Clock starts ticking on 24 hours’ notice of entry when note is left for tenant
Q: I am annoyed with my landlord. Several times I have come home from work on Monday evening to find a notice of entry for Tuesday morning between 10 a.m. and 12 noon. I like to be present when they enter my apartment but on such short notice I cannot arrange with my supervisor to work from home. They tell me they have given me 24 hours’ notice by leaving the notice on my door on Monday before 10 a.m., and so they have the right to enter, but I don’t see it that way. If they would just email me the notice on Monday morning I would be able to make arrangements to be present. What can I do to make the co-op respect my rights?
A: Thank you for being clear about your legal situation. The rights of co-op members are determined by the co-op bylaws, but some people, like you, are ordinary tenants of landlords who happen to be housing co-ops. Like all Ontario tenants, your rights are determined by the Residential Tenancies Act (the RTA).
The RTA requires 24 hours’ written notice of entry except for emergencies, showing the unit after a notice of termination or an agreement to terminate, or if you consent at the time of entry. However, the 24 hours starts to run from when the notice is left for you, not from when you actually receive it.
As a courtesy, the co-op (or any landlord) could email the notice, but as of now they cannot just email the notice, so most landlords do not take that additional step. Most landlords, property managers and co-op employees are busy people who have to work fast to meet the legal requirements, and have no time to do extra work.
Soon it may be that an email notice will be valid, and once that is the case, more landlords will send notice of entry by email. The new standard lease, which will apply to most tenants on and after April 30, will include a clause in which tenant and landlord can agree to accept notices by email, but to make that effective, the Landlord and Tenant Board will need to change its rules of practice to allow notices of entry to be delivered by email. (The RTA has also not yet caught up with texting and other electronic communications.)
At least your landlord seems to be giving you a reasonable window of time for the entry to take place. For many entries a two-hour window is the shortest window you could expect. In many cases, landlords need to give longer windows such as four, six or eight hours. Landlords need to provide a window of time that is reasonable considering the reason for entry.
For example, if the entry is to allow a tradesperson, such as a plumber or an electrician, to enter to do work, a landlord may well give a window of four or six hours. Trades often say they will be there in the morning, but are delayed until 1 p.m., or in a rare case they may say they will be there in the afternoon, but arrive at 11:30 a.m. It is in no one’s interest for them to have to leave without doing the work they were called in to do, or to have to wait, charging your landlord for their time.