Glossary - Housing Law
In Employment and Work, Health and Disability, Housing Law, Human Rights, Income Assistance, Tribunals and Courts
Ontario’s Human Rights Code says that employers, landlords, and service providers must do what they can to remove barriers that cause people to be treated differently because of personal differences that are listed in the Human Rights Code.
The legal word for this is accommodation. Examples of personal differences include a person’s ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability.
This could mean doing things differently for you so that you are treated equally. For example, you might need a wheelchair ramp to get inside a building. Or you might not be able to wear the same uniform as other workers because of your religion.
But an employer or landlord might not have to do something if they can prove that it will cause them undue hardship.
In Employment and Work, Health and Disability, Housing Law, Human Rights, Income Assistance, Tribunals and Courts
Ontario’s Human Rights Code says that employers, landlords, and service providers must do what they can to remove barriers that cause people to be treated differently because of personal differences that are listed in the Human Rights Code.
The legal word for this is accommodation. Examples of personal include a person’s ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability.
This could mean doing things differently for you so that you are treated equally. For example, you might need a wheelchair ramp to get inside a building. Or you might not be able to wear the same uniform as other workers because of your religion.
But an employer or landlord might not have to do something if they can prove that it will cause them undue hardship.
In Housing Law
To adjourn a Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) hearing means to postpone it and reschedule it for another date. The LTB can adjourn your hearing for many reasons, for example, if they do not have time to hear your case on a particular day.
In Housing Law
An adjournment is when your Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) hearing is postponed and rescheduled for another date. An adjournment can happen for many reasons, for example, if the LTB does not have time to hear your case on a particular day.
In Housing Law
An affidavit is a sworn statement in writing. The person making the statement must sign it after they swear an oath or promise to tell the truth, just as if they were a witness in a courtroom.
A way to start a case at a court or tribunal, or to ask a court or tribunal to make a decision about a dispute. For example, if a landlord wants a tenant to move out and the tenant does not move, the landlord can make an application to the Landlord and Tenant Board. Or if a tenant can’t get their landlord to do needed repairs, the tenant can make an application to the Board. Application can also refer to the actual form or document used to start a case.
In Housing Law
Give your rented home permanently to a new tenant, who is called your assignee. The new tenant takes over all your responsibilities such as paying rent. Usually you need the landlord’s permission. Assigning means you have no right to move back in. It is often mistakenly called subletting, but subletting is something different.
In Housing Law
Balance of probabilities is the standard of proof usually required in hearings at the Landlord and Tenant Board and other non-criminal courts and tribunals. The tribunal has to decide whose evidence is more believable – yours or your landlord’s.
In Housing Law
A rule passed by a city or town council. For example, most cities or towns in Ontario have “property standards” by-laws, which say that buildings must be kept in good repair. Tenants have the right to have their landlords comply with these standards. Some by-laws might say how many people are allowed to live in one apartment, depending on its size.
Corporations (companies) also have by-laws. For example, a housing co-operative or a condominium corporation might have by-laws that affect the rights of tenants, members, or owners.
In Housing Law
A rented place to live where the landlord provides care services or makes them available to the tenants. Examples of care services are nursing care, supervision of medications, attendant care, and help with daily living activities. A tenant is a care home tenant only if getting the services was a reason they moved there. Retirement homes for seniors are a common type of care home.
