The Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO) says that raising the rent when a new roommate moves in or barring a tenant from getting a roommate is against the law.
However, there are exceptions:
- if the tenant shared a bathroom or kitchen with the landlord or a member of the landlord’s family, the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) would not apply and the tenant would have to seek permission from the landlord to add a roommate.
- if it caused overcrowding, the tenant could face eviction.
- if the roommate was a drug dealer or party animal and it interfered with the reasonable enjoyment of the premises for other tenants or the landlord.
- Condos have declarations that allow only single families to live in the unit and the condo corporation needs to know who’s moving in, in order to remain compliant with their condo policies.
In most cases tenants are within their rights to bring in roommates, with or without the permission of the landlord.
Since there is not much affordable housing or vacancies available, tenants usually just pay the increase as they do not want to fight with the landlord.