Dispute Resolution and the Hearing Process

Application forms are available through the ORT’s online portal. The table below shows the legislative section of The Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (Act), or The Residential Tenancies Regulations, 2007 (Regulations), related to:

• the application type being submitted;
• the old form number used to identify specific application types;
• applicant type;
• the pathway to get to the application through the ORT’s online portal; and
• the timeline to submit the application to the ORT.

Important: Security deposit notices of claim submitted through the ORT’s online portal by a landlord will not be scheduled for a hearing unless a tenant disputes the notice and pays the applicable non-refundable filing fee.

Steps to Submit an Application:

1. Sign into the ORT’s online portal.
2. Select New Application.
3. Select Landlord or Tenant and whether you are the applicant or filing on their behalf.
4. Select the application type, input all tenancy information and upload all relevant documents (legal names must be provided).
5. Select Submit to have ORT staff review the submission.
6. Once reviewed and approved, the status will show Payment Required. Pay the non-refundable $50 fee. Payment may be made through the ORT’s online portal.
7. Staff will schedule the application for a hearing and send out a hearing notice by email or mail.

It is the responsibility of the party who submitted the application to monitor the status of their submission.

If your dispute occurred prior to September 15, 2021, and is within two years of the current date, please call the ORT at 1-888-215-2222 during regular business hours.

When submitting an application to the ORT, proof of service of any notice will be required. The following table shows the service methods applicable to the respondent type (“Service On”).

If serving personally or electronically, each person must be served separately, and a Certificate of Service must be completed for each person served by these methods.

The ORT will serve notice of a security deposit hearing on both the landlord and the tenant through email or mail.

Once a claimant has served the completed hearing notice and supporting documents on the respondent, a Certificate of Service must be completed, and a completed hearing notice must be submitted to the ORT in advance of the hearing. Certificates of Services are available under the "Hearings" area in an application. “Prior communication” includes any written communication that shows the respondent received the hearing notice and supporting documentation.

A copy of the hearing notice that was served on the respondent MUST be uploaded under the "Hearing Notices" area found under "Hearings" on the application. The hearing notice and the claims indicated on it are what the hearing officer will review at the hearing and use to make their decision.

Respondent: Once you have received the hearing notice, you may link to the application through the ORT’s online portal using the link code served with the hearing notice. Once you link to an application, you will be able to upload all evidence you have regarding the claims being made by the claimant.

Both parties have the right to present evidence related to the claim(s) being made. All evidence that parties would like to have a hearing officer review and speak to at a hearing MUST be uploaded to the online portal. All evidence must be provided to the other party as per the service methods indicated above.

Ensure the evidence being submitted is in an easy to review format, this includes only having evidence that speaks to the claim(s) and ensuring the evidence submitted is not blurry or altered in any way. Evidence will look different for each claim brought forward, but most commonly it includes the tenancy agreement, written communications, receipts, photos and videos.

ORT hearings take place via phone. The hearing notice will direct each party to contact the ORT before the hearing date at a specific phone number to provide the phone number they can be reached at for the hearing.

The hearing gives both parties an opportunity to speak to the claim(s) being brought forward. At the date and time of the hearing, the hearing officer will call the phone numbers that were provided by each party before the hearing. Ensure you are by your phone and do not have 1-800 numbers blocked.

During the hearing, the hearing officer will allow each party to speak to the claim(s) indicated on the hearing notice.

A hearing officer will issue a written decision specifying their Order after considering the evidence, testimony and facts of the claim(s) brought forward. Decisions will either be emailed or mailed to both parties by the ORT. It is each party’s responsibility to ensure the ORT has their current contact information in the ORT’s online portal.

If there is an obvious error, or if a party would like any part of a decision clarified, either party may submit a Request to Correct or Clarify a Decision or Order by email to the ORT within 15 days of the decision date. There is a non-refundable fee of $50 for this review application. The application will be given to the hearing officer who heard the original claim(s).

All ORT decisions may be appealed to the Court of King’s Bench within 30 days of the decision date.

Tenants: To appeal a rent and/or utility arrears claim, or a continuous late payment of rent claim, you MUST submit a Certificate of Payment of Rent with your appeal application package to the Court of King’s Bench. These certificates are available through the specific application on the ORT’s online portal once the Application for Certificate of Payment of Rent to the Office of Residential Tenancies is completed and the equivalent of one month's rent is paid into the ORT. This money will be held in trust until either the conclusion of the appeal or at any other time the director decides.

Enforcement of ORT decisions is the responsibility of the party who had an order granted in their favour. ORT decisions may be registered as a judgement of the Court of King’s Bench after the 30-day appeal period has passed.

If a landlord or tenant does not pay a monetary amount as indicated in an ORT decision, the other party may request the ORT place the landlord or tenant on the non-compliance list until the amount is paid in full. The ORT may refuse to issue hearing notices and orders for a landlord or tenant for the time they are on the non-compliance list.

If you did not receive notice of the hearing, please contact the ORT at ORT@gov.sk.ca or 1-888-215-2222. Upon written request to the ORT, a hearing officer may consider whether to rehear an application when an order was made without hearing from the affected person. The affected person can also establish they did not receive notice of the hearing.