SMALL LANDLORD, BIG PROBLEMS

WHEN TENANTS INTERFERE WITH PEST TREATMENTS

Steps for resolving this common but tricky situation

BY DAVID LYMAN, DICKIE & LYMAN, LAWYERS LLP

As a small landlord, imagine if several units in your building were infested with bedbugs. Now imagine you have brought in a pest control company, but one of the tenants isn’t complying with the necessary steps. You have talked to the tenant in question, urged them to follow the instructions, but they still won’t do the necessary work.

You have given the tenant an N5 notice for substantial interference with the reasonable enjoyment of other tenants (and interfering with your legal rights and interests). Then, after the tenant fails to prepare during the 7-day remedy period, you have given them a second N5 notice, and applied to the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB). However, you now understand that a hearing will probably be four or more months away, and a decision may be made many weeks after the hearing, never mind the delay with the Sheriff after that. The other tenants are angry since the pest problem is not solved, and they cannot put their clothes away. They are talking about calling the City property standards department or claiming against you at the LTB themselves.

What can you do? Here are some suggestions:

The first step is to talk to the tenant—again—to try to find out the reason for their unwillingness to comply. If you determine it’s a language barrier, perhaps you can explain the pest treatment instructions to them or enlist the help of an interpreter. If the reason is financial and related to the laundry cost, perhaps you figure out a solution for that.

You can also try to find out more by observing the tenant during your conversation, or by inquiring with the neighbouring tenants. For privacy reasons, you as the landlord must refrain from sharing any information, but your tenants are allowed to tell you what they have noticed or heard.

If the tenant has a disability, whether it’s physical or a mental health/cognitive issue, you could seek the help of a supportive family member or a social worker and arrange a three-way meeting. The City may be able to access resources to assist the tenant with the necessary preparation. There might be a social enterprise that can help with pest preparation at a reasonable price. Such a social enterprise might be willing to work with the family member to keep the cost down.

If it all comes down to motivation, and the tenant continues to interfere with your pest treatment process, ask your lawyer for a letter threatening a claim for any damages you or your tenants suffer.

An expedited hearing

You can also seek an expedited hearing from the LTB. Expedited hearings are usually granted if there is a safety hazard to another tenant or the landlord, such as for an application against a tenant who has committed an assault, or a tenant who poses a fire risk. However, your situation borders on a safety or mental health risk to the other tenants.

To make the claim for an expedited hearing, be sure to tell the LTB that you have explored all the options outlined above, while underscoring that this behaviour is jeopardizing the health of your other tenants. Even if you do not get your expedited hearing, having sought it would help you defend against the claims by the other tenants should they suggest you did not take reasonable steps to solve the pest problem.

A final option would be to send in a contractor to lay down diatomaceous earth (DE) along the walls (and in any electrical or other conduit) adjoining the problem tenant’s unit. That should stop the entry of bedbugs from the problem unit to the adjacent unit(s), both while you deal with the current problem and afterwards.

City By-laws

In Gatineau, Quebec, the property standards office will issue a letter to tenants, telling them they have to prepare for pest treatment, or they will be breaking the City’s by-laws, and be liable for a fine of $300 or more. In Ottawa, the City has just passed a by-law which requires landlords to adopt an Integrated Pest Management Plan, and requires tenants to follow the preparation instructions they receive from their landlord. A tenant violation brings a $100 fine. Over time, landlords in Ontario may be able to get other cities to adopt such measures so that the by-law officer can help with motivation.