4. Plan to get to the hearing early
Question & Answer
I’m taking my landlord to the LTB. How do I prepare for my hearing?It's important to get to the hearing early with everything that you need to present your case. And you must be able to spend up to a whole day at the hearing.
The support phone and email lines are open Monday to Thursday from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, and Friday from 8:30 am to 2 pm.
Support agents cannot give legal help.
It's best to sign into the LTB hearing room at least 20 minutes before your hearing time. This will give you the chance to speak with Tenant Duty Counsel if you don't already have a lawyer or legal worker to help you, and to sign up for if you want it.
Mediators are LTB employees who can help you and your landlord talk about the problem and can try to suggest solutions you can both accept. Mediators do not give legal advice and they do not make the decisions. Mediators are also called Dispute Resolution Officers (DROs).
Tenant Duty Counsel (TDC) are lawyers and community legal workers who do give legal advice and can give brief advice you if you do not have a lawyer or legal worker.
If you have an in-person hearing, be sure to leave plenty of time to get to the LTB location. The LTB will not usually accept traffic jams or delays on public transit as an excuse for missing your hearing.
Try to make sure that you have the whole day free for the hearing. Even if your hearing is scheduled in the morning, you might have to stay for the afternoon. You might have to:
- arrange childcare
- get time off from work or other responsibilities
- have enough phone minutes or battery power for 8 hours
It's very important to be on time for your hearing. If you miss your hearing, the LTB will probably decide to dismiss your . This means it is cancelled. You would need to apply again to the LTB, which you might not be able to do anymore if the problem happened over a year ago.
