Landlord & Tenant Board

Landlord and tenant matters, either side of the lease

Notices, rent arrears, evictions and hearings. This one sits squarely inside a licensed paralegal’s scope in Ontario: I can prepare the case and represent you at the Landlord and Tenant Board — whether you are the landlord or the tenant, in Russian or English.

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Landlords and tenants both — but never both sides of the same dispute. Fast appointments available · We speak Russian & English

What’s covered

The notices, the applications and the hearing

Most landlord and tenant matters are decided by detail: which form, which dates, how it was served, and whether the numbers add up. Here is what the forms actually mean.

N4 Non-payment of rent: The notice a landlord serves when rent is unpaid. It has to set out exactly what is owed and give the tenant a deadline to pay in full — usually 14 days for a monthly tenancy, 7 for a weekly or daily one. If the tenant pays everything owing by that date the notice is void and nothing further happens. If not, the landlord can apply to the Board.
N5 Damage, overcrowding or interference: Served when a tenant, an occupant or a guest damages the unit, substantially interferes with the landlord’s or another tenant’s reasonable enjoyment, or the unit is overcrowded. A first N5 can normally be voided — the tenant has seven days to correct the problem and the notice falls away. A second N5 within six months is not voidable, which is why the first one is worth taking seriously.
N12 Landlord, purchaser or family wants the unit: Used when the landlord, a purchaser, or a close family member intends to move in. It requires 60 days’ notice ending on the last day of a rental period, and the tenant is entitled to compensation of one month’s rent or another acceptable unit. The Board looks hard at whether the stated intention is genuine — this is one of the most contested notices there is.
L1 / L9 Rent arrears applications: Serving a notice is only step one. The application to the Board is where the matter is actually decided: L1 to end the tenancy and collect the arrears, L9 to collect arrears without ending it. The arrears ledger, the dates and the proof of service all have to hold up.
T2 / T6 Tenant applications: Tenants have applications of their own: T2 where a landlord has entered illegally, harassed, or substantially interfered with a tenant’s rights, and T6 where maintenance and repairs have not been done. These are brought against the landlord, and the same rules about evidence, dates and service apply.
LTB Representation at the hearing: Preparing the evidence, filing on time, exchanging disclosure, negotiating at mediation, and speaking for you at the hearing itself. Most Board hearings are held by video. Appearing at the Landlord and Tenant Board is within a licensed paralegal’s permitted scope of practice — this is the part of the work that is squarely mine.

Tenants: a notice is not an eviction. Only the Board can end a tenancy, and only the Sheriff can enforce an eviction order. If you have received a notice you still have time — but not much of it.

How it works

From the first notice to the hearing

The expensive mistakes almost all happen in week one: the wrong form, the wrong dates, or service done in a way that doesn’t count.

Step 01

Call before you serve or sign anything

Landlords: an incorrectly completed notice is void, and you start again from the beginning. Tenants: don’t sign an agreement to move out before you understand what it does.
Step 02

The paperwork gets reviewed

The lease, the notice, the rent ledger or your payment records, the messages, the photographs. What matters is what can be proven — and in what order it happened.
Step 03

Application and evidence

Filed on time and put together the way the Board expects: a clear ledger or repair history, service properly proven, and disclosure exchanged before the hearing rather than sprung at it.
Step 04

Mediation and hearing

Many files settle at mediation with a payment plan or an agreed move-out date. If yours doesn’t, most hearings are held by video and I attend and speak for you.

Before you come

What to bring

Different sides, different paperwork — but anything with a date on it matters.

If you’re the landlord

The signed lease or tenancy agreement, and any renewal.
A rent ledger — what was due, what was paid, and when.
Any notice you have already served, plus how and when you served it.
Correspondence and messages with the tenant.
Photographs, invoices or reports where damage or repairs are involved.
Proof of ownership and, for an N12, the details of who intends to move in.

If you’re the tenant

Your lease, the amount of rent and the day it is due.
Proof of what you have paid — e-transfer records, receipts, bank statements.
Every notice or letter you have received, with the envelope.
Photos, repair requests and any reply you got — dated.
Anything from the Board: the file number, the hearing notice and the date.

Either side

Photo identification.
Any hearing date already set — mention it first, before anything else. Deadlines here are short and the Board enforces them.

If a hearing date has already been set, say so when you call. It changes what has to happen, and how quickly.

Scope

Scope: this one is squarely paralegal work

Unlike family matters, Landlord and Tenant Board representation is exactly what a licensed paralegal in Ontario is licensed to do. It is worth being just as precise about where that scope ends.

What I can do

Represent landlords or tenants at the Landlord and Tenant Board, including at the hearing.
Prepare, review and serve notices — N4, N5, N12 and the rest — and file Board applications.
Prepare and organise the evidence: ledgers, service records, photographs, correspondence.
Negotiate at mediation and put a settlement into a form the Board will accept.
Do all of it in Russian or English.

What I can’t do

Act for the landlord and the tenant in the same dispute.
Promise an outcome — be wary of anyone who does. What can be controlled is that the notice, the application and the numbers are right.
Take a matter that belongs in the Superior Court rather than the Board — a claim above the Small Claims Court limit, for example, is a lawyer’s work.
Enforce an eviction. Only the Sheriff can do that, and only on a Board order.

Paralegals in Ontario are licensed by the Law Society of Ontario, and Landlord and Tenant Board representation falls within a paralegal’s permitted scope of practice.

Licensed and in good standing with the Law Society of Ontario, and a commissioned Notary Public for Ontario.

Questions

Common questions about notices and the Board

I’ve received an N4. Am I being evicted?

No. An N4 is a notice, not an eviction. If you pay everything owing by the date on the notice, it is void. If you don’t, the landlord can apply to the Board — and only the Board can end a tenancy, and only the Sheriff can enforce an eviction order. What you don’t have is time to ignore it.

Do you act for landlords or for tenants?

Both — but never both in the same dispute. Whichever side comes to me first on a particular matter is the side I act for; if the other party then calls about the same unit, I have to decline.

What’s the difference between N4, N5 and N12?

N4 is non-payment of rent. N5 is damage, overcrowding or serious interference with other people’s reasonable enjoyment. N12 is the landlord, a purchaser or a close family member wanting the unit for their own use. They carry different deadlines, different consequences and different ways of being answered — which is why the form number is the first thing to check.

Do I have to attend the hearing myself?

Most Landlord and Tenant Board hearings are held by video. If I am representing you, I attend and speak for you — but you should still be available, because the Board often wants to hear directly from the parties about what happened.

My tenant owes several months’ rent. Can you get the money back?

Nobody honest will promise you that, and an order is not the same thing as money in your account. What can be done is to make sure the notice, the application and the arrears calculation are correct, that any order obtained is enforceable, and that nothing is lost on a technicality.

Also here

The other things I do

Next step

Deal with it before the deadline

Notices run on short clocks. Call with the form in front of you — the number in the corner tells us most of what we need to know.

416-545-9482 Ask a question

Not a law firm. Paralegal services are provided within the scope permitted by the Law Society of Ontario.