Sarah has been renting a house for the last three years. Because of the rise in housing prices, Sarah’s landlord told her he is selling the house and that the purchaser wants to live in it.
What are Sarah’s rights?
To evict Sarah the landlord must serve on her a notice approved by the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB). In this case, the landlord must use an N12 notice.
A landlord can give a tenant an N12 notice to end the tenancy if the landlord, a purchaser, a close relative of either the landlord or the purchaser – a spouse, child, parent, spouse’s child or spouse’s parent – or a care service provider for any of the previously-mentioned people intends to move into the rental unit.
Although an N12 notice may look like an eviction notice, this notice is NOT an Eviction Order. Sarah does not have to move out by the termination date. She has a right to participate in a hearing if she disagrees with the information in the notice.
If the landlord wants an LTB Order to end the tenancy, then he must file the notice with the LTB to obtain a hearing date. At the hearing the Adjudicator will decide if an eviction order should be issued.
In all cases the termination date stated in the notice must be at least 60 days after the landlord gives the notice and the date must be the last day of the rental period – usually the last day of the month.
If a tenant has signed a one-year lease, the termination date cannot be earlier than the last day of the one-year period set out in the lease.
The landlord, purchaser, or any other person who was stated as requiring the rental unit, must live in the rental unit for at least a year. If that does not happen, then the N12 would be considered by the LTB to have been served in bad faith.
If Sarah moves out and later finds out that the N12 was served in bad faith, she can file a T5 Application with the LTB. She could be awarded the increase she had to pay in rent, along with other awards. The LTB can also fine the landlord.
If Sarah’s landlord states he has sold her rental unit but the purchaser is not moving in, then Sarah does not need to vacate the unit. The purchaser becomes her new landlord and inherits all the terms of the lease, including the amount of rent Sarah pays.
A landlord must pay the tenant one months’ rent as compensation for the eviction or offer the tenant another rental unit that is acceptable to the tenant.
If you receive an N12 notice you should call the LTB to see if the notice has been filed with the Board.
If you have questions about an N12 notice, or need assistance with other tenancy matters, contact the Chatham-Kent Legal Clinic.
Jeff Wilkins, CKLC Licensed Paralegal (www.cklc.ca, 519-351-6771)
