KPA Lawyers – April 4, 2019
It can be frustrating to spend all of that time and money winning your shiny new Eviction Order from the Landlord and Tenant Board, only to discover that your tenant has appealed his or her case to the Divisional Court.
The effect of this appeal, as you might already be aware, is that your Eviction Order is “stayed” (cannot be enforced) until the appeal proceedings are concluded. If your tenant has a lawyer, which they often don’t, then you can expect the appeal to go on for some time. The process is not significantly different than the process involved in appealing a Small Claims Court decision.
On the other hand, if your tenant does not have a lawyer, it will be extremely unlikely that they will be able to complete the necessary requirements set out by the Rules of Civil Procedure to correctly advance his or her appeal. If your tenant seems to be suspiciously good at creating court documents and meeting deadlines but they don’t have a lawyer, then your tenant might secretly be using a lawyer who is not officially on the record and whose name does not appear on any letters or court documents,
Regardless of the circumstances, if you’ve been named as a Respondent to an appeal, it’s time to lawyer up. The Divisional Court will generally only reverse a decision if there was an error of law, or there was a serious error in the factual conclusions arrived by the Landlord and Tenant Board in light of the evidence.
Some of the documents your lawyer will need to prepare for you are as follows:
- Respondent’s Certificate Respecting Evidence
- Respondent’s Compendium
- Factum
- Book of Authorities
These documents are essentially not very different from the documents required by the Appellant in how they are structured; however, their function is obviously to establish that the appeal should be dismissed.
If your tenant has appealed an eviction order to the Divisional Court, you can book a telephone call us by clicking here.
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