Restricting Holiday Decorations:

Question: In Ontario, can my landlord stop me from installing seasonal holiday decorations if they might cause damage or safety concerns?

Answer: Freed Legal Services can help you understand when a landlord can limit or require changes to holiday decorations in an Ontario rental because the tenant must avoid undue damage and safety hazards under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, including Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17, s. 34, Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17, s. 62(1), and Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17, s. 64(1), while the landlord must not unreasonably interfere with your reasonable enjoyment under Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17, s. 22.  If you want to keep your decorations while addressing legitimate risks, call (800) 716-1897 for practical next steps and help enforcing your rights as a tenant across Ontario.

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

In Ontario, landlords are generally required to permit installation of religious decorations and holiday displays by a tenant; however, if the decorations or displays create safety hazards with liability risks or cause damage to the rental premises, then the landlord may forbid the decorations or displays or may impose reasonable measures that eliminate the safety hazards and prevent the damage.

The Law

The Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, Chapter 17, is without explicit directives regarding seasonal holiday decorations such as Christmas lights, among other things; however, the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, contains various sections that are relevant to the safety concerns and the damage concerns of a landlord while also containing sections relevant to the rights of a tenant to enjoy the rental premises without unreasonable interference by the landlord.

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:

With all the above said regarding tenant behaviour relating to holiday decorations, it must also be noted that, per section 22 of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, a landlord is forbidden from unreasonably interfering with the rights to reasonable enjoyment of the rental unit by the tenant.  Specifically, section 22 states:

As detailed per the law shown above, although tenants may be forbidden from creating safety hazards that may cause injuries and correspondingly impose liability risk upon a landlord as well as forbidden from causing undue damage to the rental premises as property of the landlord, the landlord is also forbidden from interfering in the reasonable enjoyment rights of tenants.  As such, the law requires that the rights that protect the landlord from unreasonable risks must be balanced with the rights that reasonably permit tenants to install decorations.

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.