The Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal appealed a Superior Court decision quashing its interim order that allowed a subset of tenants to testify on behalf of over 300 tenants in a rent abatement application.
The Superior Court had ruled the Tribunal lacked jurisdiction to authorize what it characterized as a representative action.
The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, finding that the Tribunal's order did not create a representative action but rather approved an expeditious procedural method for introducing oral evidence in a combined multi-party application, which was within its jurisdiction under the Tenant Protection Act, 1997 and the Statutory Powers Procedure Act.
