Rent Strikes: What to Know Before You Withhold Rent

Rent strikes in Canada have received their fair share of media attention the last two years, with frustrated tenants banding together to extract concessions from multiple landlords.

A rent strike can seem like an appealing, even exciting, last resort, but withholding your rent as a bargaining tactic is a risky strategy — and success isn’t guaranteed.

To fully understand the implications of a rent strike, look at it from both a moral and legal vantage point so you can balance what feels right with what the law allows.

What constitutes a legitimate rent strike?

There’s no checklist renters can consult to know if or when a rent strike is advisable.

Insufficient building maintenance, illegal rent increases and suspicious orders to vacate are aggravating, but at what point does a rent strike become an acceptable strategy?

“In our view any rent strike is legitimate,” the York South-Weston Tenant Union, which has been involved in several Toronto-based rent strikes, said in an email. “We don’t know anyone who has gone on rent strike…to avoid paying rent.”

The law has a different view. As wrong as a landlord might be in a given instance, rent strikes are not technically a legal option, Raymond MacDonald, a LegalShield lawyer at Mills and Mills LLP in Toronto, said by email.

MacDonald said that in Ontario, where most of Canada’s rent strikes have taken place, the closest thing to a legitimate rent strike occurs when tenants apply to the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board and obtain permission to pay rent to the Board rather than the landlord while a dispute is being investigated. (This approach should apply to tenancy tribunals in other provinces too, he said.)

By involving a tenant board, you avoid paying your landlord without falling behind on your rent payments.

Risk vs. reward

Even if it’s based on a principled fight for justice, a rent strike still involves breaking a contract, which can expose you to legal consequences.

“The landlord may apply to the Board to seek the eviction of the tenants for non-payment of rent or for repeatedly paying rent late,” MacDonald said.

If a hearing results and rent remains unpaid, the Board may order an eviction. In some cases, these evictions might be reversed if rent and the costs incurred by the landlord for bringing the eviction application are paid in full.

But that wiggle room doesn’t exist if your rent is repeatedly late and you’ve been asked to vacate at the end of a lease period.

“The Board may evict even if rent is paid in full at the time of the hearing,” MacDonald said.

Another risk of a rent strike is that a landlord goes bankrupt or defaults on their mortgage trying to meet the demands of their tenants.

“Should the property fall into the hands of a bank or receiver, it may be even more difficult to obtain the services the tenant desires,” MacDonald said, adding that the new owners may change the use of the building and legally evict all the tenants, with minimal compensation.

But a fear of the risks involved shouldn’t deter people from fighting for what they feel they deserve, including tenant protections and changes to certain laws, the YSW Tenant Union said.

“There is always a risk of eviction in our society, whether you do a rent strike or not,” they said. “In the case of collective fights like a rent strike, you are more protected by the sheer numbers of people participating, and the common arguments that you are making to a landlord.”

De-escalation tactics

If a landlord fails to meet their responsibilities, and is unwilling to take accountability or action, it’s important to explore alternative paths to a resolution.

“The legal or legitimate thing to do is to file an application with the appropriate Board to address the issues with the rental property or landlord,” MacDonald said.

It’s a process that comes with its own bureaucracy-induced headaches, but by seeking your tenant board’s assistance, you may be able to:

Pay your rent to the board.
Get a hearing where the landlord is ultimately ordered to rectify the issue at hand.
Receive compensation or other remedies.
Settle with your landlord and arrange a mutual termination of your tenancy.

MacDonald said renters can also form a tenant association and apply for remediation as a group. In Ontario, it’s illegal for landlords to harass tenants who organize or participate in a tenants association.

There’s also the option of complaining to local authorities if a landlord is suspected of violating public health rules or city by-laws.

“Tenants should be wary, however, as the city or public health may condemn the property, which could lead to the tenant becoming homeless with short notice,” MacDonald said.

The YSW Tenant Union feels that avoiding a rent strike is a responsibility that falls squarely on a landlord’s shoulders.

“The main way to avoid rent strikes is [for landlords] to respect rent control, maintain apartments in good living conditions and listen to tenants when issues arise. Often rent strikes happen because landlords (and governments who support them) do not respect their tenants and do not want to sit down with a collective of tenants with common demands,” the group said.

When you’re out of options

If you do choose to participate in a rent strike, the YSW Tenant Union offered the following guidance:

Harness the power of numbers. “Rent strikes are collective acts, and that’s what gives the action its true power. [Tenants] should consider other tenants going through the same issues, either in their building, in their neighbourhood or with the same landlord.”
Know what you want. “Practically, it is very important that people who will do a rent strike have a clear set of demands to which a landlord needs to respond.”
Withheld rent shouldn’t be spent. “It’s important that people put the money aside and save it, since it’s going to be their strongest defence in the case the landlord does not want to negotiate.”

However you decide to approach a landlord-tenant dispute, speaking with a legal professional should still be part of the process.

A lawyer might not tell you what you want to hear, and they’re not likely to join you on the picket line, but they’ll give you a full understanding of what could be in store for you and your fellow tenants.