Tenants likely need landlord’s consent to install locks on bedroom doors

A: The Ontario Residential Tenancies Act prohibits a tenant from changing the locks on doors that give access to the rental unit, but that section does not address the issue of locks on doors within the rental unit, where your tenants want locks. For them, the issue depends in part on what your lease says. The Ontario standard form lease prohibits the tenant from “[changing] the locks of the rental unit” without your consent. Therefore, they would not be allowed to do that without your agreement, and they would be liable for the damage if the door had to be broken down during an emergency.

However, it is doubtful that the Landlord and Tenant Board would give you an eviction order if the tenants installed the locks, provided they give you the keys or codes. In most cases, it is doubtful that putting on the locks would be a substantial breach of your reasonable enjoyment of the unit or of your legal rights. (A breach yes, but not a substantial breach.)

Alternately, you could put on the locks, provided they pay you now for the cost of installing the locks and the restoration of the doors and door frames, which you will want to do when they give you notice to vacate.

If the lease is silent on the issue, then the tenants probably have the right to install the locks.

Then, unless the tenants were at fault for causing the emergency, you would be stuck with the cost if emergency personnel had to break down a door due to the internal locks.

Two issues probably do not affect you but could affect other landlords. First, the City of Ottawa has bylaws requiring rooming houses to be licensed and prohibiting rooming houses in various areas of the city. The City’s bylaws apply when there are four or more bedrooms. In determining whether a dwelling unit is being used as a rooming house, a key issue is whether there are locks on the internal doors. Thus, in a unit of four bedrooms or more, it would usually be a substantial breach of the landlord’s legal rights for the tenants, who have together rented the house to share, to install internal locks.

A tenant may want to install a lock or chain as a means of locking the door when they are inside the unit to ensure privacy from family members or roommates. The comments in the paragraphs above do not apply to that situation. The tenants can install such a lock. They will just need to provide you with access to the locked areas when you give proper notice to enter and pay for the repair of any damage to the door frame when they leave.