Toronto Renters Forum
Common Tenant Problems => Apartment Entry => Topic started by: Sandy on September 17, 2021, 09:20:42 am
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I and all of my neighbors just received a "notice of entry" for next week. The notice from my landlord says that they need to enter my apartment to do the annual Fire Alarm testing, which is not something that I mind (fire safety is a good thing), but I do mind that the times listed on the notice are essentially *All DAY*!!
I definitely like to be home when they enter my apartment, and I don't mind switching shifts at work to be home for an hour or two, but the notice says they will be in sometime between 9 in the morning and 5 pm at night, which means I'm going to have to lose a day of work just to be home for the 5 minutes that they actually are inside my apartment.
Can I do anything about this (aside from taking a day off of work)?
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Hi Sandy,
You have a right to a reasonable entry time window, and 9 am to 5 pm for fire alarm testing is too wide.
Below you will find a draft of an e-mail that you should customize (so it sounds like it is coming from you) and send to your property manager to request a more reasonable (shorter) entry window.
Note that the letter referrs to a legal decision (Wrona vs TCHC 2007). You should attach (or print) a copy of this legal decisions and include it with your letter. Here is a link to a PDF copy of Wrona vs TCHC (https://www.torontorentersforum.com/index.php?action=tportal;sa=download;dl=item8).
Also note that the URL to the "Interpretation Guideline 19: The Landlord's Right of Entry into a Rental Unit (https://tribunalsontario.ca/documents/ltb/Interpretation%20Guidelines/19%20-%20The%20Landlords%20Right%20of%20Entry%20into%20a%20Rental%20Unit.html)" listed below is:
https://tribunalsontario.ca/documents/ltb/Interpretation%20Guidelines/19%20-%20The%20Landlords%20Right%20of%20Entry%20into%20a%20Rental%20Unit.html
- Richard
Dear Property Manager,
The notices of entry that were recently distributed to the tenants of
{address} specify a very wide entry-time window, which is not legal. An
8-hour entry-time window is illegal. Your legal obligations are
described in the section labelled "Specifying the time of entry", in this
document:
https://tribunalsontario.ca/documents/ltb/Interpretation%20Guidelines/19%20-%20The%20Landlords%20Right%20of%20Entry%20into%20a%20Rental%20Unit.html
You need to have a better reason than merely that you are entering all of
the apartments in the building, to justify the wide 8-hour window.
Attached to this e-mail is a copy of a precedent-setting case in which a
tenant was awarded $1000 because their landlord did exactly what you are
doing - please see the attachment.
{you should add a paragraph here, detailing the remedy that you would
like to receive, although as I said, you haven't left them much time to
respond...}
Sincerely,
- {your name}
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Yes I know this is an old thread but I have an answer to the "9-5" timeframe.
I was filing a T2 against my landlord for illegal entries, and some of the deficient entries I had in my evidence were fire alarm inspections. I had a problem with both the timeframe and the fact that often nobody would show up for these inspections.
I was told by a lawyer at a legal clinic that the "reasonable timeframe" in the RTA only applies when the landlord has control over the time of the entry.
Fire inspections are often performed not by the landlord but by the city fire inspector. They inspect multiple units in each building. The landlord has no control over the time the inspector will arrive or the length of time it will take for them to inspect units. The fire inspector usually tells them that they will be there sometime between 9 and 5 and that is why the landlord provides this timeframe.
I actually called the fire inspector to verify this information. He told me that they do give a 9-5 timeframe to landlords, and that they pick units at random to inspect. The landlord is obligated to notify all units because he doesn't know which units or how many will be inspected. He has no control over the time of arrival or even if your unit will be inspected at all.
On the other hand, if a landlord carries out the inspections himself or hires a company to do it, he does have control over the time of arrival and which units are inspected. In that case a 9-5 timeframe would be viewed as a deficient notice by the Board.