Chalich v. Alhatam: Can a landlord evict a tenant during the COVID-19 crisis?
Chalich v. Alhatam, 2020 ONSC 2569
Background
On March 19th, 2020, the Chief Justice of the Superior Court announced that during the suspension of normal court operations, all residential evictions will be adjourned in Ontario, unless the courts grant special permission. In other words, an eviction will not be considered unless the landlord applies to the court and is granted authorization to execute the eviction. The order was put into place to protect tenants who have lost their jobs due to COVID-19 and are unable to fully meet their rent obligations.
Family Law Issue
Can the landlord enforce an eviction order that existed before the moratorium Order by the Chief Justice?
Facts
In this case, the landlord completed an agreement of purchase and sale for the condominium occupied by the tenant, Mr. Alhatam, in August 2019. The completion of the sale was set for October 31st, 2019, where the landlord was supposed to deliver the vacant unit.
Mr. Chalich brought an urgent motion to enforce an eviction order that was issued prior to the moratorium Order by the Chief Justice.
The tenant had originally agreed to move out of the existing apartment by April 30th, 2020. However, due to the circumstances surrounding COVID-19, the tenant’s new rental unit would not be ready on May 1st, 2020 because the existing tenant would not have vacated the unit by that point in time.
The landlord brought a motion under Rule 60.17, arguing that the tenant had already obtained multiple extensions to vacate the unit and that if the premises were not vacated, then the landlord would be at risk of breaching the contract with his new purchaser.
Conclusion & Analysis
The judge decided that the risk of breaching the contract was clearly outweighed by the damage that would be caused by evicting the tenant and leaving him and his family with no place to go.
Urgent evictions will only be granted for emergencies (i.e. illegal acts or extreme threats to safety). The court stated:
“… the clear intent of the Chief Justice’s eviction moratorium was, during the pandemic, to prevent evictions even though the moratorium could be expected to cause significant economic disruption and adverse financial effects … the primary interest protected is ensuring that everyone stays home and stays healthy during the lockdown period.”
In conclusion, although the tenant was not evicted, he was ordered to communicate with the new landlord throughout the month of May 2020 to ensure that the new unit would be ready by June 1st, 2020. If the tenant is unable to obtain confirmation from the new landlord that the new rental unit will be ready by June 1st, then the current landlord could bring another motion.
