Most tenants are covered by the Rent Act, which defines the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants. In general, tenants who rent a single or multi-bed room have the same rights as most other tenants in Ontario. However, when sharing a kitchen or bathroom with the owner or immediate family members of the owner, special rules apply. In addition, when a tenant rents a single or collective room to an educational institution such as a university, the institution may have specific rules or rights that are not the same under the Housing Tenancy Act. Rental contracts between tenants and landlords do not cover the rights and obligations of roommates. Roommate relationships are excluded from the Housing Act in all provinces and territories and disputes cannot be resolved by the Tenants Office. Room rent is always covered by the Housing Act, unless the carpenter is required to share the kitchen and/or bathroom with the owner, spouse, daughter or parent of the owner or the child or parent of the spouse. If this is the case, this type of rental would be excluded from the Housing Act. […] Most of the agreement is not legally binding. No judge will order your roommate to clean the bathroom on Wednesday. Your landlord is not allowed to impose roommate contracts, nor is the landlord and tenant. But if a serious dispute arises, you could end up taking your roommate to small claims for financial damages.

If this happens, the agreement can be priceless, because there is not much without clearly written terms that none of you can prove. Roommate agreements are a way to reconcile everyone`s expectations. The best roommate agreement is how you never see again, because the writing process has allowed you all to find a clear and shared understanding, avoid unspoken assumptions and solve many potentially controversial problems from the beginning. Be as specific as possible, especially on issues that are important to you. The more you can anticipate potential problems, the better prepared you are to deal with disagreements. Anticipate all kinds of “if” scenarios and develop a plan to solve them. What should you include in your roommate contract? A tenant sharing a kitchen or bathroom with the owner`s landlord or family is not allowed to reside on the site without the owner`s consent and can usually be evacuated at any time without notice. An exception is that the tenant enters into a verbal or written agreement with the landlord and the landlord breaks the contract by forcing a tenant to move prematurely or by dumping a tenant`s property.

In both cases, the tenant can sue the landlord in the Small Claims Court if he has evidence to prove his case. If the tenant has moved without paying rent as soon as bill 184 is proclaimed and Section 87 (1.1) of the Residential Tenants Act comes into effect, landlords can file an application for delay with the BTA within one year of the date the tenant leaves the tenancy unit. Apartmate has compiled a roommate agreement template that can be downloaded for free. This agreement was written on the province of Ontario, but could be amended for any province, territory or state. Please note that Apartmate is not a legal service and does not provide legal advice. Apartmate disclaims any liability for any loss or damage resulting from the use of this form. Ontario landlords who enter into a lease agreement written on or after April 30, 2018 are required to use the new standard form of rent, as it is mandatory for all written leases in Ontario.