Bad Faith Eviction Upheld: Gusain v. Arnold, 2023 ONSC 3765
Divisional Court upholds $32570 award to tenants for bad faith eviction, dismissing landlords' appeal
Summarized by RentZenLast updated: August 16, 2024
Case Summary
Decision in favor of
tenant
Balance Owed to Tenant
$32,570
Dispute Categories
Notices Sent
Agree with the ruling?
Timeline
Hearing Date
Jun 2023
Order Date
Jun 28, 2023
Dispute Summary
Tenants applied to the Landlord and Tenant Board alleging that Landlords terminated their tenancy in bad faith. The Board ruled in favor of Tenants, awarding compensation. Landlords appealed the Board's decisions to the Divisional Court, arguing procedural fairness issues and legal errors.
Determinations
- Landlords were aware of the T5 application hearing and chose not to attend
- Landlords' failure to participate was due to negligence
- No breach of procedural fairness in Board's decisions
- No legal errors in Board's decisions
- No abuse of process in Board's decisions
Case Study
The court found no breach of procedural fairness or legal errors in the Board's decisions. The court upheld the Board's findings that Landlords were aware of the hearing and chose not to attend, and that their failure to participate was due to negligence. The court also found no abuse of process in the Board's decisions.
Arguments and Actions
Landlord
Arguments
Landlords argued that they were denied procedural fairness in the Board's proceedings due to confusion caused by receiving two notices of hearing for different dates.
Actions
Landlords served Tenants with a notice of termination (Form N12) on May 1, 2021, claiming they had entered into an agreement of purchase and sale for the rental unit.
Procedural Errors
Landlords failed to attend the initial T5 application hearing and did not contact the Board for clarification regarding the two hearing notices they received.
Aggravating Factors
Landlords provided notice of termination claiming they had entered into an agreement of purchase and sale for the rental unit, when in fact they had not.
Tenant
Arguments
Tenants argued that Landlords had given notice of termination in bad faith, as the rental unit had not been listed for sale until after Tenants had moved out.
Actions
Tenants moved out of the rental unit on May 15, 2021, in response to Landlords' notice of termination.
Decision Summary
The Divisional Court dismissed Landlords' appeal of the Landlord and Tenant Board's decisions. The court found no breach of procedural fairness or legal errors in the Board's rulings, which had found that Landlords terminated Tenants' tenancy in bad faith and awarded compensation to Tenants.
Adjudicator Details
Divisional Court
Total Orders
7
Landlord Favorable
85.7%
Tenant Favorable
14.3%
Mutual Agreement
0.0%
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Financial Details
Other Owed Amount
$32,570
Compensation awarded to Tenants for bad faith eviction
Total Owing
$32,570 (Owed to Tenant)
Source
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