Arriving home to a notice to vacate on your front door can be devastating, to say the least.
Seven per cent of respondents to a 2021 Canadian housing survey report being evicted at some point in their past, according to Statistics Canada. So you’re not alone.
Once a landlord issues a notice to vacate to a tenant, the tenant may have anywhere from two weeks to three months (depending on the province) to resolve the issue with their landlord or move out.
The good news is that you may be able to fight the eviction if you believe it’s unjust. Below, I’ll share some instances when you should consider fighting an eviction and explain how an eviction could affect your credit rating.
When should you consider fighting an eviction?
Most evictions occur due to the sale of property by a landlord (37 per cent) or the landlord wanting the unit for their own use (26 per cent), based on the same survey by Statistics Canada.
Not all evictions are justified, though.
If the eviction notice is found to have been unjustly issued, then you may even be able to counter-sue for damages.
With that in mind, here are some examples of when you should consider fighting an eviction.
1. Eviction for exercising your legal rights
If you believe that an eviction may have been issued in relation to exercising your legal rights, you may have a good case to fight it.
For example, let’s say that you sue your landlord for failing to maintain the property or violating their end of the lease agreement. Shortly after, you receive an eviction notice stating some obscure or inaccurate violation on your end.
There’s a good chance that you could win an appeal to overturn the eviction.
2. You didn’t receive a proper eviction notice
Each province has rules regarding how much time a landlord must give a tenant to vacate. If your landlord fails to adhere to provincial regulations, you may be able to overturn the eviction.
3. Discrimination-based eviction
If you believe your eviction notice was issued due to discrimination on your landlord’s behalf, you may have a good case to overturn it. There are laws in place to prevent a landlord from discriminating against a tenant over their race, religion, ancestry, gender, or sexual orientation.
For example, in the Smith vs. Mohan case in B.C., the landlord tried to evict a tenant of Indigenous descent for their cultural practice of “smudging” (burning sacred herbs). The tenant also shared several examples of the landlord making several racially insensitive remarks.
The court ruled that the smoke caused by the smudging was not enough of a disturbance or issue to warrant an eviction.
Smith (the tenant) was awarded $23,300 in compensation for lost wages, expenses, and damages to her dignity and self-respect.
4. Poorly maintained property
In some cases, you may be able to fight an eviction notice due to the landlord failing to maintain the residence.
For example, if there is a broken window or plumbing issue that prevents you from safely inhabiting your home and the landlord fails to repair the issue, then they might not be able to evict you if you decide to pay less rent to compensate for this mismanagement.
Can you fight an eviction if you didn’t sign a lease?
Verbal rental agreements can be complicated, which is why you should always make sure that there’s a formal, legally binding lease agreement signed by both you and your landlord.
Verbal agreements can be difficult to enforce. That being said, sometimes courts do respect verbal lease agreements.
For example, in the 2014 case, Johnson vs. Patry, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that verbal tenancy agreements are enforceable and legitimate. This means landlords must give a proper eviction notice to a tenant, even if there’s only a verbal agreement. It also means that tenants living under a verbal lease agreement can fight an eviction notice.
However, an eviction can indirectly affect your credit if your landlord reports unpaid fees and rent to the credit bureaus. This could also happen during an eviction dispute before the court makes a final decision.
Even if the court rules in your favour, you’ll need to send letters and evidence to the credit bureaus to get the negative marks removed from your report. This could take several weeks or even months, negatively impacting your credit score in the short-term.
Eviction can make it harder to find future housing
Perhaps the most problematic effect of receiving an eviction is that it could tarnish your rental history. When applying to new housing units, most applicants are asked whether or not they’ve been evicted before. Your response could hurt your approval, or the landlord may require you to pay a larger security deposit.
If you believe you have a good case, it’s worth seeking legal advice and disputing the eviction. If it’s overturned, it won’t hurt your rental history, and you may even be able to sue your landlord for damages.
OTTAWA – The New Democrats confirmed Thursday they won’t help Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives topple the government next week, and intend to join the Bloc Québécois in blocking the Tories’ non-confidence motion.
The planned votes from the Bloc and the New Democrats eliminate the possibility of a snap election, buying the Liberals more time to govern after a raucous start to the fall sitting of Parliament.
Poilievre issued a challenge to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh earlier this week when he announced he will put forward a motion that simply states that the House has no confidence in the government or the prime minister.
If it were to pass, it would likely mean Canadians would be heading to the polls, but Singh said Thursday he’s not going to let Poilievre tell him what to do.
Voting against the Conservative motion doesn’t mean the NDP support the Liberals, said Singh, who pulled out of his political pact with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a few weeks ago.
“I stand by my words, Trudeau has let you down,” Singh said in the foyer outside of the House of Commons Thursday.
