It is common, after parties duke it out in court, for the winner
to be "awarded costs" - the loser must pay all or a
portion of the winner's legal fees. However, in an application
for relief from forfeiture, who wins and who loses is a more
nuanced matter.
As a refresher, an application for relief from forfeiture is
brought by a tenant when a landlord has terminated its lease and
the tenant seeks to have it reinstated. Relief from forfeiture is
the right of the Court to set aside the termination of a lease and
reinstate possession to an evicted tenant. It is a discretionary
remedy that a Court may grant if, given the conduct of the parties
and the surrounding circumstances, the Court considers
reinstatement to be just and reasonable. Courts tend to take a
generous view of what is just and reasonable; as a result, relief
from forfeiture is more or less generally granted on certain usual
conditions (such as payment of rent arrears).
