How to break a lease early when escaping domestic violence

*Trigger/content warning: This article contains references to domestic violence and sexual abuse*

If a tenant in Ontario or a child living with them is experiencing domestic violence or sexual abuse or fears that it is a possibility, there are ways to legally end the tenancy early and quickly so they can escape the situation without worrying about any penalties for breaking the lease.

In such situations, the tenant does not have to be living with the person they are trying to flee. The provisions outlined in the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) apply even if the tenant no longer feels safe in the unit because the person they fear knows where they live or has access to the unit.

The legislation covers situations involving the tenant’s current or former spouse, someone they currently or used to live with in a conjugal relationship, someone they are or were dating or someone who lives in the unit and is related to them or their child by marriage, blood or adoption.

Tenants not in a current or former marriage or conjugal relationship or related by marriage, blood or adoption are not covered. For example – friends or roommates living together.

What the tenant should do

Monica Moran-Venegas, staff lawyer at Kensington Bellwoods Community Legal Services explains that the notice a tenant must give the landlord in a situation where they are experiencing or fear abuse is an N15 form, titled ‘Tenant’s Notice to end my Tenancy because of Fear of Sexual or Domestic Violence and Abuse.’

“It’s a two-step notice. The first is the notice itself, which you can get on the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) website,” she says.

The second step involves attaching one of two documents:

• A form called the ‘Tenant’s Statement about Sexual or Domestic Violence and Abuse’ that defines the specific type of domestic violence, which includes the following:
  – The tenant suffering bodily harm or damage to property caused by intentional or reckless behaviour or actions of the alleged abuser
  – The tenant fearing for safety because of the alleged abuser’s behaviour and actions or threatened actions
  – The tenant being held by force against their will
  – The tenant fearing for their safety because the alleged abuser is following, contacting, communicating with, watching, or recording them
  – The tenant or a child living with them was a victim of sexual violence, defined in section 47.3(2) of the Residential Tenancies Act as:
  “any sexual act or act targeting a person’s sexuality, gender identity or gender expression, whether the act is physical or psychological in nature, that is committed, threatened or attempted  against a person without the person’s consent, and includes sexual assault, sexual harassment, stalking, indecent exposure, voyeurism and sexual exploitation.”
  
• A copy of a restraining order or peace bond that says the alleged abuser cannot contact the tenant or a child living with them.

The tenant can send the landlord an N15 at any time during the tenancy, with 28 days notice. Unlike other notices to end tenancy, the termination date on an N15 does not have to the last day of a rental period or of a fixed term lease.

Once the notice is served, the tenant does not have to wait for a response or for the landlord to agree – they can begin moving out immediately.

“They do have to make sure that all of their belongings are removed by the end of the notice period. So on the 28th day, all of your belongings must be removed. From that 28th day over, the landlord is no longer responsible for your belongings and anything else that’s left there is free game,” says Moran-Venegas.

In case of a joint tenancy, the other tenants on the lease can choose to sign the N15 but are not obligated to do so. If they choose to remain in the unit, their tenancies continue uninterrupted.

What the landlord should do

Moran-Venegas says landlords have two main responsibilities when they are served with an N15:

Maintain confidentiality

The landlord is required by law not to discuss N15s with anyone else.

“They can’t talk to anyone except their agents. So for example, if a landlord receives a notice and there’s some sort of reason they need to tell the superintendent or the property manager just to explain, this person is going to be moving out — that’s it. Nothing else can be explained or talked about,” she says.

The landlord’s agents are also expected to follow the same rules and cannot talk to any other people or tenants regarding the matter.

If the landlord or their agents break this rule, they can be taken to court and fined as much as $50,000 for an individual landlord and $250,000 for a company.

Do not list the unit immediately

The landlord cannot advertise the unit for rent in any identifiable way until the termination date has passed and the current tenant has moved out.

“You don’t add the unit number, no photos, nothing that a person could just do a Google search and find that the unit is for rent,” says Moran-Venegas.

The landlord also cannot show the unit to potential renters until the current tenant has moved out.

If the N15 was signed by all the tenants living in the unit and they do not move out by the termination date, the landlord can apply to the LTB to have the tenants listed in the notice evicted.

If the notice was served by only one or some of the tenants residing in the unit and they choose to stay, the notice is void and the landlord cannot file to evict them.

Moran-Venega says as far as possible in such cases, landlords should endeavour to be accommodating and considerate.

“It’s really about putting yourself in a situation where you’re supporting these people fleeing domestic violence or the children of these people fleeing domestic violence and trying your best to create [not only] a safe escape, but also a situation where they’re feeling protected — even in a very basic, minimal way — so that their plan can be executed properly,” she says.