A lease is a contract between a landlord and tenant in which the tenant agrees to pay rent for the right to live in a rental unit provided by the landlord. Under the HSA Reg. 367 Sec. 100, the City of Toronto may establish local standards regarding leases and occupancy agreements. Social housing providers must comply with City Guideline 2007-2
You are required to establish an occupancy agreement that meets the legislated requirements of the HSA and City of Toronto Local Standards. Under the legislation, every household that rents or occupies a Rent-Geared-to-Income (RGI) unit in your project must enter into a lease or occupancy agreement.
Steps
- Ensure that your corporation’s process requires that every household sign a lease.
- For each household, make sure their file contains a completed and signed lease.
- Review your lease and update it as necessary in order to ensure compliance with the legislation.
Lease requirements
- The term of the lease must not exceed one year.
- The lease must specify
- the amount of rent that would be payable if the unit were a market unit
- the amount of geared-to-income rent payable for one month by the household
- all other charges that you as the housing provider may impose under the HSA, its Regulations or the Residential Tenancies Act.
- The lease must:
- restrict the occupancy of the unit to the members of the household at the time the lease is entered into and any additional persons whose occupation of the unit is agreed to subsequently by you
- require the household to advise you of anyone who no longer occupies the unit or begins to occupy the unit after the lease is executed, and prohibit the assignment of the lease
- prohibit the household from renting or subletting the unit to any person.
- The lease must state that the amount of the geared-to-income rent payable by the household may change if the household’s financial circumstances change and you determine
- that the amount of the geared-to-income rent payable by the household should change, or
- that the household is no longer eligible for rent-geared-to-income assistance.
- The lease must be executed by every individual
- whose income is taken into consideration in determining the amount of rent payable by the household, or
- who is a member of the household and at least 16 years of age.
Ensure the policy is followed
Follow up with the staff responsible for the administration of leases whenever there is a change in legislation.
Ask staff if all tenants have signed a lease.
