Tenant Wins Motion to Set Aside Eviction Order in Ottawa: Ottawa Community Housing Corp v Mercer 2021

Dispute Summary

The Landlord applied for an order to terminate the tenancy and evict the Tenant because the Tenant failed to meet a condition specified in the order issued by the Board on November 5, 2020 with respect to application EAL-90300-20. The Tenant filed a motion to set aside the order issued on July 23, 2021.

Determinations

• The Tenant denied breaching the November 5, 2020 conditional Board order.
• The Landlord did not prove, on a balance of probabilities, that the Tenant failed to meet a condition in the November 5, 2020 Board order by falsely activating fire alarms at the residential complex on June 19, 2021.
• The Landlord did not have reliable evidence to determine, on a balance of probabilities, that the Tenant activated fire alarms on June 19, 2021.
• The hearsay evidence from the Landlord's witness about a fire inspector's purported conversation with the Tenant was unreliable.
• The redacted letter from a purported witness was of negligible probative value as the author was not available for cross-examination.
• The Landlord therefore did not prove, on a balance of probabilities, that the Tenant breached the November 5, 2020 conditional Board order.