Last week the provincial government extended the state of
emergency and amended Ontario Regulation 73/20 which suspends limitation
periods and procedural time periods effective March 16, 2020. The suspension
was originally tied to the provincial state of emergency. The regulation has
now been de-coupled from the emergency order so that limitation periods can be
re-instated before the state of emergency ends. Presently the suspension of
limitation periods will end September 11, 2020, unless further
extended.
The effect of the limitation period suspension was to allow
parties additional time to file their applications, serve hearing documents,
and in the case of written hearings to file submissions. This additional time
does not extend the proposed effective date of an AGI or the underlying 18
month period in which to claim for capital expenditures in an AGI application.
Landlords should continue to track the eligible claim period to ensure they
prepare the application for timely submission to the LTB and serve the
appropriate 90 day notice of rent increase to implement the increase
commensurate with effective date of the AGI.
The Board has currently postponed all in-person AGI hearings.
The province intends to gradually resume in-person court appearances after July
6th; however, there has been no definitive timetable for appearances
before the LTB.
Due to the suspension of limitation periods it is unlikely the
Board will issue any notices for written hearings for AGIs & A4
applications until the suspension is lifted (September 11th?).
Finally, the Board has reversed its policy with respect to AGI & A4 Orders that have been processed but were awaiting mailing to the parties. The Board will no longer mail these decisions. Instead, the Board will issue a directive requiring the landlord to serve the tenants with a copy of the decision, typically within 14 days of the date of the Order.