Issues a Tenant Can Raise at a Hearing about a Landlord’s Application for Non-Payment of Rent (Form L1 or L9)

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A tenant can raise other issues at the hearing 

When a landlord files an application against a tenant for non-payment of rent (Form L1 or L9) a hearing is scheduled.

At the hearing, the tenant can raise any issues that they could have raised had they filed their own application with the Board. 

This means that if the tenant has concerns about issues such as disrepair, harassment or the lawfulness of their rent, they can raise them at the hearing and the Board can make an order to remedy those issues if appropriate.

What tenants need to know

A tenant should let their landlord know ahead of time if they are going to raise issues about their tenancy at the hearing.  A tenant can do this in writing, or by talking to the landlord in person or by phone.

Tenants should also come to the hearing prepared to present any evidence they need to support any issues they want to raise. They should bring three copies of any evidence they want to use (for example, receipts or pictures), as well as any people they want to use as witnesses.

What landlords need to know

The Residential Tenancies Act does not require tenants to let their landlord know about the issues they want to bring up at the hearing ahead of time.  To avoid delaying the hearing, landlords may want to anticipate the issues a tenant may raise at the hearing, and be prepared to address them.

For example, before the hearing a landlord may want to:

• do a routine maintenance inspection of the unit, and
• review the original lease, and any changes to the rent and/or services.

Landlords may also want to bring the following to the hearing:

• copies of the lease, or other written agreements,
• copies of any complaint letters or requests for repair from the tenant, as well as copies of any responses the landlord has given them,
• details about what has been done to address any problems and the timelines for doing so, and
• any witnesses they may need to assist them in responding to any issues that may arise at the hearing.

For More Information

Other related publications

The Board also has brochures on these related topics:

• Important Information About Your Hearing
• If a Tenant doesn’t Pay Rent

Contact the Board

This brochure provides general information only.  For more information, or to obtain copies of  the Board’s forms and publications, you may:

• call the Board at 416-645-8080 or toll-free at 1-888-332-3234, or
• visit your local Landlord and Tenant Board office.  A list of Board office locations can be found on our website, or you may call us at the numbers listed above. 

Release date: January 31, 2007

ISBN 978-1-4249-3049-4 (HTML)
ISBN 978-1-4249-3050-0 (PDF)
ISBN 978-1-4249-3048-7 (Print)