Landlord Tenant Act

Summary of Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act, also known as the Act

(January 31, 2007)

What is the Act

The Act provides information on “the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants who rent residential properties”.

• Examples of a rental unit include:
  • an apartment
  • a house
  • or a room in a rooming or boarding house
  • etc.

• Many of the rules about rent do not apply to:
  • non-profit and public housing
  • university and college residences

• However, issues such as maintenance & evictions are still covered under the Act.
• The Act does not apply if the tenant must share a kitchen or bathroom with the landlord.

Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB)

• Like a court, this governing body is intended to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants in one of two ways:
  • Mediation:
    • an LTB mediator helps a landlord and tenant reach an agreement they are both satisfied with.
  • Adjudication:
    • Both the landlord and tenant present evidence of their position and an LTB member makes a final decision and issues an order.

Tenancy Agreements

• If you sign a lease agreement after April 30, 2018, the landlord must use the Residential Tenancy Agreement (Standard Form of Lease) form.

• The tenant should get a copy of the written lease within 21 days of signing it:
  • If the landlord does not provide the tenant with the standard lease form, the tenant can demand that the landlord do so.
• The lease should not contain any terms that go against the Act.
  • If the lease does contain any terms that do not follow the Act, the LTB will not enforce that term.
• If a standard lease form is not used the landlord must provide a new tenant with information about the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants and about the role of the LTB
  • This information, called “Information for New Tenants” and must be provided on or before the start of the tenancy.

Rent

• Rent is agreed between the landlord and tenant and includes how much for the rental unit and what services are included (e.g., parking, internet, heat electricity etc.)
  • Rent usually cannot be raised for 12 months
  • A landlord must give at least 90 days’ notice in writing of any rent increase.

Rent Deposit

• A landlord can collect a rent deposit from a new tenant on or before the start of a new tenancy:
  • If the rent is paid monthly, the deposit cannot be more than 1 month’s rent.
  • If the rent is paid weekly, the deposit cannot be more than 1 week’s rent.
• The rent deposit can only be used as the rent payment for the last month or week before the tenant moves out.
• It cannot be used for anything else, such as repairing damage to the rental unit.
• If the landlord gives the tenant a notice to increase the rent, the landlord can also ask the tenant to increase the rent deposit by the same amount.
• A landlord must pay the tenant interest on the rent deposit every year.

Post-dated cheques and automatic deposits

• When a landlord and a new tenant agree to enter into a rental agreement, they usually discuss how the rent will be paid.
• The landlord and tenant can agree that the rent can be paid by:
  • Post-dated cheques
  • Automatic payments (such as debits from a tenant’s account or by credit card)
  • However, the landlord cannot require the tenant to pay by either of those methods.
• If you want to pay the landlord yourself every time the rent is due, that is your right.
• Once the landlord and tenant have agreed on a method of payment, it cannot be changed unless both the landlord and tenant agree.

Maintenance and repairs

• A landlord must:
  • keep the rental property in a good state of repair.
  • obey all health, safety, housing, and maintenance standards, as set out in any provincial laws or municipal by laws.
    • this is true even if the tenant was aware of the problems when they agreed to rent the unit.
    • A tenant can apply to the LTB if the landlord is not meeting their maintenance obligations.
  • A tenant must:
    • keep their rental unit clean, (what would be considered ordinary or normal cleanliness)
    • repair or pay for the repair of any damage to the rental property caused by the tenant, the tenant’s guest or another person who lives in the rental unit.
      • includes damage in the tenant’s unit, as well as any common area such as a hallway, elevator, stairway, driveway or parking area.
        • it does not matter whether the damage was done on purpose or by not being careful enough – the tenant is responsible.
        • the tenant is not responsible to repair damage caused by normal “wear and tear”.
          • e.g., if the carpet has become worn after years of normal use, the tenant would not have to replace the carpet.

Please note that the previous information was taken directly from the following source:

Government of Ontario. (n.d.). LTB: A guide to the residential tenancies act. LTB | A Guide to the Residential Tenancies Act.

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