Gestion Richard -Joly Inc v O'Mahony
Tenant wins · Ottawa · 2025-06-12
- Adjudicator
- Trish Carson
- Dispute
- Personal Use
- Notice
- Personal use (N12)
- Landlord
- M.J., J.R., Gestion Richard -Joly Inc
- Tenant
- A.O.
- Landlord rep
- Michael Thiele
- Tenant rep
- Ahmad Alzameli
What happened
The Landlords, a corporation holding 99% ownership and two individuals holding 1%, applied to evict the Tenant for personal use. The Tenant argued the application should be dismissed, as previous eviction attempts by the corporate Landlord were dismissed. The Landlords had transferred a nominal 1% ownership to the individuals shortly before issuing a new N12 notice. The core issue was whether this transfer constituted a bad-faith attempt to circumvent the RTA's rules prohibiting corporations from evicting for personal use.
The ruling
The Landlord's application for an eviction for personal use is dismissed. The Board found that the transfer of a 1% ownership stake from the corporation to the individual landlords was a bad faith maneuver intended to circumvent the Residential Tenancies Act's prohibition against corporate landlords evicting for personal use. By assessing the 'real substance' of the transaction, the Board concluded the true landlord remained the corporation, invalidating the N12 notice.