Not Every Dog is a Welcome Guest: Aggressive Dogs and Condo Living

Most people know that under the Human Rights Code (the “Code”), a condominium corporation has a duty to accommodate a person with a disability to the point of undue hardship. This may require a condominium to allow an owner to have a dog that is otherwise prohibited by its documents. What happens when the dog is aggressive? What if the dog belongs to a visitor to the unit instead of the owner? A recent case heard by the Condominium Authority Tribunal addresses these questions.

Halton Standard Condominium Corporation No. 694 v Evlova, 2026 ONCAT 111

The issue in this case was whether a German Shephard, alleged to have exhibited aggressive behaviour and clearly exceeding the condominium’s pet weight limit, would be permitted to continue visiting a unit owner as an accommodation for her disability.  The dog did not belong to the unit owner but to her son and only stayed with her while he was at work. In support of her request, the unit owner provided a doctor’s note recommending that she live with a “survival companion, like a dog” following the death of her husband to help manage anxiety and a mood disorder.

The condominium brought an Application under section 1.36 of the Condominium Act, 1998 (the “Condo Act”), which permits condominiums to seek Tribunal resolution for prescribed disputes with an owner of a unit. Ontario Regulation 179/17 sets out the prescribed disputes and includes provisions that govern pets or other animals in a unit and on the common elements.

Subsection 1(3) of Ontario Regulation 179/17 provides that the condominium cannot bring an application to the Tribunal if the dispute also engages subsection 117(1) of the Condo Act, which prohibits activities or conditions that are likely to cause injury or illness to an individual. To remain within its jurisdiction, the Tribunal focused narrowly on the issue of compliance with the condominium’s pet rules, and, if there was non-compliance, whether an exemption was required as an accommodation under the Code.

There was no dispute that the dog exceeded the condominium’s weight limit for dogs. The  issue to be decided was whether the Tribunal would allow the unit owner to be exempt from the rule to accommodate her disability so that the dog could visit her while her son was at work.

In determining this, the Tribunal considered the clear evidence of aggressive behaviours of the dog towards people in the condominium, the evidence that the unit owner and dog owner had difficulty controlling the dog on occasion, reports that other residents have found encounters with the dog to be frightening and the fact that the dog was not owned by the unit owner and did not reside with her on a full time basis.

The Tribunal held that the dog would no longer be permitted to visit the unit owner or be on the common elements. The Tribunal reasoned that while the unit owner may be a person with a disability-related need that is helped by a “survival companion, like a dog”, those needs must be balanced against the evidence of aggressive behaviours resulting in undue hardship to others.