Short answer: the Landlord and Tenant Board can order a former tenant to pay arrears, compensation and costs, but the Board does not collect anything. A monetary order gets enforced the way court judgments are enforced: filed with the Small Claims Court, then executed through garnishment of wages or accounts, seizure of property, or a debtor examination. Every one of those tools points at information: where the person is, where they work, what they own. A tenant who skipped without a forwarding address knows this arithmetic instinctively. The landlords who actually collect are the ones who treat the file, from the moment the unit is abandoned, as a locate-and-verify problem rather than a paperwork problem.
An order is not money
The deflating moment for most landlords comes a few weeks after the hearing: the order arrives, the tenant is gone, and nothing happens next unless you make it happen. There is no provincial collections office chasing LTB debts. The order is a right to use the court’s enforcement machinery, and the machinery is operated entirely by you, or by the paralegal, lawyer and investigator you put on it. That is not a reason for despair; recovered arrears are real money and the tools genuinely work. It is a reason to plan the collection before spending on it, the same triage we preach for every judgment in our asset-search guide.
How the enforcement machine actually runs
The path is unglamorous and reliable. A certified copy of the Board’s order is filed with the Small Claims Court, with a request to the clerk, in the jurisdiction where the debtor lives or carries on business, and from that point it is treated like a judgment of the court. Then the real options open. Wage garnishment intercepts a slice of pay directly from an employer, which makes a verified current employer the single most valuable fact in the file. Account garnishment reaches money on deposit, but needs to be aimed at the right institution. A writ of seizure and sale sits against property in the county where it is filed and waits, sometimes for years, until the debtor sells or refinances. And a debtor examination puts the person under oath about their income, assets and debts, with real consequences for ignoring it. Each tool has fees, forms and rules your paralegal will run; none of them runs without accurate information about the debtor.
Locate first: the investigative half of collection
Notice what every tool requires. Filing happens where the debtor lives: you need the address. Garnishing wages needs the employer’s name and address, current, not the job they had on the rental application two years ago. Serving an examination notice needs the person found. This is the half of collection that is investigation rather than procedure, and it is squarely lawful: skip tracing through the methods we describe in our skip-tracing guide, employment verified through open sources and lawful inquiry, vehicles and property tied to the name through the public registries covered in our asset-search work. What no investigator can lawfully do is pull bank records or peek at accounts; banking detail comes out of the debtor examination, under oath, which is one more reason the location work matters, because an examination you cannot serve is a right you cannot use.
Timing cuts both ways. The trail is warmest in the first weeks after a skip, when forwarding patterns, new listings and social footprints still point somewhere. But enforcement itself is patient: writs sit and wait, and a debtor who is judgment-proof this year, no job, no assets, may be garnishable in two, which is why the honest advice is sometimes to locate now, verify cheaply, and calendar a re-check rather than spend heavily against an empty target.
The honest collectability read
Not every order is worth chasing, and a firm that tells you otherwise is selling hours, not results. The collectability read is short and cheap relative to what it prevents: is the person locatable, are they employed and where, do they own anything the writ can sit against, are there prior judgments already in line ahead of yours. Run before you spend, it sorts files into three honest piles: pursue now, park and re-check on a schedule, and close with a documented file in case the debtor resurfaces. That is the same discipline our locates and skip-tracing practice applies to every judgment file, landlord or otherwise, and it is the difference between collection as a strategy and collection as a grudge.
Not legal advice
This article is general information about enforcing monetary orders in Ontario, not legal advice. Court fees, forms and enforcement procedure have specifics this overview does not cover; run the process with a paralegal or lawyer, and get the location and asset picture verified before spending on enforcement.
Frequently asked questions
How do I enforce an LTB order for money in Ontario?
By filing a certified copy of the order with the Small Claims Court where the former tenant lives or works, after which it is enforced like a court judgment: garnishment of wages or bank accounts, a writ of seizure and sale against property, or a debtor examination under oath. The Board itself does not collect anything; enforcement is driven entirely by the creditor.
My tenant left no forwarding address. How do I find them?
Through lawful skip tracing: public records, credit-header-adjacent lawful sources, utility and registry trails, open-source and social footprints, and field verification where it matters. Enforcement cannot start without a current address, and garnishment needs a verified employer, so the locate is step one, and it is most effective in the first weeks after the skip.
Is it worth pursuing a tenant who owes a few thousand dollars?
Sometimes, and the way to know is a short collectability assessment before spending: can they be located, are they employed, do they own anything a writ can attach, and are other judgments ahead of yours. Files sort into pursue now, park and re-check later, or close documented. A located debtor with a verified employer is very collectable; an unlocatable one with nothing is not, yet.
Can an investigator find out where my former tenant banks?
Not directly, and be wary of anyone who offers to. Banking information is not lawfully obtainable by investigators; it comes out of a debtor examination, where the person answers under oath. What an investigator lawfully provides is everything that makes the examination and garnishment possible: the current address, the verified employer, and the asset picture from public registries.
Sources
- Ontario, Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (Board orders and monetary jurisdiction). Accessed August 7, 2026.
- Tribunals Ontario, Landlord and Tenant Board (orders and enforcement guidance). Accessed August 7, 2026.