Your landlord is responsible for all repair and maintenance of your unit and any common areas. This means that your landlord has to ensure that your rental unit is in a good state of repair, fit for habitation, and in compliance with health, safety, housing and maintenance standards. This is even so if you were aware of a repair or maintenance issue before moving in.
Beg bugs and other infestation are a repair and maintenance issue. With any repair and maintenance issue it is important that you tell your landlord about it right away. If your landlord doesn’t fix the problem after telling them, put it in writing. It is important that you put any requests for repair or maintenance in writing to show:
- what you told your landlord, and
- when you told your landlord.
A letter also establishes a timeline of the steps both you and the landlord took in resolving the issue.
With any letter you send to your landlord, it is important to date the letter and keep a copy.
After you send your letter, if the problem still isn’t resolved in a reasonable time, you can contact the Property Standards office at city hall. The Property Standards office may be able to help you by doing their own inspection of your unit and providing you a copy of this report. If your unit is infested with bed bugs, contact the Middlesex-London Health Unit.
After taking these steps, if the problem is still not resolved, you can file an application to the Landlord and Tenant Board (“LTB”).
There are two applications that you will likely want to file to the LTB: T6: Tenant Application about Maintenance, and T2: Application about Tenant Rights.
T6: Tenant Application about Maintenance
The T6: Tenant Application about Maintenance (“T6 Application”) is the main application you file when you have a repair or maintenance issue. T6 Applications cost $45.00 to file at the LTB, however, you may qualify for a fee waiver so that you don’t have to pay this amount. You can submit a Fee Waiver Request form with your application at the LTB if you are eligible.
The LTB has a T6 Instructions that show you how to fill out the T6 Application. Read the T6 Instructions before filling out your T6 Application so that you understand and are able to fill in all the relevant sections of the application. After you have reviewed the T6 Application and the T6 Instructions, if you still have questions about how to fill out the form you can contact our office for more information.
Reasons for your Application
In your T6 Application you must explain your reasons for filing your application. You should provide the following details:
- what the problem is
- the date or approximate date the problem started
- whether it is ongoing
- if the problem was fixed, when was it fixed and who fixed it
- who or what may have caused the problem (if you know)
- when you first told your landlord about the problem
If there is more than one repair or maintenance problem, fill in all the above information for each issue. If you need additional pages to write everything down you can submit them with your application.
Remedies
There are a number of remedies you can ask for on your application.