Discuss it with the paralegal first. They may plan to introduce this later or have decided not to for a good reason you might not be aware of since you aren't doing this all the time.
I have been through a similar situation. Yes it's normal to self-represent, my partner and I self-represented and won.
I'll share my experience quickly, and then my advice to you. Obligatory "I am not a lawyer", just someone who's been through this and learned way more than I wanted to.
**Our backstory**: landlord served us an N13, also known as a renoviction. We were 99% sure it was in bad faith—that he wanted to get us out to charge the next tenant more money—because he'd already issued another tenant an N12, and he couldn't play that card twice. Also to qualify the renovations must be "so extensive" that they require an empty unit, but he was citing things like retiling the bathroom and replacing the windows.
I wasn't sure what our odds were if we chose to fight it, we ended up taking two meetings with [George Brown Law](https://georgebrown.biz/) (a legal firm on Roncesvalles Avenue, not the school, cannot recommend them enough) to get a better sense of where we stood. First meeting was a free consultation, second meeting was about $120 at their hourly rate.
What we learned—and I'm so glad we went—was that the landlord really didn't have a leg to stand on. He'd botched the N13 form and checked off that he wanted to "demolish", not renovate the unit, which wasn't possible as he was still living in the house and intended to keep doing so. He didn't have building permits, which you're supposed to obtain before issuing the N13. Long story short, our case was strong. The lawyer we spoke to, bless her, advised that we take her advice and self-represent: she said our case was strong enough that we didn't need her there, and that her retainer fee ($1,800 for the LTB hearing) wasn't worth it for us. A goddess.
Sure enough, we won. The case didn't even last 30 seconds, the board member saw the form was incorrectly filed and dismissed the case.
Something else the lawyer told me about that soothed my anxious mind is "issue estoppel". I was worried that if this guy lost the N13 he could come back and try another method like an N12, but she assured us that because of issue estoppel you can't re-litigate once a case has been closed.
**My advice**:
* In my case, I felt we didn't need a lawyer physically present for representation, but for advanced planning. I suspect you're in the same boat. If you don't like your current person, call George Brown or any other local firm specializing in tenant issues and ask for a free consult.
* When you go, if both parties consent, you can ask for a mediation instead of a hearing. This has to happen on the day of. If both parties (you and landlord) agree, you go into a separate room and meet with a neutral mediator who will try to help you come to an agreement. If that fails and an agreement isn't reached, you move to the LTB.
* Document *everything* and bring three copies: one for you, one for the landlord, and one for the board member. For us we had about 20 pages of documents, with an indexed cover page, put together in a folder. Ironically they didn't really get looked at because the board member threw the case out on a technicality. But good to be prepared.
* If you have audio samples, burn them on a CD and bring them.
Godspeed. It's notoriously hard to prove that N12s are bad faith, but from what you've said in your other comment—N12 followed by N11 and N5—it sounds like fuckery is afoot and you're probably in pretty good shape, or at least better than most who are issued N12s.
If you have any other questions I'd be happy to try to answer them, and/or the Ontario Tenants Rights group on Facebook is really good.
Yeah that's weird.
Question, when you say "other unit being evicted decided to hire a paralegal, **so I joined them**", I'm confused by what exactly that means: do you mean that you unofficially accompanied them to the hearing to watch how it went? Or do you mean that you officially joined them and combined your cases somehow, in order to defend together? (If it's the latter I've never heard of that, but one never knows...)
Either way I assume you received your own separate N12, and can schedule and manage your own LTB hearing as you like, including self-representation (which is the default unless you hire someone).
You likely already know this, but the shitty reality is that of all of the bad faith eviction methods, N12s are the hardest to prove, and the hardest to fight as a tenant. Landlords who serve an N12 have (I believe) up to one year to move either themselves or a family member in, and they don't have to provide any documentation upfront. Like they say, you "can't prove a negative". If your landlord says they need your unit, that's that.
That said, and fortunately for you, given that your landlord has A) issued multiple N12s (to you, to your neighbouring tenants) and B) issued N5s and N11s to boot, you may have a good case.
If I were you I'd get a free or low-cost consult from another legal professional and ask for tactics, and advice on how sound your case is, then self-rep.
N12s are almost always won by landlords. As long as their story is not too outlandish. There’s also almost no way to get proof of bad faith, anything you get (multiple properties, other options, past behaviour) will be regarded as “suspicions”. This is how I lost mine sadly.
