On July 1, 2018, the first round of major amendments to the
Construction Lien Act (now called the Construction
Act) came into effect. With the second round of amendments
scheduled for October 1, 2019, there promises to be a significant
shift in the way that the Construction Act affects
commercial landlords in Ontario.
Here are five important takeaways for commercial landlords.
1. Automatic 10% Lien Right against Landlords Paying
Allowances, etc.
While the reference to "liens" has been removed from
the title of the Construction Act, changes to the Act will
actually extend landlords' lien exposure.
First, changes to the Construction Act remove the
ability of landlords to avoid liens where payment for an
improvement to a leasehold property is accounted for under the
lease (or under any connected agreement to which the landlord is a
party). Unlike the Construction Lien Act (the
"Old Act"), the amended Construction
Act (the "New Act") does not permit
landlords to