The tenant appealed a decision of the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal (ORHT) dismissing his request for a review of a rent default order.
The tenant had missed the original hearing due to misdirection by ORHT staff, who told him the hearing would be postponed.
The Vice-Chair acknowledged this but placed the onus on the tenant to prove the original order was inappropriate.
The Divisional Court held this was a jurisdictional error and a denial of natural justice, as the tenant had a right to a hearing in the first instance.
The appeal was allowed and the matter remitted for a hearing de novo.
