Involvements of matters relating to assignments are substantial in commercial leasing, as will be seen in this part of our ongoing series.Transfers In respect to assignments, important developments have taken place. This is due to the fact that courts are unwilling to permit landlords to terminate a lease when a request for a transfer is made without providing an opportunity for the tenant to withdraw its request.

In the third part of our review of trends in Canadian commercial law, several interesting cases are discussed.Canadian Western Bank v. 702348 Alberta Ltd.This case highlights the aspects examined by the court when parties to a lease fail to meet their fundamental obligations. Two organizations, Telecommunications Research Laboratories (“TRL”) and Alberta Treasury Branch (“ATB”) wanted to terminate their commercial leases

The second instalment in our review of the emerging trends in commercial lease jurisprudence is evident in the lawsuit relating to HREIT Holdings 45 Corp. v. R.A.S. Food Services (Kenora) Inc., where the court held that the new Landlord had lost its right to collect a higher amount of rent due to two reasons: 1) It’s conduct ; and/or 2) It was estopped on the basis of equity.While operating a restaurant in the complex in 1999, the tenant got the previous landlord to agree to waive the increase in basic rent for years 6-10 of the lease. The leased premises changed hands in 2005, and the purchaser became the landlord.

It would appear from the papers reviewed so far in this series that the emphasis was on Commercial Law jurisprudence. There are instances, however, where matters such as property taxes were considered.Realty TaxesA new regime of property tax assessment, known as fair market assessment, was introduced in 1998. Prior to that, commercial tenants received separate assessments regarding their contributions to the building’s property

There have been some interesting developments in commercial leasing law over the last year, among which can be seen important trends in commercial leasing jurisprudence.Equitable RemediesIt has been found in the past year that the courts will make every effort to use equitable remedies in circumstances where strict contractual interpretation leads to absurd commercial

In 2002, the Conservative government provincial legislature offered some concessions to landlords by enacting a regulation allowing landlords to avoid liability for carrying out maintenance work as long as the maintenance work was carried out in a “reasonable manner”. Failing that, landlords could still avoid liability for rent reductions as long as they met a number of conditions established by the regulation. The regulation was meant to encourage the rehabilitation of existing rental housing units without fear of penalty, provided the landlord did the work with proper regard to the interests of the tenants, as determined by the regulation.

Provincial and municipal governments in the past decade have permitted infill residential development because it allows for high density housing along major transportation corridors, thereby encouraging the use of public transportation by greater numbers of people. However, the positive aspects of infill development for residential landlords are neutralized by competing interests of tenants and the interpretation by the Landlord Tenant Board (LTB) of the provisions in the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA).

How clean is greenThe proverbial question relating to environmental contamination is the extent of the clean-up that needs to be undertaken. Considerable time and resources have been spent by governments to develop standards or criteria for clean-up showing what the government considers as unacceptable levels of contaminants in the environment. There are also methods for risk assessments to determine the acceptable levels of contaminants based on receptors and the pathways for such contaminants.

Politics and ideology continually influence the law regarding residential tenancies in Ontario, largely because of the nature of the subject. Whenever there is a major change in government in Ontario, we can expect that residential tenancies laws are changed, administered and adjudicated upon. Consequently, there follows statutory changes, in substance and in process. This shifting legislative landscape serves political interests well, but for landlords and tenants it could be the deadly grounds of a legal minefield

Passed on May 14, 2009, the Green Energy and Green Economy Act (“GEGEA”) and the enacted Green Energy Act (“Green Energy Act”) have as their main objective to encourage the use of renewable sources of energy including wind, water, solar, biomass and biogas power. This is to be achieved by eliminating duplication and providing certainty for proponents undertaking renewable energy projects, while meeting the requirements established by the various ministries like the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Natural Resources for such projects.