A Tenant's Guide to Requesting Repairs the Right Way

Why how you ask matters

Under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, landlords have an ongoing legal obligation to maintain a rental unit and the residential complex in a good state of repair, fit for habitation, and compliant with health, safety, housing, and maintenance standards — regardless of what the lease says and regardless of whether the problem existed when the tenancy began. In practice, though, whether a repair actually gets made, and how quickly, often depends heavily on how the request was made in the first place. A vague text message is easy to lose track of, easy to forget, and hard to point back to later. A clear, specific, written request creates a record, starts a timeline, and puts the landlord on notice in a way that's difficult to dispute later — whether the issue resolves informally or ends up in front of the Landlord and Tenant Board.

Step one: always put the request in writing

A phone call or a conversation at the door might feel faster, but it leaves no record. Whenever possible, follow up any verbal request with something in writing — email is usually best, since it automatically carries a date and a record of delivery, though a text message or a letter can work too. State clearly that you're requesting a repair, not just mentioning a problem in passing. If your landlord or property manager has a specific maintenance request system or portal, use it, but also keep your own copy outside that system in case access to it changes later. If you already made a verbal request, a short follow-up like "confirming what we discussed on [date]: the bathroom ceiling is leaking and I'm requesting it be repaired" turns a conversation into a dated record.

Step two: be specific, factual, and unemotional

The most effective repair requests read like a short incident report, not a complaint letter. Describe exactly what's wrong, where it is, and when you first noticed it — "the kitchen faucet has been leaking steadily since March 2nd, and water is pooling under the sink" is far more useful than "the plumbing is a disaster." Where it's relevant, note anything that makes the issue more urgent, such as a safety concern, mould, lack of heat, or a pest problem, since these can carry different practical weight than a purely cosmetic issue. Avoid editorializing about the landlord's character or past behaviour in the request itself; keep that for your own private notes. A factual, specific record is more persuasive later, and it's also simply more useful for whoever actually ends up doing the repair.

Step three: give a reasonable, stated timeline

It generally helps to state, in the request itself, that you expect a response or a repair within a reasonable period, and to name a specific date if you can — for example, asking for a response within seven days, or sooner if the issue is urgent, such as no heat or no working smoke detector. This isn't about being confrontational; it's about creating a clear benchmark. If the landlord responds and gives a reasonable explanation for a delay — parts on order, a contractor scheduled — that's worth noting as well, since a landlord working in good faith toward a fix is generally treated differently than one who is simply not responding at all. What a stated timeline mainly protects against is the request quietly disappearing with no follow-up from either side.

Step four: document the problem and the property's response

Photos and, where useful, short videos are some of the most persuasive evidence in a repairs dispute, particularly for things like water damage, mould, pest activity, or disrepair that changes over time. Take dated photos when you first notice the problem and again periodically if it isn't fixed, so there's a visual record of how long it has persisted. Keep every piece of related correspondence in one folder — your original request, any reply, and notes of phone calls including the date and a summary of what was said. If a contractor or the landlord visits the unit, note the date and what, if anything, they did or said. None of this needs to be formal or polished; it mainly needs to exist and be organized.

Step five: escalate within the normal channels first

If an initial request goes unanswered, a reasonable next step is usually a polite, firm follow-up referencing the original request and date, rather than jumping straight to a formal complaint. If there's a property management company, a superintendent, and an owner, it's often worth trying each level in turn, since requests sometimes genuinely get lost between them. Keep every follow-up in writing as well. This stage isn't about giving the landlord unlimited chances — a landlord who simply never responds after repeated, clearly documented requests has generally had a fair opportunity — but working through reasonable internal channels first tends to put a tenant in a stronger position if the issue needs to go further, since it shows a pattern of good-faith attempts to resolve things directly.

Step six: escalate to the LTB when necessary

If reasonable follow-up doesn't produce results, a tenant generally has the right to apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board using a T6 application, which deals specifically with a landlord's failure to meet maintenance obligations. The LTB can order a range of remedies in a successful T6 case, which may include requiring the landlord to make the repair, and in some circumstances compensation to the tenant — though the Board decides remedies based on the specific facts and evidence presented, and no particular outcome is guaranteed. This is exactly where the written record built up over the preceding steps becomes most valuable: dated requests, photos, and a clear timeline of the landlord's response (or lack of one) are the core evidence in these applications.

What not to do while you wait

It can be tempting, especially with a serious or long-unresolved repair issue, to take matters into your own hands — withholding rent, making repairs yourself and deducting the cost without approval, or simply stopping communication with the landlord. Each of these carries real risk and can weaken an otherwise strong position, since a landlord may respond with their own application, and a tenant's own conduct can become part of what the LTB considers. The safer, and generally more effective, path is the one outlined above: documented requests, reasonable timelines, and escalation through the proper channels, including the LTB if it comes to that. Staying in your unit, continuing to pay rent as required, and keeping a clean paper trail generally puts a tenant in the strongest possible position if a repair dispute needs to be resolved formally.

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Reviewed by Ryan J. Manilla, BA, JD

Legal Reviewer · Landlord Tenant Ontario