Does your landlord want to evict you? read this before moving out.

So your lanlord wants to evict you.

According to Ryan Hardy, a staff lawyer at the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, the best you can do is “fight like hell to stay there and fully exercise your legal rights to challenge the eviction."

Ideally, you’d get a lawyer early on or access a legal clinic for free advice (although there are income limits for those who are eligible).

If you think you were evicted in bad faith — meaning your landlord was dishonest in order to evict you — there may be legal recourse for you, too.

Here’s what you need to know about evictions and how to protect yourself.

You don’t need to move out just because your landlord gave you an eviction notice

There are several steps that must take place before a tenant can legally be evicted, with some exceptions, Hardy explained.

Typically, the landlord must first give the tenant an eviction notice. Although many tenants believe this is enough to be forced out, it is “only the first step” in what can be a lengthy process, Hardy explained, and the tenant has many opportunities throughout that process to fight the eviction.

The time period an eviction notice gives a tenant to leave “is a bare minimum chosen by your landlord, not a legal timeline you have to obey,” Hardy emphasized. Landlords are required to give a certain number of days notice, but the landlord has to apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) to evict a tenant, and the board usually has to schedule a hearing where the tenant can make their case against the eviction.

Finally, the LTB must make an eviction order, which directs a sheriff to evict a tenant after a certain date. Ultimately, though, the tenant can stay until they receive the sheriff's order.

If a tenant disagrees with a decision, they can apply to review and/or appeal it. If the board agrees to review the case, it can temporarily lift the eviction order until a definitive decision is made at a hearing.

Read the rest of the article here.