An Update on Exterior Maintenance in Lease Agreements
By Zachary Soccio-Marandola · · View online →
The Legal Newsletter for Ontario REALTORS®
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If a tenant has exclusive use of an exterior area, the lease can assign maintenance responsibility to them. But if the area is an exterior common area, that responsibility can’t be shifted through the lease—a separate agreement is required.
Back in 2023, I wrote about exterior maintenance in residential lease agreements and the use of a "severable contract".
The issue was this: under the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), landlords are responsible for maintaining “common areas.”
So, any clause in