Limiting Laundry Access:

Question: How can a tenant in Ontario respond if a landlord interferes with or limits access to shared laundry facilities that the lease says the tenant can use twice per week?

Answer: Benchmark Legal Offices can help Ontario tenants and landlords understand their rights and next steps in Landlord and Tenant Board matters involving restricted access to amenities like laundry facilities, especially where the lease allows regular access but the landlord later changes it without consent;   in JD v. LD’s, 2017 CanLII 28729, the Landlord and Tenant Board found that limiting laundry use to a set short window caused a substantial interference with the tenant’s reasonable enjoyment and ordered compensation for laundry costs plus a rent abatement;   if you are dealing with similar interference, a Lawyer & Paralegal at Benchmark Legal Offices can review your lease, summarize the relevant facts, and help you prepare for an effective LTB application or response, call (289) 389-8840 today.

Decision Summary: JD v. LD'S, CET-63203-16 (Re)

The case of JD v. LD'S, 2017 CanLII 28729, provides an important decision from the Landlord and Tenant Board regarding the improper interference or disruption with the use of laundry facilities by the landlord.  The legal dispute between the landlord and the tenant arose after the landlord attempted to alter laundry facilities access despite that the lease agreement expressly stated that the tenant, JG, could access the laundry facilities twice per week by contacting the upstairs tenants.  The landlord, despite the twice per week term within the lease agreement, attempted to impose a condition that access to the laundry facilities be limted to a three-hour period, once per week, and only on Sunday.

Factual Details

In June 2016, new tenants moved upstairs.  Subsequently, LD's restricted laundry access to Sundays between 11:00AM and 2:00PM.  As JG worked in construction and needed to do laundry regularly, JG faced difficulties with the new schedule and needed to use a laundromat to supplement the unilaterally imposed once-a-week laundry access.

Decision Reasons

The Landlord Tenant Board found that the change in laundry arrangements significantly interfered with the reasonable enjoyment of the property by the tenant.  The shift to a fixed time on Sundays for laundry use represented a substantial interference compared to the previous arrangement without any time restrictions.  While the Landlord Tenant Board acknowledged that the landlord was imposing the laundry access restrictions for the purpose of mediating tensions between tenants, the Landlord Tenant Board ruled in favour of JG.

Remedy Granted

The Landlord Tenant Board granted $200.00 for laundry costs as compensation to the tenant.  Additionally, the Landlord Tenant Board awarded a rent abatement of ten percent per month for six months to the tenant.

Full Case

The official case judgment is available here: JD v. LD's, 2017 CanLII 28729

Conclusion

This decision in this case shows that even when a landlord is imposing a change in access to amenities for the purpose of relieving tensions between tenants, the imposition remains as an interference in the rights of the tenant.