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Glossary

accommodate

In Employment and Work, Health and Disability, Housing Law, Human Rights, Income Assistance, Tribunals and Courts

Accommodate means making changes to how things are done so that a person is not treated differently based on their personal characteristics. These characteristics are called protected grounds.

There are 17 protected grounds in Ontario’s Human Rights Code. These include ethnic origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, family status, and disability.

The following groups must provide accommodation: employers, landlords, service providers, unions, and professional associations. But they may not have to if they can prove that the accommodation will cause them undue hardship.

accommodation

In Employment and Work, Health and Disability, Housing Law, Human Rights, Income Assistance, Tribunals and Courts

Accommodate means making changes to how things are done so that a person is not treated differently based on their personal characteristics. These characteristics are called protected grounds.

There are 17 protected grounds in Ontario’s Human Rights Code. These include ethnic origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, family status, and disability.

The following groups must provide accommodation: employers, landlords, service providers, unions, and professional associations. But they may not have to if they can prove that the accommodation will cause them undue hardship.

adjourn

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.

adjourned

In Housing Law

If your case is adjourned, it is postponed and rescheduled for another date.  Your case can be adjourned for many reasons, for example, if the Landlord and Tenant Board does not have time to hear your case on a particular day.

adjournment

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.

affidavit

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.

application

In Housing Law, Human Rights

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 cannot 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.

assign

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.

balance of probabilities

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.

by-law

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.