Restricting Holiday Decorations:

Question: Can your Ontario landlord restrict you from installing seasonal or religious holiday decorations, like Christmas lights, in your rental unit if there are no clear safety or damage issues?

Answer: The Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 generally requires your landlord to respect your right to reasonable enjoyment, so a landlord should not ban decorations like holiday lighting without a real, evidence-based reason tied to safety hazards, undue damage, or substantial interference with others’ rights; however, if the decorations create injury risk or wilful or negligent damage, your landlord may require reasonable steps or may rely on provisions related to undue damage and interference (such as Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17, s. 34, s. 62, s. 64, and s. 22) to limit what you can install, and a paralegal at Vagans Legal can help you assess your facts, draft a clear response, and suggest practical steps to reduce risk while protecting your right to enjoy the unit.   For help in Ontario, call (416) 473-8472.

Understanding the Limited Reasons to Restrict Installation of Seasonal Decorations Including Safety or Damage Concerns

Generally, a landlord must permit the installation of religious holiday decorations and displays by a tenant; however, where the decorations or display genuinely poses a safety risk or causes damage to the rental premises, a landlord may forbid the installation or require reasonable measures to reduce the safety risk and avoid property damage.

The Law

The relevant law, being the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, Chapter 17, lacks explicit mandates relating to seasonal decorations or religious holiday displays, including Christmas lights, among other things, however, the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, does contain mandates applicable to safety hazards and damage concerns as well as mandates applicable to rights of reasonable enjoyment.

The Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, at section 34, states that tenants may be liable for undue damage that is caused to the rental premise. Furthermore, section 62 states that tenants may be evicted for willfully or negligently damaging the rented premises.  Additionally, section 64 states that a tenant may be evicted for substantially interfering with a right, a privilege, or an interest, of the landlord, including conduct that creates safety hazards that pose significant liability risk to the landlord.  These sections explicitly state:

Despite the above concerns regarding decorations installed by a tenant, it is also important to bear in mind that section 22 of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 forbids a landlord from unreasonably interfering with the reasonable enjoyment of the rental unit by the tenant.  In this respect, section 22 specifically states:

Interestingly, while a tenant is forbidden from causing safety issues or that may cause injury with potential liabilities incurred by the landlord or from damaging the property of the landlord, the landlord is forbidden from interfering in the reasonable enjoyment rights of the tenant.  Accordingly, a balancing of rights is necessary to ensure that a tenant is reasonably permitted to install holiday decorations upon the rented premises while the tenant ensures that any such decorations are safely installed and done so without causing damage.

Summary Comment

A landlord must permit a tenant to enjoy the rental unit, including allowing installation of holiday decorations such as lighting displays, among other things, so long as the tenant avoids creating safety hazards and refrains from damaging the rental premises.