Tenant duty counsel (TDC) are lawyers and community legal workers who help tenants at most Landlord and Tenant Board locations. TDC priority is to help unrepresented tenants facing eviction on the day of their hearing.
TDC do not charge for their services, however you must qualify financially for some types of duty counsel assistance.
TDC provide different types of services, but there are limits to what they can do. They can:
- give basic advice,
- help work out settlements with landlords,
- review and help fill out some forms and documents, especially ones related to eviction.
Sometimes they can also help tenants with urgent review applications and requests for adjournments.
To find out if there will be TDC at the Board location you are going to, call your local community legal clinic before you go to the Board.
More details about the TDC Program and the services it provides can be found on the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO) website.