Technicalities Related to the Form N5

In a previous post, we covered evicting the dreaded tenant from hell. Yes, we’ve all heard of the tenant from hell. They persistently pay rent late, or not at all, they partake in illegal activities, they cause damage to your property. But what about a tenant who pays their rent regularly and on time, is generally caring of your property…but is loud, disruptive and partakes in generally “anti-social” behavior? Are you able to evict in this case? The short answer is “yes”, but the long answer is “not very easily”. Let’s take a look at why.

Landlords and tenants are bound under the rules outlined in the Ontario Residentail Tenancies Act (RTA).Under the act, you are able to terminate a tenancy for substantial interference with “reasonable enjoyment of the premises by the landlord or another tenant”. This would cover noise, constant shouting, loud music or TVs, loud pets, stinky pets, name calling, offensive conduct, and countless other behaviors that may substantially interfere with the “reasonable enjoyment of the premises by other tenants or the landlord”. The RTA labels behaviors such as this a substantial leg to stand on for terminating the tenancy. If the landlord wishes to exercise his or her rights to evict due to any of these reasons, they will need to serve the tenant a Notice of Termination in Form N5. The N5 form can be filled out or downloaded here.

The form is a mere 3 pages long, with a few boxes to tick off, as well as a tiny box in which you are to describe the details of the allegations. At first glance, it seems very simple, and it gives the impression that not much is needed. Therein lays the issue, as the form actually contains a handful of specifics that can cause your application to be immediately dismissed. You need to get it right the first time to avoid a drawn out eviction process; getting it “wrong” the first time would result in you having to start the process all over again, from scratch.

The most important aspect to get right is on page 2 under the section entitled “Details About the Reasons for this Notice”. The key to getting this right is to address the legal requirements of the “details” that you intent to provide. These legal requirements are the cause of many N5 forms being immediately dismissed; when this happens, you lose the $170 application fee along with the time and effort you’ve put into the process. At this stage, you’ll have to start over.

The RTA says that the “details” section of the N5 shall “set out the grounds for termination”. This is incredibly vague, and as a result, the Ontario Divisional Court has explained what the “details” must contain in order for the N5 form to be valid. The decision of the court is responsible for countless N5 dismissals. In that tiny 6 grid box on page two of the N5 form, you are to describethe who, what, where, why, when and how of the case. Ok, so what does that mean? To understand, you must first understand how an N5 Notice of Termination works. First of all, an N5 is a voidable notice. This means that a tenant can “void” the notice upon receiving it, simply by changing their behavior or paying for the damage caused. Consequently, the Court has stated that a landlord must provide “clear and unequivocal details about the alleged misbehavior”. Therein lies the who, what, where, why, when and how. The Court deems this as necessary for the tenant to have a complete opportunity to understand the behaviors that they are expected to stop or change in order to void the N5. If the allegations are vague, the tenant can’t reasonably know what is expected of them, and won’t be able to exercise their legal right to void the N5. Therefore, the Court has held that knowing exactly what conduct is being viewed as misbehavior is a mandatory aspect of the N5. Accordingly, a vague details section will void your form. At this stage, your application to the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board will be immediately dismissed, and you’ll be hard pressed to get an order against the tenant.

Understanding this section of the N5 is an absolutely crucial aspect of the eviction process in relation to the aforementioned issues. Landlords would be wise to hire a professional management company, like CMG Toronto as to avoid making common mistakes that will result in a long and frustrating eviction process. We are the top Toronto property management company.