Hi Jojo,
According to the Residential Tenancies Act, Section 126, subsection 8:
http://www.ontariotenants.ca/law/act07.phtml#RTA126... a landlord basically gets a "free pass" if the renovation improves
access for persons with disabilities, conservation of water or energy, or
improves the security of the building. So those few items are very hard
to argue against.
Other items, however, you must document, probably ideally through
photography - take pictures before the work has begun to document the
original state of repair.
A strategy that the landlord will use is "engineering reports". The idea
is that a certified building inspector will tour the grounds and write up
a report stating that certain things needed to be repaired. This kind of
documentation is very difficult to refute - you'd basically have to have
had your own engineer who inspected the same parts of the building before
the work was done, and concluded that the work didn't need to be done,
and was willing to sign an official document stating that fact. Tricky
to obtain.
But if the landlord doesn't have an engineering report, and you have
photographs showing that things weren't in a state of disrepair, then you
could mount an argument using Section 126, point 8.
Additionally, you should always argue about superficial things like
paint, carpet, tiles, and lighting fixtures. And argument can be made
that these items do not satisfy Section 126, point 7 "necessary to
protect or restore the physical integrity of the residential complex".
Lastly, you may be able to file a complaint that your "reasonable
enjoyment of the premises" was impaired during the renovation. This is
not an easy argument to make - O.Reg 516/06 provides a list of things
that limit your ability to pursue the landlord for reasonable enjoyment,
but one thing that does stick out is Building Permits. Check out O.Reg
516/06, Section 8, subsection 4, point 7. Here's a link to Section 8
subsection 4:
https://www.canlii.org/en/on/laws/regu/o-reg-516-06/latest/o-reg-516-06.html#sec8subsec4which states...
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
(4) If the Board finds that the landlord [...] substantially interfered
with the reasonable enjoyment [...] the Board shall NOT order an
abatement of rent if all of the following conditions are satisfied:
[...]
7. If required under the Building Code Act, 1992, a permit was issued
in respect of the work.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
So, if your landlord didn't obtain the necessary building permits, then
although you can't directly fight the AGI, you can file your own separate
appeals: a "T2" for loss of reasonable enjoyment, and a "T3" asking for
a reduction or abatement of rent, which may hopefully reduce the sting of
the AGI a bit.
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