The recent Court of Appeal decision in Crete v. Ottawa Community Housing Corporation confirmed that the landlord was not liable for damages caused by a slip and fall on ice in a townhouse complex in an area used exclusively by individual tenants, where the lease required the tenant to clear snow and ice.
Background and Decision Below
The plaintiff, Daniel Crete, alleged the landlord property owner was responsible for injuries he sustained when he slipped and fell on ice on the front step of a townhouse the Crete family rented. The corporate landlord denied liability for the injuries, citing a provision in the lease which assigned responsibility to the Cretes for clearing snow from their front steps. The landlord brought a counterclaim against the Cretes as occupiers of the rented premises and on the basis of the requirement in the lease that they clear snow on the front steps.
The Cretes brought a motion for summary judgment seeking dismissal of the counterclaim. The landlord brought a cross-motion for the dismissal of the Cretes’ action, summary judgement on the counterclaim and a declaration that the Cretes were responsible for winter maintenance of the property. The motions judge found that the provision in the lease requiring the Cretes to clear snow and ice from the front steps was not inconsistent with the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (the “RTA”) and regulations therein. Therefore, the Cretes were in fact responsible for clearing snow and ice from the townhouse’s front steps, where the incident occurred. The Cretes appealed the decision, arguing the provision in the lease was inconsistent with the RTA.
Analysis
The Maintenance Standards Regulation under the RTA requires a landlord to maintain the “exterior common areas” free from unsafe accumulations of snow and ice. The snow removal provision written into the Cretes’ lease required them to clear snow and ice from the front steps of the townhouse, an area which the motions judge found was used exclusively by them. As this assessment was a finding of mixed fact and law, reviewable on a standard of palpable and overriding error, and as there was an “extensive evidentiary record supporting the motion judge’s interpretation”, it was entitled to deference.
The Cretes argued that the Maintenance Standards Regulation under the RTA defined “exterior common areas” as including “grounds for the use of tenants” and therefore would necessarily include the townhouse front steps. The Court found however, that this argument “effectively reads out” the word ‘common’ from the definition of “exterior common areas” and stated that the motions judge correctly found that “grounds for use of tenants” in the definition of ‘exterior common areas’ must be grounds intended to be used by tenants in common”.
Significance
Due to the provision in the lease requiring the tenants to remove snow and ice from the front steps, an area found to be used exclusively by the tenants, the corporate landlord was deemed not liable for Daniel Crete’s injuries. As a result of this decision, in future premises liability claims involving tenants, it will be necessary to review the terms of any lease agreement in connection with the facts to ascertain who may be liable for the incident.
