Retirement Home Care and Services are Not Regulated by the Government
Unlike LTCHs where the care and services are regulated and subject to inspections by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, retirement homes are not subject to any similar Ministry oversight.
If you have complaints or concerns about your care in a LTCH, you can call the Long-Term Care ACTION Hotline. Your complaint will be forwarded to a compliance advisor who must investigate all complaints about LTCHs. If a complaint is verified, the home is required to resolve the issue in a manner agreed to by the Ministry.
No compliance system exists for retirement homes. However, the industry operates the Retirement Homes Complaints Response and Information Service (CRIS). Although funded by the provincial government, CRIS is operated by the Ontario Retirement Communities Association (ORCA), a voluntary trade association for retirement homes. While Information Officers may assist retirement home tenants with complaints, this service is not arms-length from the industry and they have no authority to require the retirement home landlord to rectify the problem.
“Security of Tenure” for Retirement Home Tenants
As a tenant of a retirement home, you cannot be required to move out unless you choose to do so or the landlord has obtained an eviction order from the Landlord and Tenant Board pursuant to the RTA. The ordinary grounds for eviction that apply in any other tenancies apply to tenancies in retirement homes (e.g., eviction for non-payment of rent).
However, there is an additional ground of eviction for care home residents. A retirement home landlord may apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board for an order “transferring a tenant out of a care home and evicting the tenant” if the tenant no longer requires the level of care provided by the landlord or the tenant requires a level of care that the landlord is not able to provide.
The Board may only issue such an order if: (a) it is satisfied that appropriate alternate accommodation is available for the tenant; and (b) the level of care that the landlord is able to provide when combined with available community-based services cannot meet the tenant’s care needs. If you agree to live in a retirement home pending admission to a LTCH, and you are either a subtenant or your care services are being paid by another party (i.e., the hospital), you should get confirmation that you will not be evicted if your care needs increase and that your changing care needs will continue to be met until you are admitted to one of your chosen LTCHs.
Rent and Care Service Increases
A landlord of a retirement home may increase the rent charged on an annual basis by giving 90 days notice to tenants. The increase cannot exceed the rate set by the provincial government unless the landlord gets special permission from the Landlord and Tenant Board.
The landlord may increase the costs charged for care services more frequently than once a year. Unlike rent increases, there is no provincial guideline and no cap on the amount the care services may be increased. Tenants must be given 90 days notice in advance of any increase.
