When a commercial tenant breaches the lease, the instinct is to act: change the locks, retake the unit, re-let it. Resist the instinct, at least until the paperwork is right. For any breach other than non-payment of rent, section 19(2) of Ontario’s Commercial Tenancies Act makes the landlord’s right of re-entry unenforceable unless a proper notice was served first and the tenant was given a reasonable opportunity to respond. Unpaid rent follows its own, more streamlined track; everything else, property damage, unauthorized use, unpaid utilities or taxes, failure to insure, runs through 19(2).

What a valid notice must contain

• The specific breach, identified clearly enough that the tenant knows exactly what is alleged. Vague references to “breaches of the lease” do not qualify.
• A requirement to remedy, if the breach is capable of being fixed, together with a reasonable time to do it. What is reasonable depends on the breach: repainting a wall and re-roofing a building are different projects.
• A demand for monetary compensation, where the breach has caused the landlord money damages.

The purpose behind these requirements, articulated in 780046 Ontario Inc. v. Columbus Medical Arts Building, is protective: the notice warns the tenant that their leasehold, often the foundation of an operating business, is in jeopardy, and gives them a genuine chance to save it. Courts read the section with that purpose in mind, which means technical shortcuts fail.

The courts mean it: Martin v. Mailhot

In Martin v. Mailhot, 2020 ONCA 480, the landlord had suffered genuine money damages from the tenant’s breach, but the notice omitted any demand for compensation. The Court of Appeal held the omission was fatal: the landlord could not rely on the tenant’s failure to pay compensation as justification for re-entry, because the notice never asked for it. Being right about the underlying breach did not save a defective notice. The lesson generalizes: if the notice is vague, incomplete, silent on compensation, or gives an unreasonably short cure period, the eviction built on it can be set aside, and the landlord can face a damages claim for wrongful re-entry on top.

Two traps beyond the notice

First, waiver. A landlord who accepts rent with knowledge of a breach risks being taken to have waived it, restarting the clock. Decide on the remedy before cashing the next cheque. Second, relief from forfeiture. Even after a valid notice and re-entry, a tenant can ask the court to restore the lease on terms. A landlord whose conduct has been precise and proportionate is in a far stronger position to resist that request than one who rushed.

Bottom line

Before terminating a commercial lease over any non-rent breach, get the notice drafted properly, serve it correctly, and document the tenant’s response or silence. It is a one-page document that determines whether everything after it holds up. We prepare compliant notices, advise on re-entry, and act for landlords and tenants in lease disputes across the GTA and Northern Ontario.