RESOURCES

In one of our recent blogs, we had outlined some issues to consider prior to selling your property if the property is occupied by a tenant (https://www.kormans.ca/legal-implications-of-selling-a-property-that-is-currently-occupied-by-a-tenant-part-one/)

In this blog post, we will provide further insight on some of the situations landlords find themselves in when they have entered into a firm Agreement of Purchase and Sale (the “APS”) to sell their property with vacant possession but their tenant refuses to vacate.

As a landlord you could have followed all the legal procedures perfectly. Issued adequate notice using the correct forms and in a timely manner. However, despite all of this, if your tenant still refuses to vacate, the one thing you absolutely SHOULD NOT DO UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES is use physical force to evict them from the premises.

So, barring this, you may ask, ‘What options do I have as landlord in this case?’

The legal recourse is to seek an eviction order via a hearing at the Landlord and Tenant Board (the “LTB”). However, as the LTB is backed up with so many cases at this point, getting a hearing could take months. If a real estate transaction is pending on you providing vacant possession to a purchaser, the luxury of time may not be available to you.

A more practical options that some individuals opt for is to reach a ‘cash for keys’ solution with their tenant. You may offer your tenant cash incentives to provide vacant possession or offer to cover their rent payments for certain number of months at their next place of residence should they decide to vacate your property in time for your real estate transaction to close.

Of course, any such agreements reached with a tenant should be put in writing and conditional on certain timelines being met.

Please feel free to contact one of our lawyers should you have questions about this topic.

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Taimoor Qureshi is an Associate Lawyer at Kormans LLP. You can reach Taimoor here: tqureshi@kormans.ca. The information and comments herein are for the general information of the reader and are not intended as advice or opinion to be relied upon in relation to any particular circumstances. For particular application of the law to specific situations, the reader should seek professional advice. Kormans LLP cannot be responsible for the content of other sites. We expressly disclaim all liability with respect to actions taken or actions not taken based on content received from a third party website linked, directly or indirectly, to that of Kormans LLP.  The link to another site is not to be construed in any way as an endorsement of the host, the site or the information contained therein, nor is such link to be inferred as an association or affiliation with the host.