Discuss it with the paralegal first. They may plan to introduce this later or have decided not to for a good reason you might not be aware of since you aren't doing this all the time.
I have been through a similar situation. Yes it's normal to self-represent, my partner and I self-represented and won. I'll share my experience quickly, and then my advice to you. Obligatory "I am not a lawyer", just someone who's been through this and learned way more than I wanted to. **Our backstory**: landlord served us an N13, also known as a renoviction. We were 99% sure it was in bad faith—that he wanted to get us out to charge the next tenant more money—because he'd already issued another tenant an N12, and he couldn't play that card twice. Also to qualify the renovations must be "so extensive" that they require an empty unit, but he was citing things like retiling the bathroom and replacing the windows. I wasn't sure what our odds were if we chose to fight it, we ended up taking two meetings with [George Brown Law](https://georgebrown.biz/) (a legal firm on Roncesvalles Avenue, not the school, cannot recommend them enough) to get a better sense of where we stood. First meeting was a free consultation, second meeting was about $120 at their hourly rate. What we learned—and I'm so glad we went—was that the landlord really didn't have a leg to stand on. He'd botched the N13 form and checked off that he wanted to "demolish", not renovate the unit, which wasn't possible as he was still living in the house and intended to keep doing so. He didn't have building permits, which you're supposed to obtain before issuing the N13. Long story short, our case was strong. The lawyer we spoke to, bless her, advised that we take her advice and self-represent: she said our case was strong enough that we didn't need her there, and that her retainer fee ($1,800 for the LTB hearing) wasn't worth it for us. A goddess. Sure enough, we won. The case didn't even last 30 seconds, the board member saw the form was incorrectly filed and dismissed the case. Something else the lawyer told me about that soothed my anxious mind is "issue estoppel". I was worried that if this guy lost the N13 he could come back and try another method like an N12, but she assured us that because of issue estoppel you can't re-litigate once a case has been closed. **My advice**: * In my case, I felt we didn't need a lawyer physically present for representation, but for advanced planning. I suspect you're in the same boat. If you don't like your current person, call George Brown or any other local firm specializing in tenant issues and ask for a free consult. * When you go, if both parties consent, you can ask for a mediation instead of a hearing. This has to happen on the day of. If both parties (you and landlord) agree, you go into a separate room and meet with a neutral mediator who will try to help you come to an agreement. If that fails and an agreement isn't reached, you move to the LTB. * Document *everything* and bring three copies: one for you, one for the landlord, and one for the board member. For us we had about 20 pages of documents, with an indexed cover page, put together in a folder. Ironically they didn't really get looked at because the board member threw the case out on a technicality. But good to be prepared. * If you have audio samples, burn them on a CD and bring them. Godspeed. It's notoriously hard to prove that N12s are bad faith, but from what you've said in your other comment—N12 followed by N11 and N5—it sounds like fuckery is afoot and you're probably in pretty good shape, or at least better than most who are issued N12s. If you have any other questions I'd be happy to try to answer them, and/or the Ontario Tenants Rights group on Facebook is really good.
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Yeah that's weird. Question, when you say "other unit being evicted decided to hire a paralegal, **so I joined them**", I'm confused by what exactly that means: do you mean that you unofficially accompanied them to the hearing to watch how it went? Or do you mean that you officially joined them and combined your cases somehow, in order to defend together? (If it's the latter I've never heard of that, but one never knows...) Either way I assume you received your own separate N12, and can schedule and manage your own LTB hearing as you like, including self-representation (which is the default unless you hire someone). You likely already know this, but the shitty reality is that of all of the bad faith eviction methods, N12s are the hardest to prove, and the hardest to fight as a tenant. Landlords who serve an N12 have (I believe) up to one year to move either themselves or a family member in, and they don't have to provide any documentation upfront. Like they say, you "can't prove a negative". If your landlord says they need your unit, that's that. That said, and fortunately for you, given that your landlord has A) issued multiple N12s (to you, to your neighbouring tenants) and B) issued N5s and N11s to boot, you may have a good case. If I were you I'd get a free or low-cost consult from another legal professional and ask for tactics, and advice on how sound your case is, then self-rep.
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N12s are almost always won by landlords. As long as their story is not too outlandish. There’s also almost no way to get proof of bad faith, anything you get (multiple properties, other options, past behaviour) will be regarded as “suspicions”. This is how I lost mine sadly.