THIEN INVESTMENTS INC. v PHUNG

Tenant wins · North York · 2025-11-12

Adjudicator

Trish Carson

Dispute

Illegal Act

Notice

Illegal act or trade (N6)

Landlord

Thien Investments Inc

Tenant

T.T.P., H.P.T.N.

Landlord rep

Eric Steiman

What happened

The Landlord applied to terminate the tenancy alleging the Tenants committed an illegal act by operating an Airbnb business from the rental unit. The Landlord claimed this violated the lease agreement and negatively impacted the property's insurance. The Tenants admitted to the activity but argued they held a valid city license for short-term rentals and were not in breach of the law.

The ruling

The Landlord's application to terminate the tenancy was dismissed. The adjudicator ruled that the Tenants' operation of an Airbnb, while a violation of the lease agreement, does not constitute an 'illegal act' under the Residential Tenancies Act because the Tenants held a valid municipal license. Additionally, there was no evidence that the total rent collected from Airbnb exceeded the lawful rent paid to the Landlord.