Williams v. Toronto (City)

Tenant wins · 2016-09-12

Adjudicator

Sharpe J.A.

Dispute

Failure To Provide Notice

Landlord

T.C.O.T.C.O.T.

Tenant

T.W.

Landlord rep

Diana Dimmer, Christopher J. Henderson

Tenant rep

Brendan van Niejenhuis, Justin Safayeni

What happened

Tenant brought a class action against the City for damages for negligence, alleging that the class members overpaid rent because the City failed to provide timely notice to the tenants of rent reductions due to property tax changes.

The ruling

The Court of Appeal dismissed the City's appeal, upholding the lower court's finding that the City owed a duty of care to the class members to provide notices of tax reductions as required by legislation. The Court found that the relationship between the City and tenants through the Parkdale Pilot Project created sufficient proximity to establish a duty of care, and that no residual policy considerations negated this duty. The City's failure to send required notices without excuse fell below the standard of care.