Care Home and Tenants Rights

What is a Care Home?

 A care home is rented accommodation that provides care services. Such services include nursing care, prescription drug supervision, an emergency response system, transportation, incontinence care and assistance with daily activities (e.g., eating, bathing, dressing, and personal hygiene).

If you live in a care home, you have the same rights as other tenants under the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) to live in a safe, well-maintained home. Hospitals and long-term care homes (e.g. nursing homes) run by municipalities or Indian Band Councils do not qualify as care homes (however, elderly adults in such homes can take advantage of the home care Bill of Rights set out in the Long Term Care Act).

Care Home Information Packages

 Before you sign a tenancy agreement, your landlord must provide you with a Care Home Information Package (CHIP). This should include information such as:

  • How to make a complaint
  • Whether there is an emergency response system
  • The types of rental units and the cost
  • The types of care services available and their cost
  • Optional services available and their cost
  • The minimum number of staff that must be in the home at all times
  • Staff qualifications

Tenancy Agreements

As a tenant in a care home, you are also entitled to a written tenancy agreement which outlines your rent, the cost of meals and care services, your right to consult an outside party about the agreement and your right to cancel the agreement by written notice to the landlord within five days.

You may end your tenancy agreement at any time with 30 days’ notice to your landlord. You may also cancel meals and services before your tenancy ends by giving 10 days’ notice to your landlord.

Eviction Based on Care Needs

As a care home tenant, you may be evicted due to change in your condition or needs. The Tenants Board must hold a hearing when your landlord must provide you with thirty days of notice of the hearing.

To make a decision in favor of your landlord, he or she must prove to the Board that:

  • Your needs cannot be met by the landlord’s care services, even when combined with other services available in your community; and
  • Appropriate alternative accommodations are available.

Your landlord cannot therefore evict you unless you can move into the alternative accommodation on the same day that you move out of your current home.

If you do not wish to move, you must provide written notice to the Board expressing this wish.  The Board is also required to offer mediation to you and your landlord.

 

Related Posts

Guardianships

One important reason to make a Will is to appoint a guardian and custodian for your minor children, in case you pass away before they reach the age of majority (18 in Ontario). What Can You Do in Your Will? Many people assume that when you name a guardian and custodian in your Will, that

Read More »

Kates Estate – Decision of Justice Gans

Blog – Kates Estate – Decision of Justice Gans – 18 November 2020  Yesterday Justice Gans released his decision in the Kates Estate.  A hard fought case heard over 9 days in September and October. In his usual edifying choice of words Justice Gans, in particular, had the opportunity to put into practice what he

Read More »

Choosing an Estate Trustee

An estate trustee (also known as an executor) is the person or trust company appointed by you in your Will who upon your death realizes your assets, pays off debts, and distributes your property in accordance with your Will. The estate trustee is chosen when you make your Will, but may be changed as circumstances

Read More »

What is a Gift?

In McNamee v McNamee, the Ontario Court of Appeal outlined the constituent elements of a legally valid intervivos gift (a gift made during one’s lifetime). For there to be a gift, there must be a: Intention to make a gift on the part of the donor, without consideration or expectation of remuneration; Acceptance of the

Read More »

Passing of Accounts

Passing of Accounts Estate Trustees are required to keep accurate and up-to-date accounts of the estate or trusts they are administering. Obtaining the court’s approval of these accounts is a process known as “passing of accounts”. The court’s approval is not always required, but in certain circumstances a passing of accounts is necessary. These instances

Read More »

Registered Education Savings Plans (RESP)

An RESP is an investment vehicle that allows parents to save for their children’s future education beyond high school. The plan is essentially a contract between two parties – the subscriber and the promoter. The subscriber contributes to the plan and the promoter makes payments to the named beneficiaries in the form of educational assistance

Read More »
Scroll to Top