How to Garnish a Tenant in Ontario: Collecting Money After an LTB Order

An LTB order for unpaid rent doesn’t put money in your pocket — the Board can’t enforce monetary awards. You have to file that order at Small Claims Court, then pick an enforcement method: garnishing 20% of the tenant’s wages per paycheque, or seizing funds from their bank account (up to 50% on a joint account), up to the court’s $35,000 limit.

What Ontario landlords need to know about tenant debt collection

Getting the order at the Landlord and Tenant Board is the easy part — collecting on it is a separate legal process entirely.

Did you know that winning at the Landlord and Tenant Board is just the first step? Many Ontario property owners don’t realize that getting that LTB order doesn’t automatically put money back in your pocket. “Getting the order at the landlord and tenant board is the first part, it’s the easy part. Now the heavy lifting begins,” explains Gibrian, who specializes in helping GTA landlords recover their losses. The most shocking revelation for many Ontario rental property owners? The LTB has no power to enforce monetary orders in Ontario — that’s where Small Claims Court comes in.

Why Ontario landlords choose wage garnishment for tenant debt

Garnishment lets you collect directly from a former tenant’s employer or bank — but you have to move before they empty their accounts.

For Mississauga, Toronto, and other Ontario landlords, garnishment offers the most direct path to recovering your rental losses. This Ontario-specific legal process allows you to:

• Collect directly from the tenant’s Ontario employer (20% of each paycheck)
• Access funds from Ontario bank accounts

But timing is everything — one wrong move and your former tenant might empty their accounts before you can collect what’s legally yours under Ontario law.

Which Ontario tenants are hardest to collect from?

Self-employed tenants, those on Ontario Works/ODSP, and “judgment-proof” debtors with no seizable assets are the toughest to recover money from.

Not all is equal in Ontario when it comes to tenant debt collection. Specific challenges for landlords in the Greater Toronto Area include:

• Self-employed individuals in Ontario (requiring special garnishment approaches)
• Ontario Works or ODSP recipients (payments protected under provincial regulations)
• “Judgment proof” tenants with no Ontario-based assets or income sources

Protect your Ontario rental investment from day one

Rental applications can be faked — thorough, Ontario-specific tenant screening is your best defense against ending up in a collection fight at all.

“I got a buddy of mine to make me a pay stub saying that I work for the Toronto Blue Jays and make $800,000 a year,” Kevin shares, revealing how easily rental applications can be faked in Ontario’s competitive market. That’s why thorough tenant screening using Ontario-specific services is critical for landlords across the GTA and beyond.

The step-by-step garnishment process

Collecting on an LTB order runs through six stages: get the order, file it at Small Claims Court, choose an enforcement method, prepare the garnishment paperwork, serve it, then wait out the court’s holding period.

This step-by-step approach follows Ontario’s provincial regulations for collecting tenant debt after receiving an order from the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB).

Step 1: Get your LTB order

• Obtain an order from the Landlord and Tenant Board that states the amount owed (rent, damages, etc.)
• The order will include the awarded amount plus your application fee and applicable interest

Step 2: File tenant debt with Small Claims Court

• The LTB doesn’t have jurisdiction to enforce monetary orders — Small Claims Court does
• File your LTB order at Small Claims Court using a “Certificate of Judgment” form
• This form includes all financial information from the LTB order
• You’ll receive a judgment with a Small Claims Court file number and official seal
• Note: $35,000 is the maximum amount that can be collected (Small Claims Court limit)

Step 3: Choose your enforcement method

Small Claims Court offers four enforcement options:

1. Garnishment (most common for landlords)
2. Writ of seizure and sale of personal property
3. Writ of seizure and sale of land
4. Writ of delivery

Step 4: Prepare garnishment documents

To proceed with garnishment of tenant debt, complete these forms:

• Affidavit of Enforcement Request
• Notice of Garnishment
• Garnishee’s Statement

Step 5: Serve the garnishment documents

• Serve the documents on the garnishee (usually the tenant’s employer or bank)
• Don’t tip off the debtor beforehand to prevent them from moving their money

Step 6: Collection process

For bank accounts:

• The bank will pay the money into court
• Court holds it for 30 days
• Money is then paid out proportionally to all registered garnishees for tenant debt

For employers:

• They will garnish 20% of each paycheck until the debt is paid
• For joint bank accounts, you can only garnish up to 50% of the amount

Important considerations

Three situations complicate collection: debtors with nothing to seize, self-employed debtors, and debtors who’ve gone missing.

Judgment-proof debtors

Be aware some debtors may be “judgment proof” if they:

• Have no garnishable income source
• Don’t have assets or bank accounts that can be seized
• Receive government benefits that cannot be garnished (e.g., ODSP)

Self-employed debtors

• More challenging to garnish
• You must serve whoever owes them money through contracts
• Consider if enforcement is worth the cost

Missing information

If you lack necessary information, you can:

• Serve a Notice of Examination requiring them to appear in court
• Ask financial questions under oath (income sources, assets, bank accounts)
• Use driver’s license information to locate them if they’ve moved
• Hire a skip tracer to find people who have disappeared

Contempt of court

• If the debtor doesn’t attend an examination hearing, they could be found in contempt
• The court can issue a warrant for their arrest

Preventative measures

The cheapest way to “collect” from a bad tenant is to never sign the lease — screening catches most of this before it becomes a debt.

• Collect comprehensive information during tenant screening (employer details, banking information)
• Verify information to detect fraudulent applications
• Check public databases for previous LTB judgments against potential tenants
• Consider using tenant screening services

Final considerations

Before you commit to a full enforcement process, weigh whether it’s worth it.

• Weigh the cost of enforcement against the amount owed
• Consider consulting a legal professional to ensure forms are completed correctly
• Decide whether to pursue collection or write off the debt as a business loss

This guidance draws on the CRESI Ontario Landlord Series podcast episode featuring Gibrian Malicki-Sanchez, who specializes in helping GTA landlords recover rental losses.