# 2018-004 Pay and Benefits, Canadian Forces Integrated Relocation Program

Case summary

F&R Date: 2018-07-31

The grievor was denied reimbursement of the utility costs he incurred after the early termination of his lease agreement due to a posting. The grievor disagreed with the adjudication decision by the Director Compensation and Benefits Administration indicating that utilities are not integral to the lease agreement, arguing that his lease agreement specified that he was liable for both rent and utilities until the end of his lease. As redress, the grievor sought reimbursement of the utility costs he incurred after he vacated the rental unit due to posting.

The Initial Authority (IA), the Director General Compensation and Benefits, denied the grievance, finding that the applicable policies, in particular the Ontario Residential Tenancies Act (ORTA), do not refer to financial compensation for additional services or agreements found in schedules or addendums to lease agreements. The IA found that the grievor's utility costs were not paid to the landlord but rather directly to the utility companies and, therefore, not eligible for reimbursement.

The Committee first found that the definition of rent in the ORTA does not include the cost of utilities when the tenant does not pay utility costs “to a landlord”. In this case, the grievor paid his utility costs directly to the utility companies. Since the cost of utilities were not included in the grievor's “rent” pursuant to his lease agreement, they did not form part of his lease liability and thus were not compensation owed to the landlord under the ORTA. The Committee concluded that since the payment of utilities to a third party is not an expense for which a landlord can be compensated under the ORTA, the grievor's utility expenses were not reimbursable under article 7.03 of the Canadian Forces Integrated Relocation Program. The Committee recommended that the grievance be denied.

FA decision summary

The Director Canadian Forces Grievance Authority, acting as the final authority (FA), found that the grievor had been aggrieved and granted reimbursement of the utility expenses claimed.

The FA agreed with the Committee that, given the circumstances, the reimbursement of the grievor's utility expenses could not be authorized pursuant to Canadian Forces Integrated Relocation Program (CFIRP) article 7.03 as a lease liability. However, the FA found that the grievor had incurred the utility expenses to satisfy the landlord's contractual requirements upon vacating his accommodation. The FA noted that the grievor had maintained two residences as a result of his relocation. Given that, generally, Canadian Armed Forces members are granted Temporary Dual Residence Assistance benefits when they sell and purchase a residence on posting, the FA found that the grievor should be entitled to equivalent benefits on vacating his rental accommodation and granted reimbursement of utility expenses pursuant to the discretionary authority under CFIRP article 2.1.01.