London has no city-wide Tenants Association. There are several excellent non-profit agencies that provide information about the Residential Tenancies Act and the Landlord Tenant Board. Other agencies which can provide legal help to tenants are discussed in articles in this category.
There are without doubt other excellent agencies and groups that can help tenants in London that are not located on this site. I encourage tenants to use a search engine like Google or Bing to find them.
Over the past decade many tenants and several City Councillors have discussed the need for an independent City-wide Tenants Association. I led a the Kipps Lane Tenants/Community Association from 2004 to 2010 when the group disbanded. Anyone wishing to discuss issues related to tenants are more than welcome to leave comments under this article.
I will attempt to address some basic tenants issues in the Tenant's Corner from time to Time.
Issue #1
How much money can a landlord ask a tenant to leave with a rental application according to the current Residential Tenancies Act?
Answer:
I have rented from seven different landlords in the past twenty years. The laws governing Tenants and Landlords have changed 3 times in that time in significant ways. The current Act is called the Residential Tenancies Act or the RTA and it was passed in 2006. Some landlords have asked for nothing until my application was accepted. Others asked for a full month's rent.
Tenants can call 1-888-332-3234 to reach the Landlord Tenant Board. This free service provides answers to common questions about the RTA.
I called them to get an answer to this question. The answer is found in Section 10 of the RTA which is below. Unfortunately, the RTA deals more with tenants and landlords who have already signed a lease than those who are looking or in the process of renting.
Selecting prospective tenants
10. In selecting prospective tenants, landlords may use, in the manner prescribed in the regulations made under the Human Rights Code, income information, credit checks, credit references, rental history, guarantees, or other similar business practices as prescribed in those regulations. 2006, c. 17, s. 10.
In short, Section 10 says that landlords must obey the Ontario Human Rights Code while selecting tenants. The Customer Service Representative with whom I spoke told me there is no specific minimum or maximum that a landlord can ask of a prospective tenant when they wish to apply for a tenant. It's up to the person seeking the apartment to make their own decision. The landlord must follow the rules outlined in Section 10 of the RTA.
This is a very grey area for persons looking to rent apartments. In the end, they must use their own judgement. A landlord might accept no money with the application or demand a certain amount. Ultimately the prospective tenant can simply walk away if they don't wish to leave money with an application.
