Suite Meters, Landlords and the Residential Tenancies Act
Mark Mikulasik
November 4, 2011
Recent changes to the Residential Tenancies Act may see landlords, or solicitors acting on a rental property transfer, in a bit of trouble if they don’t follow the new rules.
Suite meters are electrical meters that can be installed in a residential unit to measure the electricity used in each individual unit. These meters allow each individual tenant to pay his electricity costs directly to the energy provider, instead of to the landlord, based on actual consumption.
If a landlord chooses to install a suite meter, tenants can choose to pay their electricity costs separate from rent, allowing them to know exactly how much energy they use and to effectively manage that consumption.
If a landlord wishes to install a suite meter for the residential unit there are different rules that must be followed depending whether there are current tenants in the unit; whether there are prospective tenants looking at moving into the unit; and whether the unit is heated electrically, as well as other considerations.
While landlords have the sole discretion whether to install suite meters, they require the informed and written consent of existing tenants before they can start to bill them for their own electricity. If a tenant currently pays rent that includes energy costs, when a suite meter is installed, the landlord must lower the rent accordingly, if written consent has been obtained from the tenant.
If a suite meter has been installed in a unit, there are conservation and efficiency obligations that must be addressed by the landlord when the landlord provides or replaces a refrigerator in the unit. As well, there may also be other electrical consumption disclosures required by landlords when seeking consent of current tenants, including:
- rent reduction amounts and how they are calculated;
- suite meter provider contract information, security deposit policy (if applicable), fees, and charges including any planned increases
- Ontario Energy Board contract information
- Overdue electricity cost disconnection policy
- If a refrigerator is provided by the landlord, the energy efficiency rating of that refrigerator
In addition, there are special rules that will apply to landlords who decide to allocate utilities from a central meter as opposed to meters for each individual unit. Furthermore, the ability of a landlord to evict a tenant due to non-payment of rent may be impacted depending on whether utilities are included where suite metering applies. There are also additional rules surrounding whether landlords may temporarily interrupt electricity service to install suite meters, if heat to the rental unit will be affected and notice requirements for many of the above circumstances.
If landlords breach their obligations as to consent, installation, energy standards, disclosure of information or rent reductions, they could be open to the following court orders:
- abatement of rent;
- repair or replacement of work;
- cost of repair or replacement of work by the landlord to the tenant;
- reduction of rent by a specific amount and order the appropriate rebate
- any other order that the court considers appropriate
For these reasons, landlords and solicitors acting on a rental property transfer should ensure the new rules and disclosures have been identified and complied with and that the appropriate steps have been taken.
Weilers team of expert lawyers and support staff are available to provide complete Real Estate Law assistance to vendors, purchasers, developers, landlords, tenants, lenders and borrowers.
To discuss this issue further or if you have any other questions regarding real estate please do not hesitate to contact any member of our Real Estate Law Group:
| Paul Jasiura | (807)625-8881 | email wmnlaw%23com|pjasiura |
| Deborah Humphreys | (807)625-8894 | email wmnlaw%23com|dhumphre |
| Ross Judge | (807)625-8888 | email wmnlaw%23com|rjudge |
| Nick Melchiorre | (807)625-8883 | email wmnlaw%23com|nmelchio |