“Trudeau has let you down and does not deserve another chance.”
Canadians will have to make that choice at the ballot box, Singh said, but he will make a decision about whether to help trigger that election on a vote-by-vote basis in the House.
The Conservatives mocked the NDP during Question Period for saying they had “ripped up” the deal to support the Liberals, despite plans to vote to keep them in power.
Poilievre accused Singh of pretending to pull out of the deal to sway voters in a federal byelection in Winnipeg, where the NDP was defending its long-held seat against the Conservatives.
“Once the votes were counted, he betrayed them again. He’s a fake, a phoney and fraud. How can anyone ever believe what the sellout NDP leader says in the future?” Poilievre said during Question Period Thursday afternoon.
At some point after those comments, Singh stepped out from behind his desk in the House and a two-minute shouting match ensued between the two leaders and their MPs before the Speaker intervened.
Outside the House, Poilievre said he plans to put forward another non-confidence motion at the next opportunity.
“We want a carbon-tax election as soon as possible, so that we can axe Trudeau’s tax before he quadruples it to 61 cents a litre,” he said.
Liberal House leader Karina Gould says there is much work the government still needs to do, and that Singh has realized the consequences of potentially bringing down the government. She refused to take questions about whether her government will negotiate with opposition parties to ensure their support in future confidence motions.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet hasn’t ruled out voting no-confidence in the government the next time a motion is tabled.
“I never support Liberals. Help me God, I go against the Conservatives on a vote that is only about Pierre Poilievre and his huge ambition for himself,” Blanchet said Thursday.
“I support the interests of Quebecers, if those interests are also good for Canadians.”
A Bloc bill to increase pension cheques for seniors aged 65 to 74 is now at “the very centre of the survival of this government,” he said.
The Bloc needs a recommendation from a government minister to OK the cost and get the bill through the House.
The Bloc also wants to see more protections for supply management in the food sector in Canada and Quebec.
If the Liberals can’t deliver on those two things, they will fall, Blanchet said.
“This is what we call power,” he said.
Treasury Board President Anita Anand wouldn’t say whether the government would be willing to swallow the financial implications of the Bloc’s demands.
“We are focused at Treasury Board on ensuring prudent fiscal management,” she said Thursday.
“And at this time, our immediate focus is implementing the measures in budget 2024 that were announced earlier this year.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
OTTAWA – Treasury Board President Anita Anand has been sworn in as federal transport minister at a ceremony at Rideau Hall, taking over a portfolio left vacant after Pablo Rodriguez resigned from cabinet and the Liberal caucus on Thursday.
Anand thanked Rodriguez for his contributions to the government and the country, saying she’s grateful for his guidance and friendship.
She sidestepped a question about the message it sends to have him leave the federal Liberal fold.
“That is a decision that he made independently, and I wish him well,” she said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not present for the swearing-in ceremony, nor were any other members of the Liberal government.
The shakeup in cabinet comes just days after the Liberals lost a key seat in a Montreal byelection to the Bloc Québécois and amid renewed calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down and make way for a new leader.
Anand said she is not actively seeking leadership of the party, saying she is focused on her roles as minister and as MP.
“My view is that we are a team, and we are a team that has to keep delivering for our country,” she said.
The minority Liberal government is in a more challenging position in the House of Commons after the NDP ended a supply-and-confidence deal that provided parliamentary stability for more than two years.
Non-confidence votes are guaranteed to come from the Opposition Conservatives, who are eager to bring the government down.
On Thursday morning, Rodriguez made a symbolic walk over the Alexandra Bridge from Parliament Hill to Gatineau, Que., where he formally announced his plans to run for the Quebec Liberal party leadership.
He said he will now sit as an Independent member of Parliament, which will allow him to focus on his own priorities.
“I was defending the priorities of the government, and I did it in a very loyal way,” he said.
“It’s normal and it’s what I had to do. But now it’s more about my vision, the vision of the team that I’m building.”
Rodriguez said he will stay on as an MP until the Quebec Liberal leadership campaign officially launches in January.
He said that will “avoid a costly byelection a few weeks, or months, before a general election.”
The next federal election must be held by October 2025.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he will try to topple the government sooner than that, beginning with a non-confidence motion that is set to be debated Sept. 24 and voted on Sept. 25.
Poilievre has called on the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to support him, but both Jagmeet Singh and Yves-François Blanchet have said they will not support the Conservatives.
Rodriguez said he doesn’t want a federal election right away and will vote against the non-confidence motion.
As for how he would vote on other matters before the House of Commons, “it would depend on the votes.”
Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos will become the government’s new Quebec lieutenant, a non-cabinet role Rodriguez held since 2019.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
— With files from Nojoud Al Mallees and Dylan Robertson
