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. White v. Upper Thames River Conservation Authority
In White v. Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (Ont CA, 2022) the Court of Appeal considered a land lease case, appealed from the LBT and through the Divisional Court. The original issue was the application of the RTA to the lots given that the lease called for seasonal periods of non-occupancy, a provision that had been waived extensively in practice. At the CA it was agreed that the RTA applied, and the only issue was the legality of the non-occupancy period provisions (the court held against their legality):The Residential Tenancies Act
[8] The purpose of the Act, as set out in s. 1, is to "provide protection for residential tenants from unlawful rent increases and unlawful evictions, to establish a framework for the regulation of residential rents, to balance the rights and responsibilities of residential landlords and tenants and to provide for the adjudication of disputes and for other processes to informally resolve disputes."
[9] The Act governs more than the rental of apartments in apartment buildings. It also governs situations in which tenants own the homes in which they live but rent the land on which those homes sit – the situation in this case. The Act defines a “land lease home” as a dwelling that is “a permanent structure where the owner of the dwelling leases the land used or intended for use as the site for the dwelling”. The general terms of the Act apply to land lease homes along with a number of specific provisions that cover land lease homes and communities, none of which are germane to this appeal.
[10] The Act is remedial legislation designed to redress the imbalance of power between landlords and tenants. It removes leases from the ordinary contract law principles that would otherwise govern and establishes extensive statutory rights for tenants. The Act enjoys primacy over all other legislation, save the Ontario Human Rights Code, and the parties are prohibited from waiving or limiting the protection the Act provides. The key legislative provisions in this regard are ss. 3 and 4:3 (1) This Act, except Part V.1, applies with respect to rental units in residential complexes, despite any other Act and despite any agreement or waiver to the contrary.
(4) If a provision of this Act conflicts with a provision of another Act, other than the Human Rights Code, the provision of this Act applies.
4 (1) Subject to subsection 12.1(11) and section 194, a provision in a tenancy agreement that is inconsistent with this Act or the regulations is void.
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