Beaux Properties Management Co. v. Shomer, 2019 ONSC 6170
DIVISIONAL COURT FILE NO.: 759/18
LANDLORD AND TENANT BOARD FILE NO.: TNL-05919-18
ONTARIO SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE DIVISIONAL COURT
D.L. CORBETT, DUCHARME, BALTMAN JJ.
BETWEEN:
BEAUX PROPERTIES MANAGEMENT CO.
Landlord/Applicant
(Respondent in Appeal)
– and –
BAILA SHOMER
Tenant/Respondent
(Appellant in Appeal)
Timothy M. Duggan, for the Applicant (Respondent in Appeal)
Viviane Kone, for the Respondent (Appellant in Appeal)
HEARD at Toronto: October 23, 2019
D.L. CORBETT J. (Orally)
1The tenant suffers from mental illness. As a matter of common sense, this disability affects her conduct as a tenant and as a litigant. We agree with the Board that the landlord does not have the role of family members or the State. However, the landlord does have a duty to accommodate the tenant to the point of undue hardship.
2So too does the Landlord and Tenant Board in ensuring that the tenant’s interests are properly put before the Board so a just determination of the underlying issues may be rendered on the merits. This the Landlord and Tenant Board did not do. It should have granted the second adjournment. What other steps may be required to accommodate the tenant in the Landlord Tenant Board process is for the Landlord and Tenant Board to decide, but the accommodation must accord the tenant full and fair participation in the process to the point of undue hardship.
3To be clear, we find the Landlord and Tenant Board failed to accommodate the tenant’s disability. We make no finding respecting the accommodation required of the landlord, which is a matter for the Landlord and Tenant Board to decide in a fresh hearing.
4We are concerned about the delay in this case – not by the Landlord and Tenant Board - but by the process in this court. If an appeal is brought of any subsequent decision of the Landlord and Tenant Board, either side may seek an expedited schedule from the Divisional Court administrative judge. Neither the landlord nor the tenant should have to wait a further year for a decision.
5Appeal allowed. Landlord and Tenant Board decision set aside; case remitted back to the Landlord and Tenant Board for a fresh hearing.
6There will be no order for costs.
7I have endorsed the back of the Appeal Book and Compendium as follows: “For oral reasons of D.L. Corbett J., this appeal is allowed, the decision below is set aside, and the case is remitted back to the Landlord and Tenant Board for a fresh hearing. No order as to costs.”
D.L. CORBETT J.
I agree _______________________________
DUCHARME J.
I agree _______________________________
BALTMAN J.
Date of Oral Reasons for Judgment: October 23, 2019
Date of Release: October 24, 2019
CITATION: Beaux Properties Management Co. v. Shomer, 2019 ONSC 6170
DIVISIONAL COURT FILE NO.: 759/18
LANDLORD AND TENANT BOARD FILE NO.: TNL-05919-18
DATE: 20191023
ONTARIO
SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE
DIVISIONAL COURT
D.L. CORBETT, DUCHARME, BALTMAN JJ.
BETWEEN:
BEAUX PROPERTIES MANAGEMENT CO.
Landlord/Applicant
(Respondent in Appeal)
– and –
BAILA SHOMER
Tenant/Respondent
(Appellant in Appeal)
ORAL REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
D.L. CORBETT J.
Date of Oral Reasons for Judgment: October 23, 2019
Date of Release: October 24, 2019