The storm flooded your rental. Now there's mould. Who fixes it, who pays, and where the record lives
A week after Toronto's September 2 storm, tenants are finding wet drywall, musty smells and black spots behind the baseboards. Here's what Ontario law requires of your landlord, when the City will step in, what a relocation actually costs you, and how to check whether your building has been here before.
The September 2 storm dumped well over 100 mm of rain on parts of Toronto in a few hours, flooded basements across the city and cut power to tens of thousands of Toronto Hydro customers. A week on, the water is gone and the second problem is arriving: damp drywall, swollen baseboards, that smell, and — in the worst cases — visible mould. The r/OntarioLandlord threads this week are full of the same three questions. Who has to fix this? Do I keep paying rent? And if I have to move out, who pays for that?
This is general information, not legal advice. Your local community legal clinic can advise on your specific situation.
Your landlord has to fix it — even if the storm wasn't their fault
Section 20 of Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act makes the landlord responsible for keeping the unit "in a good state of repair and fit for habitation," and for meeting health, safety and maintenance standards. It doesn't matter what the lease says, and it doesn't matter whether the landlord caused the damage. A 100-year storm is nobody's fault; the wet drywall is still the landlord's to deal with.
Mould is treated as a repair problem, not a cleaning problem, when it comes from a building defect or water intrusion — a leaking roof, a failed sump, water coming in through the foundation. Your obligation as a tenant is ordinary cleanliness, plus not making things worse: keep windows open where you can, don't pile wet belongings against the wall, and report the damage in writing right away.
The City's own guidance on mould draws the practical line: patches under about 1 square metre can be cleaned by an occupant with household detergent; areas up to 3 square metres need proper precautions; anything 4 square metres or larger should be handled by a trained remediation professional — and in every case the water source has to be fixed or it comes back.
Put it in writing on day one
Every remedy below depends on a paper trail. Email or text the landlord the day you notice damage, describe it, attach photos, and ask for a repair date. Keep copies. CLEO publishes a free tenant repair-request form if you want a template. If other units in the building flooded too, compare notes — a building-wide problem is much harder for a landlord to wave away, and much easier to escalate.
The storm is the landlord's problem to fix. The record of what you reported, and when, is yours to keep.
When to call 311
If the landlord isn't moving, Toronto's Municipal Licensing & Standards enforces the Property Standards bylaw (Municipal Code Chapter 629), which requires buildings to be kept free of dampness and mould. A 311 complaint can produce an inspection, a Notice of Violation and, if nothing happens, an Order to Comply — the same public order we explained in Order to Comply, explained. For larger mould areas the City routes complaints to Toronto Public Health.
Orders are public. That matters for two reasons: they add official weight to a later LTB application, and they stay on the building's record for the next tenant to find.
Do you keep paying rent?
Yes. Withholding rent in Ontario — even for a unit you can't fully use — hands the landlord grounds for an eviction application. The route that works is a T6 application to the Landlord and Tenant Board (within one year of the problem). If the Board finds a section 20 breach, it can order a rent abatement for the period the unit was damaged, order the repairs done by a deadline, or authorize you to do the work and be reimbursed. Reported abatements for serious mould have ranged widely depending on how much of the unit was unusable and for how long; the amount is a judgment call, not a formula.
If you have to move out: what a relocation actually costs
This is the question with the least satisfying answer. Ontario law does not require a landlord to house you or pay for a hotel while a storm-damaged unit is repaired, unless their own negligence caused the damage or your lease says so. What you can do:
- Claim on tenant insurance. Most tenant policies include additional living expenses coverage for exactly this — a hotel or short-term rental while your unit is uninhabitable. Call your insurer before you book anything.
- Don't pay two rents. If the landlord offers a temporary unit at a higher rent, you are not obliged to accept a permanent rent increase; get the terms — rent, duration, and your right to return — in writing before you move a box.
- Know the frustration rule. If the unit is destroyed or genuinely uninhabitable for the long term, the RTA says the doctrine of frustration applies — the tenancy can end. That cuts both ways: you can walk, but so can the landlord's obligation to take you back. Get advice before agreeing to anything that could be read as ending the tenancy.
- Seek abatement anyway. Days you couldn't live in the unit are the strongest case for a rent abatement at the LTB, whether or not the landlord paid for a hotel.
Check whether the building has been here before
A basement unit that flooded on September 2 has very likely flooded before, and the City's records will often show it. Before you sign anything — or if you're deciding whether to stay — look at the address:
- Orders and violations for past property standards orders involving water, dampness or mould.
- Bylaw investigations for earlier 311 complaints that never reached an order.
- The permit history for backwater valves, sump pumps or waterproofing — the City subsidizes these, as we covered in Toronto's basement flooding subsidy, and their absence in a chronically wet basement tells you something.
- The RentSafeTO report card for apartment buildings, where the evaluation score and open work orders show how the landlord handles maintenance in general.
Owners doing the repairs have their own permit questions, which we walked through in after the 100-year storm: which repairs need a permit.
Start the record now
Report the damage in writing today, photograph everything, and if the landlord stalls, call 311. Then pull the building's orders, investigations and report card, and monitor the address so you're notified the day a new order — or a new complaint from a neighbour — lands.