Restricting Holiday Decorations:

Question: Can your Ontario landlord restrict a tenant from installing seasonal decorations or Christmas lights if they’re worried about safety or property damage?

Answer: In Ontario, your landlord can usually require reasonable measures to manage safety and prevent undue damage, even though tenants generally have a right to reasonable enjoyment that includes installing lawful holiday or religious decorations, so restrictions are most justified when the decorations create real safety hazards (for example, unsafe wiring or blocked exits) or when the installation process is likely to cause undue damage to the rental unit; under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, the tenant can be responsible for undue damage and a landlord can seek termination for willful or negligent undue damage, and landlords can also act where conduct substantially interferes with reasonable enjoyment, but landlords must not unreasonably interfere with your reasonable enjoyment rights. If you need help responding to a notice, negotiating a workable safety plan, or defending your right to decorate, Empowered Legal Services provides legal advocacy from a professional lawyer & paralegal team, and you can call (855) 808-6510 for guidance across Ontario, including surrounding communities.  

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 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.