Balcony repairs - who is on the hook?
Hi all! I'll try and layout the situation as best I can.
In May or June of 2024 (I don't remember exactly when), my husband was outside of our buidling with our dog who suddenly pulled on his leash causing my husband to lose his balance. Husband ended up falling into one of the balcony support legs and the whole leg broke in half. He immediately notified the landlord who had all the balconies inspected. As it turns out, the wood in that particular leg was rotten and many of the other balconies were found to be rotten as well. This lead to all the balconies on the front of the building being replaced entirely in June 2025 (4 in total) and they decided to redo the flooring on the back balconies at the same time.
The same year (2024), the landlord began a process with the LTB as the calculation used to account for the reduction in property taxes was incorrect meaning the rent increase needed to be changed. This went through, their request was approved, and we paid as requested.
In September 2025, the landlord submitted to the LTB again for a larger rent increase to account for the capital expenditure of repairing the balconies. A virtual hearing was held earlier this year, which neither my husband nor I were able to attend. All of the paperwork surrounding this hearing indicated that the work that was done was "necessary to protect or restore the physical integrity" of the building and that the front balconies were "at the end of their useful life" with the flooring on the back balconies also being "at the end of their useful life". Everything was "replaced due to unreliability." This leads me to believe that all the work needed to be done regardless, it was just unfortunately my husband who sped up the timeline.
Now in current time. We ran into a neighbour (another tenant, not the landlord) who told us that as a result of that hearing, if the requested rent increase is not approved by the LTB then the landlord plans to hold us liable. We do not have tenant insurance. But before anyone says it, we're getting some now. We know it won't help us with this, but it will protect us in the future. All of this was just told to us by the other tenant, not the landlord.
After all that, I'm just wondering if anyone can help us understand whether or not we could actually be held liable for the repair costs to all the balconies?
Thanks in advance!