Tenant not entitled to rent abatement for balcony repairs
Q: In February 2020, I moved into a new apartment with a large balcony. Around midSeptember, repair work began on all the balconies in the building. My landlord said that the repairs would not take long, but the work went slower than expected. My landlord informed us last week that they needed to stop the work temporarily because of the freezing temperatures. At this rate, I may not have a balcony all winter. Will I be entitled to compensation for the time the balcony is unavailable?
A: Most likely, you will not be entitled to compensation for temporarily losing access to your balcony while it is under repair. Building occupants must expect that services or facilities will be reduced or temporarily removed from time to time in order to perform maintenance or major repairs. That applies to owneroccupants in condominium buildings, office tenants and residential tenants in rental housing.
For residential tenants, the Residential Tenancies Act and its regulations provide that tenants are not entitled to compensation if a service or facility is reduced or removed for a reasonable period of time to allow repairs to be performed.
By performing maintenance, or repairs, a landlord is not to be held to be substantially interfering with the reasonable enjoyment of a tenant, unless the carrying out of the work constituted an interference that was unreasonable in the circumstances. You will not be entitled to compensation unless the work could have been accomplished in a less disturbing manner.
For safety reasons, access to balconies is restricted while they are undergoing life cycle repairs. With Ottawa’s climate, everyone needs to expect balcony repair work may be needed every 10 years or so. It is just bad luck for you that this work is needed early in your tenancy.
Your landlord chose to do the repair work in the fall, which allowed all tenants to continue to use the balconies during the summer. Although the timing of the work may not be ideal for you, it is almost certainly the best time for the vast majority of the residents in the building, as people do not tend to use their balconies very much during the winter.
There may still be a chance the work could be finished before winter sets in, given the recent weather in Ottawa. If that is not achievable, then the work would likely be put on hold until the spring.
The RTA regulations were written to encourage landlords to do all necessary repair work.
Even if the interference from necessary repairs is unreasonable in the circumstances, a rent abatement will not be awarded if the landlord has complied with various rules.
The first rule is providing reasonably accurate and comprehensive notice to tenants and prospective tenants about the nature and impact of the work at least 60 days before the commencement of the work, or in the case of an emergency as soon as was reasonable.
Further rules include providing updated information about timing if it changes significantly, ensuring that the work is carried out during the time of day permitted under the relevant noise control bylaw, ensuring the duration of the work is reasonable in the circumstances and taking reasonable to steps to minimize interference resulting from noise associated with the work.