I am a Landlord. I have a tenant in my basement apartment. They have a separate entrance at the back of my house. It is a stairway down to the basement door. Once inside this door there is a door to a shared laundry room and their separate apartment door. They let leaves and small sticks etc. build up inside this area and in the outside stairwell down to the basement. Do they have any responsibility to keep these areas clean? This leaf buildup outside can block a drain at the bottom of these outdoor steps and cause basement flooding. and the mess just inside the door way is just that, a mess. Do I have to do all of the cleaning in these areas?
Hi there,
Thank you for sharing your question and situation with us, we appreciate your interest in this information.
The Landlord Self-Help Centre, has an article titled We rent three rooms and the tenants share the kitchen and bathroom- who is responsible for cleaning the shared areas? No one cleans, can I require a cleaning service be used?
In this article, they state:
The tenants are equally responsible for the ordinary cleanliness of the unit. A mutually-agreed upon cleaning schedule may be helpful to divide the workload between the three of them. You may hire a cleaning service, but it should be specified in the tenancy agreement (especially if the cleaners are going to be entering the rental unit at a designated time every month).
If a tenant is not fulfilling his or her cleanliness obligations under the Act, you may send a reminder letter letting your tenant know that they must keep the unit clean, a copy of section 33 of the Residential Tenancies Act can also be attached (which indicates the tenant is responsible for ordinary cleanliness of the rental unit). If the tenant still fails to comply then a N5 notice may be served.
In terms of the RTA, Tribunals Ontario says:
Keeping an untidy unit is not a reason to evict a tenant under the RTA** . However, if a tenant’s unit is so unclean that it is interfering with the reasonable enjoyment of the landlord or other tenants in the building, the tenant could be evicted for this reason.
Tenants do have a responsibility for cleanliness, and you can discuss your expectations for cleaning shared spaces with your tenant as a landlord. If you cannot come to a conclusion together on this matter, you may want to contact the nearest Community Legal Clinic for some advice regarding your situation. You can find the nearest one by using this tool by Legal Aid Ontario. You may also want to contact the Landlord’s Self Help Centre for some advice regarding your situation. The Landlord’s Self-Help Centre is a non-profit specialty community legal clinic funded by Legal Aid Ontario and mandated to provide support exclusively to Ontario’s small landlord community.
We hope this information is helpful. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to post them here.
Sincerely,
Your Settlement.Org Team