Summary#

Bill 97, the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, 2023, is an enacted law that amends seven Ontario Acts, including the Planning Act and the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006. Its stated goal is to address housing and development; that is a goal, not a guaranteed result. Some changes need regulations or a proclamation to take effect.

• The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing may make rules governing municipal powers over demolition or conversion of residential rental properties. Regulations may authorize municipalities to require landowners to make payments or provide compensation.
• The Minister may appoint up to four Deputy Provincial Land and Development Facilitators. If a Facilitator or Deputy is directed to work on land, the Minister may order its owner to enter into agreements with the Minister or a municipality. Until the agreements are made, the order restricts how the land may be used or changed.
• A ministerial order permitting a use may say that provincial policy statements, provincial plans and official plans do not apply to permits or other matters needed to establish that use.
• Tenants get a conditional right to install and use a window or portable air conditioner where the landlord does not supply air conditioning. Other tenancy changes address renovation notices and tenants’ right to return after renovations.
• The law changes planning rules, including the definition of “area of employment,” and changes when municipalities must refund certain planning fees. Some refund obligations for applications received before July 1, 2023 are cancelled.

What it means for you#

• Tenants: You may install and use a window or portable air conditioner, subject to the law, safety conditions and possible prescribed exceptions. You must notify the landlord in writing first. If your landlord supplies electricity under the tenancy agreement, the landlord may increase rent to cover the electricity cost, unless your agreement rules this out. The increase is limited to the actual cost or, if that cannot be established, a reasonable estimate. Rent must decrease if you remove the unit or stop using it seasonally.
• Tenants facing renovations: For a qualifying renovation notice, the landlord must include a report from a person with prescribed qualifications. The report must say vacant possession is needed; without it, the notice is void. The Landlord and Tenant Board must consider the report but is not bound by it. If you claim a right of first refusal to return, the landlord must give specified updates and at least 60 days to exercise that right once the unit is ready.
• Landlords: The law creates a rebuttable presumption of bad faith in certain cases when the specified people do not occupy a unit within a period to be set by regulation. Maximum fines under the Act rise to $100,000 for an individual and $500,000 for a corporation.
• Landowners subject to a minister’s order: You may have to enter into agreements and provide or pay for things beyond what other listed Acts require. An agreement may be registered against the land and enforced against later owners. Until required agreements are made, restrictions apply to land use, construction and other changes.
• Homebuyers: The Act does not create a direct homebuyer payment or benefit.
• Municipalities: Regulations may limit municipal powers over rental-property demolition or conversion, set by-law and permit requirements, and authorize payments or compensation from landowners. A regulation under these provisions prevails over conflicting provisions of other Acts or regulations.
• Taxpayers and applicants: The law requires the Deputy Minister to appoint provincial building inspectors. It also changes some municipal planning-fee refund rules; the materials do not establish the overall effect on any one applicant.

Money#

No publicly available information.

• The supplied material gives no overall public cost, staffing cost, savings or revenue estimate.
• Some planning applications received before July 1, 2023 no longer qualify for the specified fee refunds. Later refunds may be excluded by regulation.
• A landlord may collect a limited rent increase for electricity used by an air conditioner in the circumstances described above.

What is unclear#

• The supplied material says the entire Residential Tenancies Act schedule starts on a day set by proclamation. It does not give that date. Some Planning Act changes also require a proclamation; no date is provided.
• Regulations will set important details, including when a landlord may prohibit an air conditioner, the time period used for the bad-faith presumption, and some municipal rules and exceptions.
• The bill does not set an application or appeal process, timelines, or oversight rules for ministerial orders requiring landowner agreements.
• The source includes explanatory notes but not the current consolidated Acts. I could not verify every amendment against current law.

Case for#

• The bill appears intended to give the province more ways to coordinate development on land where provincial interests are involved.
• Agreements could let the Minister or a municipality address development-related matters for particular land. The bill also allows agreements to require more than payments or contributions required under other listed Acts.
• The tenant provisions add a right to use an air conditioner, set limits on related rent increases, and require landlords to provide information about a unit’s readiness after renovations.
• Requiring a report for certain renovation notices could give tenants and the Board evidence about whether vacant possession is needed.

Case against#

• The Minister’s powers are broad: an order can restrict land use until agreements are reached, and those agreements can require extra payments or contributions. The bill does not specify limits or a detailed process for setting them.
• An order can disapply provincial and local planning documents for matters needed to establish the permitted use. That may reduce the role those documents otherwise play in those matters.
• Many important rules are left to future regulations, so the practical effect on tenants, landlords, municipalities and landowners is not fully clear from the Act alone.
• A tenant’s air-conditioner right is subject to exceptions and safety rules, and a landlord may raise rent for electricity in some cases. The bill does not itself set all details of the exceptions or installation rules.