2. Collect evidence to present at the hearing
Question & Answer
What should I do to prepare for an eviction hearing?At the hearing, if you and your landlord don’t agree, part of the Board member’s job is to decide what really happened. The Board member must do this based on evidence that you and your landlord present at the hearing.
There are different kinds of evidence.
Documents
Some examples of documents are:
- letters
- receipts
- bank statements
- cancelled cheques
- inspectors’ reports
- work orders
- repair estimates
- photographs
If you plan to bring documents like these to the hearing, you must make 3 copies so that you can give one to the Board member, one to your landlord, and keep one for yourself. If your hearing is going to be by telephone, you must send copies of the documents to the Board and your landlord before the hearing.
Evidence on a computer, cellphone, or camera
If you have a document or photo on a computer, cellphone, or camera, you should print 3 copies for the hearing.
If your evidence is a video or sound recording, you must make sure that you will be able to play the recording at the hearing. The Board member will probably not look at a video on a cellphone screen, so make sure you transfer it to a computer disk or have some other way to play it at the hearing.
Contact the Board in advance to ask what types of media and formats they can play at the hearing. You might have to ask for a computer to be available at the hearing or bring your own computer.
Witnesses
Witnesses are people who come to the hearing and tell what they know about what happened. This is another way of giving evidence. Witnesses must promise to tell the truth at the hearing.
You and your landlord can also be witnesses at the hearing.
If there is someone else you want to be a witness, you can ask them to come. If they do not agree or if you are not sure they will come, you can ask the Board to issue a summons. A is a document that tells a witness that they must come to the hearing.
Usually, the police, building inspectors, and other officials cannot go to a hearing as witnesses unless they are given a summons.
If you need a summons, you should ask the Board for it as soon as you can. You have to give the summons to the witness in person. And you have to pay the witness when they come to the hearing.
