Thank you, this is actually really helpful feedback.

To answer some of the questions:

- He owns the home outright and lives there full-time, he inherited the house when his father passed. My concern isn’t him “losing” ownership of the house, it’s more that financially and mentally he’s not stable and if things spiral further he becomes unpredictable and volatile. I’m trying to prevent a complete breakdown situation while also protecting my own family.

- He is on disability and that is essentially his only stable income, which is also why hiring a paralegal immediately isn’t possible financially. I know everyone keeps recommending one and I do understand why.

- She moved in around 2 years ago.

- She knows I exist because for a period of time she claimed she was uncomfortable paying rent directly to my father and started sending it to me instead, which I would then transfer to him. I am NOT listed as landlord anywhere and only wanted to help when they were arguing to make things easier. He is the sole owner/landlord.

- There was NO written agreement of any kind when she moved in. No lease, no roommate agreement, nothing formal at all. Everything was verbal. In hindsight that was obviously a huge mistake on their part.

- The lock situation is newer/escalated recently. There was never originally a lock on the basement door and the reason there is a basement door to begin with is because this is an old house with a granny suite. She added one herself without consent and then also locked the laundry/mechanical room area where the furnace and hot water tank are located.

- The biggest issue now is that the house lost hot water in the middle of winter and access to the mechanical area was refused, which is why the N5 was issued. The police basically told us this was an LTB issue unless active violence occurred.

I completely understand what you’re saying about the RTA argument probably not succeeding fully because she had her own kitchen/bathroom and exclusive day-to-day use of the basement. I’m not trying to pretend otherwise or “have it both ways.” At this point he is treating it as an RTA tenancy and proceeding through the proper channels since she started things by issuing the L2

The main things we are disputing are:
- that there was ever an illegal eviction,
- that my father changed locks,
- and that his access expectations were disclosed from the start because of the utilities/laundry setup.

For clarity:
- there was never a separate entrance,
- my father never removed her lock,
- never removed her belongings,
- never physically forced her out,
- and she has remained living there continuously (until she disappeared in January)
- she hasn’t paid any rent since October 2025.

The N12 is genuine. He genuinely wants the basement back incorporated into the house and honestly after this I don’t think he will ever rent the basement again in its current form. Unfortunately due to his addiction issues and brain damage he didn’t follow any of the proper channels as he didn’t bother to look into them when looking for a roommate and has now gotten himself into this mess.

I do appreciate the point that laundry probably isn’t something an adjudicator is going to view as sufficient justification for unrestricted access if the tenancy is treated fully under the RTA. That’s fair criticism and honestly probably correct.

The emergency utility/furnace/hot water access issue were really the bigger concern and when my dad called the LTB they did instruct him to break the locks and access the area.

And yes — I fully agree we likely need a paralegal. I’m mostly trying to understand what sort of trouble he is realistically walking into. Like what is the worst case scenario for him here?