Services in Ontario - Getting legal help in Housing Law

JusticeNet is a not-for-profit organization that can help people find legal services when their income is too high for legal aid and too low to afford legal fees. Their website has a list of lawyers, paralegals, and mediators who charge reduced fees based on your income and the size of your family. You must register and pay a small fee to use their services.

Legal Aid Ontario funds legal clinics across Ontario. There are two types of legal clinics: community legal clinics and specialty legal clinics.

Community legal clinics provide free legal services to people with low incomes who live in their area. Most help with:

• Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program
• tenants’ rights
• the Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security, and the Guaranteed Income Supplement
• employment problems

Some clinics can help with immigration and refugee problems or debt and consumer problems.

Search for the clinic in your area using your postal code.

Some specialty legal clinics provide free legal services to specific groups of people with low incomes:

• Advocacy Centre for the Elderly
• Aboriginal Legal Services
• ARCH Disability Law Centre
• Black Legal Action Centre
• Centre Francophone du Grand Toronto
• Chinese and South Asian Legal Clinic
• Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples
• HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario
• Justice for Children and Youth
• South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario

Some specialty legal clinics provide free legal services in only certain areas of law:

• Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario
• Canadian Environmental Law Association
• Income Security Advocacy Centre
• Industrial Accident Victims Group of Ontario
• Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic
• Workers Health and Safety Legal Clinic

The hotline can give you 30 minutes of free legal help and advice over the telephone on civil law matters, which include:

• employment
• housing
• consumer issues
• Powers of Attorney
• corporate law for charities, non-profits, and small businesses

It doesn’t help with family law or criminal law problems.

The hotline generally accepts calls Monday to Friday between 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Tenant duty counsel help tenants who don’t have a lawyer on the day of their hearing with the Landlord and Tenant Board. The Landlord and Tenant Board is the tribunal that decides issues between landlords and tenants.

Duty counsel are lawyers and legal workers paid for by Legal Aid Ontario. They can:

• give legal advice
• review documents and prepare forms
• help tenants and landlords agree on issues
• sometimes represent tenants during a hearing

If you have a telephone hearing, you can usually talk to duty counsel when you call in for your hearing. Try to call at least 30 minutes early.

CCHR is an organization that works with tenants mainly by telephone and email.

Tenants facing eviction can get information about the eviction process and services that can help them. Tenants renting in Toronto can also get help if their landlord has applied for a rent increase above the guideline, or help with maintenance and repair applications to the Landlord and Tenant Board.

CCHR’s human rights services include helping tenants who:

• are being discriminated against when looking for housing
• are being harassed
• need accommodation for a human rights reason, such as a disability
• want general information about human rights or the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario

The Landlord and Tenant Board is the tribunal that decides issues between landlords and tenants.

The Board’s website has information about housing law, forms that landlords and tenants must use, and a FAQ page that answers common questions about housing law and the Board’s processes.

You can also call the Board for information. The Board can’t give legal advice.

LAO has 4 free regional advice lines that can give legal information and advice in French over the telephone to people living in:

• Eastern Ontario
• Northern Ontario, and parts of central Ontario including:
  • Barrie
  • Parry Sound
  • Muskoka and Kawartha Lakes regions
• Greater Toronto Area
• Southwestern Ontario

The advice lines do not help with family law or criminal law matters.

The Law Society of Ontario has on online Law Society Referral Service that gives you the name of a lawyer or licensed paralegal who will give free legal advice for up to 30 minutes in any area of law.

If you can’t wait for a legal representative to call you back, or if you don’t have a call-back number, email lsrs@lso.ca. Or, if you’re in crisis or in custody, call 1-855-947-5255 or 416-947-5255, Monday to Friday, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

The Ontario Legal Information Centre offers a free 30-minute meeting with a lawyer to anyone in Ontario by telephone in English or French. They can provide legal information in any legal topic, and referrals to services.  You have to leave a message and a lawyer will call you back.

The ACSA Legal Assistance Centre has a virtual legal clinic that is open on Saturdays from 11 am to 1 pm for people living in Ontario. It is run by volunteer lawyers who can give a free 20-minute consultation on some immigration, family, and housing law issues.

There is no financial eligibility test to use the service. You can book an appointment online, or by phone or email.

The Ontario Community Mediation Coalition is a group of community mediation providers that provide free help to resolve conflict or disagreements. Community mediation is not a legal process. Issues that may be suitable for community mediation include disputes between neighbours, landlords and tenants, and in schools and workplaces. They have a list of member organizations to contact if you’re interested in finding mediation services.