Rent control in Ontario refers to a system of

rent regulation Rent regulation is a system of laws, administered by a court or a public authority, which aims to ensure the affordability of housing and tenancies on the rental market for dwellings. Generally, a system of rent regulation involves: *Price cont ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

which limits the amount by which the rent paid by tenants for rental accommodation can increase. It applies to any unit that was first occupied for residential purposes before November 15, 2018.

History

Rent regulation was first introduced in Ontario under the ''National Housing Act 1944''. After lobbying by business it was repealed in under a decade. The modern history of rent controls began in July 1975 when the '' Residential Premises Rent Review Act 1975'' was enacted after the demand for rent controls became a major issue in the period leading to the 1975 provincial election. In 1979, the ''Residential Tenancies Act'' was enacted. In 1985, the new

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government tightened rent controls with the ''Residential Rent Regulation Act'' and in 1992 the New Democratic Party government of Bob Rae passed the ''Rent Control Act 1992''. The ''Tenant Protection Act 1997'' was enacted by the Progressive Conservative government of

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...

and proclaimed in June 1998. The Act retained selected rights and obligations contained in Part IV of the previous ''Landlord and Tenant Act''. (Parts I, II, and III were retitled the ''Commercial Tenancies Act''.) The ''Tenant Protection Act'' both repealed the ''Rent Control Act'' and removed the dispute resolution process of the ''Landlord Tenant Act'', including evictions and rent increases, from the Ontario court system and assigned jurisdiction to a newly created

quasi-judicial A quasi-judicial body is non-judicial body which can interpret law. It is an entity such as an arbitration panel or tribunal board, that can be a public administrative agency but also a contract- or private law entity, which has been ...

body, the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal. Under the TPA landlord applications for eviction were automatically granted without a hearing unless the tenant filed a notice of dispute within five days. This provision had been the subject of a complaint to the

Ontario Ombudsman The Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario is an independent office of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. Role The office's jurisdiction includes more than 500 provincial government ministries, agencies, corpor ...

and was removed from the new Act. The ''Tenant Protection Act'' was repealed and replaced by the '' Residential Tenancies Act'', which received

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in oth ...

on June 22, 2006 and was proclaimed into law on January 31, 2007. The new act also created the Landlord and Tenant Board as a replacement for the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal. On April 20, 2017, Premier of Ontario

Kathleen Wynne Kathleen O'Day Wynne ( ; born May 21, 1953) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 25th premier of Ontario and leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 2013 to 2018. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2003 and sat as the ...

, along with

Chris Ballard Chris Ballard may refer to: * Chris Ballard (American football), American football general manager for the Indianapolis Colts * Chris Ballard (journalist), American sports writer for ''Sports Illustrated'' * Chris Ballard (politician), Canadian ...

, Minister of Housing, announced the Fair Housing Plan. Thitherto, rent control in Ontario only applied to units that were first built or occupied before November 1, 1991. If the rental unit was in an apartment building constructed (or converted from a non-residential use) after November 1, 1991, then the rent control provisions of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 did not apply. However, the Fair Housing Plan included a provision to roll back the post-1991 rent control exemption such that all private rental units, including ones built or first occupied on or after November 1, 1991 were be subject to rent control. This change was effective from April 20, 2017 until November 15, 2018, shortly after a change in government.

Current law

Premier of Ontario Doug Ford's Conservative Government enacted legislation in 2018 such that rent control only applies to rental units created and occupied prior to November 15, 2018. It does not apply to new buildings, additions to existing buildings and most new basement apartments that are occupied for the first time for residential purposes after November 15, 2018. The '' Residential Tenancies Act'' continues to otherwise govern landlord and tenant relations in residential rental accommodations.

Notes

References

Intertenancy Rent Decontrol in Ontario
(PDF) by Lawrence B Smith (

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

, 2003)
''An economic assessment of rent controls: The Ontario experience''
by Lawrence B. Smith (The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, 1988, Volume 1, Issue 3) pp 217–231

by Laurie Monsebraaten (

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

, 20 July 2009)
''Pressure mounts for Ontario to extend rent controls to all tenants''
by Susan Pigg (

, 31 May 2013)
''Ontario NDP wants to close rent control loophole''
by William Wolfe-Wylie (

Postmedia News Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (also known as Postmedia Network, Postmedia News or Postmedia) is a Canadian media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in newspaper publishing, new ...

, 4 June 2013)

External links

''Residential Tenancies Act'', 2006

{{Ontario Landlord–tenant law Ontario law

Real property law of Canada Regulation in Canada

History

Current law

See also

Notes

References

External links