We're glad we did, because on August 4th they sent us a photo of a notice from our building manager. It stated that during our entry to our apartment on July 14, they noticed "storage of personal belonging in hallway, blocking exits." They then quoted our tenancy agreement, which I believe is the standard Ontario form, highlighting that "we shall not do or permit anything to be done ... which will in any way create a risk of fire or increase the rate of fire insurance on the premises." They then stated that in their view we have violated the aforementioned sections and must take corrective action or they will "initiate termination of our tenancy." Neither this notice, nor the required notice of entry, was provided by email.

We immediately phoned and emailed the building manager, and also reminded him that we are away and asked him to forward us any notices since July 4. He then replied: "Thank you for informing me of your vacation away. After my annual inspection of your unit, I had concerns of the number of items that are between your front entrance hallway and living room, blocking your exit to the front door. I would like to have this cleared out so that it is not a fire hazard to yourselves and others in the building, stated in the notice given." Also, he didn't forward us any notices.

We gave him the date we'd be back, then had our friend do a video tour of our apartment just to document the "blockage." As best we can tell, there are two potential issues:

  1. The front entry, kitchen, dining room, and living room are all one contiguous space in the shape of a square, with a closet in the middle. We have placed bookshelves between the closet and wall, across one 'side' of the square, to turn one corner into an "office." You can still reach the fire exit from the "office," you just have to go through the living room instead of directly.
  2. We put our bike in our front entry when we left so it wouldn't be outside.

My legal question is: can they enter our apartment while they know we're away and issue us a valid paper notice threatening eviction because of #1 and/or #2? Seems sketchy on multiple levels, but I don't know.

Posted Aug 24, 2023, 7:16 PM UTC

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derspiny•

can they enter our apartment while they know we're away

With 24 hours' notice (to the unit is fine, even if you have let them know you are elsewhere), and with a lawful reason, yes. In an emergency, also yes. Inspection of the unit is often lawful, though not always.

Which form of notice was it? In your view, are the items placed in such a way as to impede egress in the event of a fire?

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cornofearOP•

Which form of notice was it? In your view, are the items placed in such a way as to impede egress in the event of a fire?

They haven't given us a copy of the notice that they would enter on July 14, so we're not sure what kind of notice it was.

As for our view, we'd say egress is not impeded - but is there some laws about that or is it entirely subjective?

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derspiny•

Sorry, for clarity: what form of notice did they give asking you to remove things blocking the exit?

is there some laws about that or is it entirely subjective?

The landlord would have to prove that your obstruction of the exits violates some part of Ontario law or the building code, or otherwise impairs their rights as a landlord. That's quite open-ended, so I can't say much as to which right or law they might cite here; it'd be up to them to be specific about that issue in order to evict you.

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cornofearOP•

Sorry, for clarity: what form of notice did they give asking you to remove things blocking the exit?

Oh got it. They gave us a paper notice on July 27, which we didn't receive until August 4th when our friend checked our apartment. There doesn't appear to be any indication of what kind of notice it is aside from the text quoted above.

Ontario law or the building code, or otherwise impairs their rights as a landlord. That's quite open-ended,

Would it be possible for a layperson to research the relevant codes and make a case that we are not blocking any exits? Or is that a fairly Sisyphean task?

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derspiny•

The latter.

The actual building code is available in a few places. It's a provincial regulation, clocking in at around 700 pages if printed out. Someone's built a more digestible, linked version, though I make no assertions as to its accuracy or recency.

Note that the building code doesn't have a ton to say about things in the building, especially when it comes to residences. How you organize your furniture and how you store personal property in your home are not issues the building code has an opinion about.

Some municipalities also have property use bylaws that, vaguely or specifically, address residential hazards, often in an attempt to give landlords and social workers more tools to deal with hoarding situations and neighbours a few more options to deal with nuisances.

The Residential Tenancies Act sets obligations for tenants with respect to cleanliness and undue damage. Having something blocking an exit might be a cleanliness issue if it poses some actual, material hazard to the property or to other occupants in the complex. Conversely, it also requires that your landlord not interfere with reasonable enjoyment, which in practice means that they can't dictate to you how you lay out your home or how you use the space rented to you in general.

It would be the landlord's job to persuade the LTB that your use of your home poses some specific, actual hazard, or violates some specific, actual obligation. They must give you form N5 beforehand (form N7 for illegal acts), which would also give you ample time to address the specific issues raised. No other form of notice is adequate to start the eviction process; an informal written notice is mostly an attempt to avoid this process rather than the start of it.

Bottom line is, I would recommend that you talk to the property manager and get some specificity as to which items they mean and how they pose a fire hazard. The notice you got is fairly vague, and while I can probably interpret it just as well as you can, there's no point in guessing.

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