Getting a Witness to Your LTB Hearing: The Ontario Summons Process for Landlords and Tenants

When someone whose evidence you need will not come to your Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) hearing in Ontario, you can ask the Board to order them there. That order is a summons, signed by an LTB Member, and it can also require the witness to bring documents. You will deal with up to two forms. The one everybody uses is the Request for the Board to Issue a Summons. If a lawyer or paralegal acts for you, they must also fill in the Summons and send it with the request. Typical witnesses include police officers, neighbours, contractors, municipal inspectors and former employees. Landlords and tenants can both use the process.

Quick summary

The legal basis

The power is in the Statutory Powers Procedure Act (SPPA), s. 12. Tribunals may require any person, even a party, to give evidence and to bring relevant, admissible documents and things.

The LTB Rules add the mechanics:

• Rule 7.5: a party asks by filing the Request form. If the party has a lawyer or paralegal, that representative prepares the summons and submits it with the request.
• Rule 7.6: whoever asked for the summons is responsible for serving it and for paying the witness, at the rates in Tariff A to the Rules of Civil Procedure.

The Requesting a Summons brochure supplies the test a Member uses: the evidence or records sought must be relevant and necessary for deciding the application.

Do you need one?

A summons makes sense when the witness:

• will not come voluntarily;
• needs something official to show an employer to get the day off; or
• has records you need in the hearing room, such as a contractor's invoices.

If the witness has already agreed to attend and will, the brochure says no summons is needed.

Timing

• Ask early. Rule 7.5 says to request it as soon as you know you need it. A request made the week before the hearing leaves little time for the Member to review it and for you to serve it.
• Serve quickly. The brochure advises delivering the signed summons without delay, giving the witness a fair chance to plan.

Filling in the Request

Requester's Information. Mark which you are (landlord, tenant, co-op, co-op member, other), plus your name, address for mail and phone numbers.

The rental address. The complete address of the unit, building or complex.

Information about the Hearing. Date, time and location for every scheduled hearing day.

Part 1: Witness to be Summoned. Name, mailing address and phone numbers for the witness. Then a general description of what the witness will say, and why it is relevant and necessary. That is the test the Member applies, so link the evidence to a specific issue in the application. Compare:

• weak: "The neighbour knows about the tenant."
• stronger: "The neighbour in Unit 4 heard the noise complaints listed in the N5 on the nights in question and called the police; her evidence goes to whether the interference happened."

Part 2: the documents. Name each record and say why it matters. Describe it closely enough that the witness can locate it.

Signature. Tick Requester, Representative or Other, add your name, phone number and LSO number if you are a licensee, then sign and date.

Delivery of the signed summons to you. Choose pickup, mail or email. Getting it to the witness is your job; the Board will not serve it.

The Summons form, for lawyers and paralegals

Enter the LTB file number, who the witness is and where they live, when and where the hearing takes place, the rental address, both parties, what the witness must bring, and, in the "issued at the request of" section, your own information including LSO number. Do not touch the Member's signature space or the "Dated at" line.

Watch for this: the Summons form has not caught up; it still mentions an "LSUC #" and Rules 7.4 and 7.5. Since the September 21, 2026 update, the relevant rules are numbered 7.5 and 7.6.

Filing, serving and paying

Filing. Submit it on the Tribunals Ontario Portal. Lawyers and paralegals have been required to submit summonses there since January 1, 2025.

Serving. Three sources agree that the witness must receive it in hand: SPPA s. 12(3), the brochure, and the Summons form itself. Mailing, faxing or leaving it with someone else does not count. Anyone can do the delivery, but they may have to prove it.

Paying. Tariff A (reproduced in Appendix A of the Rules) sets the witness's attendance money:

Worked example: a one-day witness from a town 85 km away receives $50, plus 170 km of travel at 24¢ ($40.80): $90.80 in total.

Why summonses get refused or fail

1. Relevance and necessity not explained. Saying the witness "knows the tenant" proves nothing; show which issue their evidence settles.
2. A licensee skips the Summons form or the Portal. Both are compulsory for lawyers and paralegals under Rule 7.5 and the Practice Direction.
3. Delivery by mail, email or a relative. Only personal service works. A witness who was not served personally cannot be compelled.
4. Attendance money not paid. As the form explains, the Superior Court of Justice can act against an absent witness lacking a lawful excuse, but only one who was served correctly and paid.
5. A fuzzy document list. Records the witness cannot identify are records you will not see.
6. A last-minute request. The Member has to review it, and you still have to serve it.

If the witness does not come

The brochure gives two choices: go ahead without the witness, or request an adjournment. Personal service is proven by a sworn affidavit from whoever delivered it, made before a commissioner, with the summons attached as an exhibit. Where the missing witness's evidence is material and they were served, SPPA s. 12(4) allows a Superior Court judge to issue a warrant.

Common questions

Is there a fee to ask for a summons?

No; the brochure confirms the request costs nothing. The witness's attendance and travel money under Tariff A is your expense, though.

Does the LTB deliver the summons to my witness?

No. The request form states that the LTB will not serve it. It has to be handed to the witness in person.

Can the other party be summoned?

Yes. Under SPPA s. 12(1), parties can be summoned like anyone else, as long as the relevant-and-necessary test is met.

What does a summoned witness get paid?

Tariff A sets $50 a day, with travel money and, if needed, an overnight allowance on top. Appendix A to the LTB Rules reproduces the amounts.

Official sources

• Request for the Board to Issue a Summons (form)
• Summons (Lawyers and Paralegals Only)
• Brochure: Requesting a Summons
• LTB Rules of Procedure, Rule 7 and Appendix A
• Statutory Powers Procedure Act, s. 12
• Practice Direction Requiring Law Society Licensees to use TOP