The Ford government’s decision to scrap consultations on month-to-month leases closes a potential avenue to fix Ontario’s clogged Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB), according to a group representing small landlords.
Housing Minister Rob Flack on Sunday backtracked on the Ford government’s plans to consult on changes to Ontario’s long-standing “security of tenure” rules, a move critics warned might undermine rent control protections.
“Residents expect stability and predictability in Ontario’s rental market, and now is not the time to consider changes to this system,” Flack said in a statement posted on X.
Instead, the province will “continue to implement common-sense reforms” to the LTB, including efforts to crack down on abuse of the system and encourage new rental construction.
The decision came just three days after the province floated the idea of giving landlords more “flexibility” to adjust tenancy arrangements based on “market conditions, personal needs, or business strategies.”
That suggestion drew swift backlash from tenant groups and housing advocates, who warned it could lead to the end of automatic lease renewals and ultimately weaken rent control protections.
But for small landlords, the government’s initial proposal would go a long way toward improving the LTB, and it was a long-awaited opportunity to address one of the system’s biggest failures: its massive backlog.
Boubah Bah, chair of the Small Ownership Landlords of Ontario (SOLO), said the LTB’s delays, often stretching six months to a year for simple eviction hearings, have driven many small property owners out of the market.
“That will resolve the backlog,” Bah said in an interview. “The backlog is for nonpayment of rent. If it’s straightforward, you won’t need a full hearing.”
Bah said that most cases before the LTB are tied to nonpayment of rent, and the current process, which can take up to 10 months for a decision, is punishing both landlords and good tenants.
“There is no justification that it can take six to nine to ten months for a nonpayment of rent,” he said. “What small landlords are asking for is a resolution within 30 or 45 days.”
Bah argues that clearing the backlog would not only free up adjudicators’ time but also improve fairness for tenants dealing with negligent landlords.
“The way the system is right now is not helping good landlords or good tenants,” he said. “It’s only helping those who abuse the process.”
He added that small landlords play an outsized role in providing homes to vulnerable Ontarians, including newcomers, people on social assistance, and young renters, groups often rejected by large corporate landlords with stricter criteria.
“Small landlords are the ones giving vulnerable people a chance,” Bah said. “The big corporations have their bureaucratic credit checks and policies. But small landlords will look at you like family.”
Many of these smaller landlords, however, have been exiting the rental market due to long delays at the LTB and the financial strain of unpaid rent.
“Once you go through this process, like when somebody didn’t pay you for 16 months and you can’t even collect the money, you don’t want to be a landlord anymore,” Bah said.
Tenant advocacy group ACORN Canada, meanwhile, has criticized the government’s broader reforms as being overly focused on landlord complaints rather than tenant protections.
The group had launched a campaign against the proposed lease consultations, calling them a “dangerous” move toward fixed-term leases that could have made it easier for landlords to evict tenants and raise rents.
The Ford government has faced mounting pressure to fix the LTB, which has been criticized for chronic understaffing, long delays, and an imbalance in how it handles cases from landlords versus tenants.
In April, the Auditor General reported that nearly 70,000 applications were waiting to be processed, with the average landlord application taking 10 months to reach a hearing.
Flack said the government’s priority now will be restoring “balance” to the LTB while ensuring Ontario’s rental housing market remains stable.
