You are a paralegal whose practice is largely confined to Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal matters

You are a paralegal whose practice is largely confined to Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal matters. You are representing a landlord who has been charged with a number of offences contrary to s. 206 of the Tenant Protection Act. The offences include altering the locking system without an eviction order, using harassment to force a tenant to vacate the rental premises, and failing to maintain the rental premises.

When you are preparing for the hearing, the landlord’s property manager tells you that she can herself give evidence to refute the charges of illegal changing of locks and harassment. She also claims to have a building inspector who can give evidence on the landlord’s behalf regarding the charge of failure to maintain. When you raise the issue of outstanding work orders against the building, many of which have only recently been corrected, she laughs and says, “You don’t have to worry about that. The building inspector has been working on our buildings for a long time. He’ll say whatever we need him to say.”

What should you do?