Ontario Scraps Proposed Bill to Let Landlords Evict Tenants After Leases End

Ontario Housing Minister Rob Flack in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Chris Young

The Ontario government says it has decided not to go ahead with a bill that would have allowed landlords in the province to evict tenants once their leases are up.

Bill 60, the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, was introduced Oct. 23 in Ontario’s legislature, but only days later on Oct. 26, Housing Minister Rob Flack said the government will not be moving ahead with the proposed changes.

“Residents expect stability and predictability in Ontario’s rental market, and now is not the time to consider changes to this system. As such, we have decided not to proceed with consultations on potential changes to month-to-month leases,” Flack posted Oct. 26 on X.

Flack added that despite deciding not to go ahead with the bill, Ontario will be working to implement more “common-sense reforms” by building trust at the Landlord and Tenant Board, being stricter on abuse in the rental market, and working to boost new construction of rental units in the province.

The proposed bill gave expanded power to Ontario landlords under the Residential Tenancies Act, including the right to change or end tenancy agreements based on “market conditions, personal needs, or business strategies,” according to an Oct. 23 technical briefing from the government pertaining to the proposed bill.

In addition, the bill required tenants to tell the board in advance if they want to raise new problems at a hearing and only being allowed to do so if they had paid at least half of any overdue rent, and also shortened the time to ask for a review of an eviction notice from 30 days to 15. The rules would make it more difficult for tenants to challenge an eviction order.

Other proposals included allowing landlords to consider ending a tenant’s lease and choosing somebody else to stay in the unit, even if the current tenant has followed all rules, as well as easing zoning rules for small changes to building plans, cutting red tape, and allowing faster evictions for unpaid rent.

Bill 60 would have applied to around 1.7 million rented units across Ontario, including about 558,000 in Toronto, significantly altering the province’s “security of tenure” system, which lets renters stay until their lease is expired as long as they follow rental regulations and the terms of their lease.

Ontario NDP housing critic Catherine McKenney said the provincial government intended to make it easier to evict tenants via Bill 60, hurting “thousands” of tenants who are already struggling.

“Ontario is in the middle of a jobs disaster. Now, the Premier wants to make it easier for people to be evicted from their homes,” McKenney wrote in an Oct. 24 statement.

In December 2018, Ford’s government passed a bill to get rid of rent control on any rentals that were moved into after Nov. 15, 2018, letting landlords raise rates for units occupied after that date by any amount they desired as long as they gave due notice. In its 2018 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review, the Ford government said the change would “help create market‐based incentives for supply growth that will encourage an increase in housing supply.”