After you Move in


Maintenance and Repairs

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Your landlord must provide and maintain your unit in a good state of repair and fit for habitation. He or she must ensure that your unit complies with health, safety, housing and maintenance standards. Your landlord must repair anything that doesn't work properly or breaks as a result of reasonable wear and tear.

If you or your guest damage or break anything on purpose or through negligence, you are responsible for repairing it or paying to have it fixed. Check with the Legal Centre if your unit needs maintenance or repairs and you aren't sure who is responsible.

If there is a problem with your unit, talk to your landlord and ask him or her to have it fixed. If this doesn't work, write a letter asking the landlord to fix the problem. Keep a copy of any letters you send, and take photos of the things that need repairing. Keep notes if you speak to your landlord showing the date and what you talked about

If your landlord still does not fix the problem, DO NOT stop paying part or all of your rent. You could be evicted for not paying your rent.

Contact the Peterborough Community Legal Centre for advice. The Legal Centre can give you advice on whom to call to get action. They may also help you make an application to the Landlord Tenant Board. The Board can order the landlord to fix the problem and can order the landlord to pay you some money. The Legal Centre can also help you make an application to the Landlord Tenant Board to move out early if you are having serious problems with the landlord or the unit


Property Standards

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If your landlord does not fix the problem after you have asked in writing, you can contact the city or your township to ask for an inspection by the Property Standards or By-Law Enforcement Officer. You will need to make your complaint in writing. In the city, the Property Standards Officer can be contacted by calling the city at (705) 742-7777. Please note there is one Officer for the entire city.

Property Standards & Maintenance will follow up on complaints about the maintenance of the building, including problems like broken windows, unsafe stairs, holes in walls, or broken furnaces or appliances (supplied by landlord). They will also look into complaints about the property outside the building, including garbage and junk, long grass, snow and ice, or junker cars.

Property Standards also deals with pests (e.g. mice or cockroaches). In the townships, contact your township office for the local By-Law Enforcement and/or Property Standards Officer. Go to Local Services for website links and contact numbers for the townships and the city. You have to make your complaint in writing. The City of Peterborough has a Building Complaint Form which you can download here or pick up at City Hall. Many townships have Complaint Forms available at the township office or on their websites.

You can also write a letter about your complaint. The letter should include:

  • Your name
  • Your address
  • Contact information
  • Brief description of the problem
  • Landlord's name and contact information

Make sure you clearly list the problems in your complaint. Generally the Officer will only look at the problems listed on the form or in your letter. You can drop off your complaint or mail, fax or e-mail it to City Hall or your township office.

The Property Standards or By-Law Enforcement Officer will come to your home to inspect the things you've mentioned in your complaint. Please note someone needs to be home to let the Officer into your home to do the inspection. If the Officer finds problems, he or she will write a letter to the landlord giving them a time limit to fix the problem. You will need to let the Officer into your home again to check to see if the landlord has fixed the problem. If the problem isn't fixed, the Officer will follow up with the landlord and can issue an order and go to court to make the landlord do the repairs.

You can ask the Property Standards or By-Law Enforcement Officer for a copy of the letter sent to the landlord about the repairs. This letter gives you proof of the maintenance problems, and can be used if you want to file a Maintenance application with the Board.


Health Unit

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If you do not have enough heat because your landlord or another tenant keeps the heat too low, call the Health Unit at 743-1000. You can also call the Health Unit if you are having severe problems with mold.


Contact the Peterborough Community Legal Centre, or go to CLEO or ACTO for more information on tenants’ rights and responsibilities.

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