Breaking a lease in Canada

[Slaughtermeyer]

Hello everyone, back from a self-imposed and not-so-self-imposed exile. My Canadian girlfriend will need to rent a place for 3 months in Ontario and would like to get an apartment if possible. However, all apartments that we've checked so far have a 1 year lease requirement. Suppose she signed a 1 year lease and deliberately broke it after 3 months. Would something like that be worth considering, or would the negative impact on her credit rating, etc. make that option not worthwhile?

[SlowwHand]

Check out weekly rates on a motel.

[Asher]

Just find a place that lets you sublet

http://www.ontariotenants.ca/law/law.phtml#Q3

Q3: Can I end my lease early? And do I have to give notice of termination?

A3: It depends on what type of tenant you are.

If the original lease you signed has not expired, check the date. It is probably for a term of one year and you have a commitment towards that lease. Talk to your landlord and if they will agree to early termination of the lease, get it in writing, including the date you will be leaving and make sure the landlord and you both sign the document. If your landlord will not agree to any early termination of your lease, call your lawyer or your Community Legal Clinic. The tenant is obliged to give the landlord 60 days minimum written notice of their intentions to leave.

A very common way of getting out of such a lease is to find a tenant who is willing to take over your lease, such as by advertising it yourself. See Part VI of the Residential Tenancies Act, about Assignment and Subletting. Check here if the landlord refuses or doesn't respond to an assignment, or contact the IEU.

Assignment of your lease is preferred because the new tenant takes over all responsibility for the lease on the apartment. Subletting is another alternative but because you continue to be liable for the conditions of the lease and so this is usually only used when you want to retain your lease, but will be away for a period of time and want someone else to be living there and (hopefully) paying the rent.

If you never had a lease, or if your original lease expired and you have continued to live in the apartment without signing another one, and you pay your rent on a monthly basis, you have a month-to-month tenancy. You must still give at lease 60 days written notice before the end of the last month you intend to live there. See Period of notice, monthly tenancy.

If you give your notice late, you will be responsible for an extra month.

There are two exceptions to this 60 day rule for monthly tenancies, and those are for terminations which are to be effective on either the last day of February or March. For terminations of a tenancy for the last day of February, the notice must be given no later than the preceding January 1. For a termination effective March 31, the notice must be given no later than Feb. 1. For more information see Period of notice, February notices

Tenants who rent on a week-to-week basis need only give 28 days notice.


Q4: Are fees for "breaking a lease" legal?

A4: If you have signed a lease for a specific period of time and it has not reached its end date yet, you may want to negotiate something with the landlord. If you are going to end your lease at the end date of that agreement and give 60 days notice of that, or are a month-to-month tenant and give 60 days notice, or a week-to-week renter and give 28 days notice, the landlord can not legally charge you any fees for not renewing your lease.
PRIVACY:

[Slaughtermeyer]

Thanks for the info. So basically she could sign a 1 year lease, and after 1 month give a 60-day notice to leave without having too much trouble?

[SlowwHand]

I don't think a landlord will go for a 3 month occupation. Not unless there are crack dealers next door.

[Slaughtermeyer]

Sloww, if the intention of staying only 3 months is concealed from the landlord upon lease signing and she stops paying rent when she's ready to leave is there anything the landlord can do about it other than maybe contacting a credit bureau and reporting her?

[KrazyHorse]

Yes, he can sue her for all the rent she owes him.

[SlowwHand]

I think that's about it, unless rentals communicate among each other. If so, it could be difficult.

[Asher]

Just look for short-term rentals. They're not that uncommon.

http://toronto.kijiji.ca/f-housing-short-term-rentals-W0QQCatIdZ42

Another way to look is for furnished suites. Many companies rent these out so they exist on weekly or a month to month basis.

[Darius871]

But I hear landlords are all j00s up there...

[Asher]

Only in Richmond Hill/Thornhill.

They're Asian in Markham and Scarborough. Brown everywhere else.

[Ben Kenobi]

Find a month to month. It's not that hard.

[Asher]

Says the guy who has never lived in Ontario.

[Ben Kenobi]

You dispensed the exact same advice I did. I'm just concurring with you here.

[Asher]

Your advice was worthless, regardless of you aping my opinion.