My elevator needs servicing and will not be accessible for two weeks.  My top-floor tenants are wheelchair bound.  How should I address the situation with them?  

This is potentially a very serious situation.  Normally, the withdrawal of the elevator service for two weeks would entitle non-disabled tenants to seek a rent reduction for a decrease in housing services.  The owner should, in that instance, allow a reasonable rental rebate for the inconvenience so as to avoid a Rent Board hearing for decrease in housing services without a corresponding decrease in rent.

However, in this case, the tenants are wheelchair bound, so the withdrawal of the elevator effectively precludes them from meaningful access to their unit.  Therefore, the landlord must meet with the tenants well before the anticipated date of closing down the elevator and inquire as to how the tenants wish to be accommodated.  Most certainly, the tenants will need to be provided with alternative housing.  This substitute lodging could include an empty unit on the first floor of the landlord’s building, but in all likelihood would entail a hotel with full disability access.  The owner must give serious thought to ensuring that the tenants are placed into acceptable lodging during the two-week period, and the costs associated with the replacement housing should be borne by the owner.

Failure to make this offer of replacement housing could subject the owner to a claim of constructive and wrongful eviction.  If the tenants cannot access their unit because the elevator service has been terminated, they have been deprived of the use of their rental unit.  Even though the owner may be acting properly by servicing the elevator, a wheelchair bound tenant has no realistic ability to enter and exit the dwelling during this work.  Thus, the landlord is obligated, both legally and ethically, to provide reasonable accommodations.

Paying for the substitute hotel room is a matter of courtesy and would probably be ordered if the tenants sued the landlord.  The disabled tenants are able to live in a multi-story building because of the elevator.  Without this service for an extended period of time, they have no ability to use their home.  Thus, they will be greatly inconvenienced by having to relocate for two weeks, and a good landlord will minimize this stress and hardship by paying for a clean and comfortable place to live until the elevator is running again.  

DW