Homeowner Liability - What are the obligations of a home owner? Ottawa home owner liability lawyers video.

Homeowner Liability - What are the obligations of a home owner to prevent injuries? Ottawa home owner liability lawyers video.

It should be noted that there are many statutes in Canada at both the federal and provincial levels that deal with rights of victims who are injured as a result of the negligence of another.

Given that courts deal with wrongful conduct of others, government has seen it fit to legislate the obligations of the homeowners to provide guidance and rules. For instance, under the of Ontario Occupier's Liability Act, homeowners and occupiers of property have a positive duty to ensure that persons entering onto their property are reasonably safe at all times.

The Occupier's Liability Act shifts the burden of care to property owners who have a statutory duty of care to individuals entering on the property.

An occupier is someone who has physical possession of the premises or has responsibility for the control of the conditions of the premises, the activities conducted on the premises and/or the persons permitted to enter the premises.


What is the duty of care of an occupier? The general duty of care is as follows: An occupier has a general duty of care to anyone entering the premises and to anything brought on the premises to take reasonable care to protect the safety of others. The occupier’s duty is to take reasonable steps to ensure that those persons or things are safe while on the premises.


In some cases, the court will reduce the duty of care or reduce the amount of damages. In doing so, the court considers things such as willingly assuming risk or contributory negligence.

In determining the proper duty of care, courts often classify entries to property. General classifications are as follows:

Trespassers (persons who enter property without permission or invitation), Licensees (persons whose presence is not objected to or challenged but who confers no benefit on the occupier), Invitees (persons invited onto property, for benefit to owner or mutual benefit to invitee or owner) and Contractual Entrants (where there exists a contract for use of the property – such as a lease and retail store).


To learn more about how homeowner liability issues can arise, contact any of our lawyers for a free consultation.

Ottawa homeowner liability lawyers.

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