Thursday, September 10, 2026

Fall Announcement: New DVTA President

Wednesday, September 9, 2026

NEW RULES

COMING SEPTEMBER 21, 2026

What to know:

The new rules take effect Sept. 21, following an earlier round of changes that came into effect July 1.
Tenants who miss rent will have less time to pay: the N4 deadline for monthly and yearly tenants will drop from 14 days to seven days.
Three late payments within six months could qualify as “persistent late payments” if the tenant fails to pay within seven days of the rent being due.
N12 compensation rules are changing in some circumstances, while new provisions are intended to strengthen protections against bad-faith own-use evictions.
New rules will also affect what tenants must do to raise certain issues during non-payment eviction hearings, while additional requirements are coming for renovictions. —NOW Canada BEATRIZ FERREIRA

Monday, June 24, 2024

Renting with roommates in Ontario? Here are the rights and regulations you should know.

April 19, 2023 Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario

Are you one of the many people in Ontario living with roommates? The amount of roommate households in Canada has grown by approximately 54% since 2001 and is currently the fastest growing household type. In Ontario, there are several types of co-living arrangements you can be a part of; however, being able to tell which one you fall under can be difficult. Here are some of the most common roommate arrangements in Ontario

1. Joint Tenants

What they are

A joint tenancy is the most common co-living arrangement landlords use when renting to two or more adults.

What to consider

All tenants can be evicted for a breach of tenant obligations such as arrears or property damage.
If any rent or other money is owed to the Landlord, all tenants listed under the lease can be considered responsible for paying the full amount. In the case that you and your roommate(s) agreed to split the cost, you can still be held responsible if you paid your share and your roommate(s) did not.

2. Tenants in Common

What they are

Two or more tenants live in the same unit together, however they have separate leasing agreements.
Each roommate pays their individual rent to the landlord separately.

What to consider

Unlike with a joint tenancy, if one of the tenants does not pay their part of the rent, the landlord can only hold that individual tenant liable.
Landlords may have a difficult time working with these types of lease agreements, and typically prefer a joint tenancy agreement.

3. Tenant/Occupant

What they are

Occupants are people who consider the unit their primary residence, but, unlike a tenant, are not on the lease. As they are not on the lease, they are not formally responsible for paying rent to the landlord – only those listed as tenants in the lease are. They may have an arrangement to pay the tenant part of the rent.
Common examples of occupants include: some spouses (married or common law) and/or children. Anyone can be an occupant based on the leasing agreement and whether they have permission from the landlord. Many “Roommates” are occupants, although some may be joint tenants or tenants in common.
Anyone under 18 who is a dependent of the tenant is an occupant by default.

What to consider

In some cases, since the occupant may not be covered by the lease, the occupant has little to no rights or control over their living in the residence.
Occupants are unable to bring issues they have with a tenant or landlord to the Landlord and Tenant Board.
If a tenant is evicted, the occupant will need to leave as well.
Tenants are solely responsible for paying rent to the landlord but can choose to divide rent with an occupant in the amount they see fit, or as agreed to in a separate contract. .
In a scenario where the occupant is someone renting from the tenant, it is generally recommended that a contract be made. If a contract has been formed, the occupant can take the tenant to court if the terms of their agreement are not being met. Keep in mind that the judge will look at the case based on contract law, not based on the RTA.

Sometimes, a tenant can be incorrectly labelled as an occupant. It’s important to know how you are protected under the law, if you are unsure whether you are a tenant or occupant, seek legal advice.

RTA-exempt Arrangements

What they are

In an agreement exempt from the Residential Tenancies Act, relations between the owner and those occupying the property are decided solely by the contract that has been made.
Examples of RTA-exempt arrangements include living directly with the landlord or a family member of the landlord, living in a student residence, living in hotels, motels, and/or vacation homes.
Unsure if your living arrangement is RTA-exempt? You can find a full list of RTA exemptions here. If still unsure, it is best to get legal advice.

What to consider

RTA-exempt agreements do not need to follow rent control guidelines.
The RTA provides timelines for eviction that won’t protect renters who are exempt from the RTA.
If you are in a RTA-exempt agreement, you cannot pursue legal action against your landlord at the Landlord and Tenant Board, but you can take them to court if there is a breach of contract. The court will look at your case based on contact law, rather than the RTA.
Landlords will sometimes falsely claim that a tenant is exempt from the RTA to undermine their rights. If you think your landlord might be doing this, seek legal advice.
Being under an RTA-exempt agreement does not automatically mean you have no protections under the RTA. Seek legal advice to find out the ways in which the RTA applies to you.

It’s not always clear what roommate agreement applies to you. It’s important to know where you stand legally to best protect yourself. We recommend that you pursue legal advice to get more information and guidance on your specific situation.

Do you want to learn more about your rights as a renter? ACTO has developed tip sheets and guides, which can be accessed here.

Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario

The Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO) is a specialty community legal clinic, funded by Legal Aid Ontario, with a province-wide mandate to serve low-income tenants across the province. The clinic also coordinates the Tenant Duty Counsel Program (TDCP) across Ontario, which provides legal information and assistance to self-represented tenants appearing at the Landlord and Tenant Board.

The real reason Ontario’s rental market is broken? Lack of effective rent control.

February 9, 2023 Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario

Serious couple with son in a deep conversation.

Ontario’s rental market is broken. Vacancy rates have reached historic lows in 2022 for many Ontario cities, according to CMHC’s recently published annual Rental Market Report. A majority of cities saw vacancy rates drop dramatically to 1.9% or lower; the lowest rates have been since 2001. Average rents in major Ontario cities have risen anywhere from 5 to 12% compared to last year. That figure soars higher for condiminiums. To put it simply: we don’t have anywhere near enough rental housing supply and what is available is eye-wateringly expensive.

For the first time ever, the CMHC report shows the impact vacancy decontrol has on the rental market. Vacancy decontrol is a policy that allows landlords to charge any rent they want for a unit that is unoccupied, regardless of what the previous tenant paid. The report noted that the average rent across Canada for a two bedroom unit that turned over saw an 18.2% increase. When compared to units with existing tenants, however, the increase was only 2.8%.

How does rent control currently operate in Ontario?

Existing tenants in Ontario are protected by rent control; meaning the landlord can only increase their rent each year up to the limit set out by the province. It used to be that rent control applied to all units, even ones that were turning over. However, in the mid-1990s, the policy of vacancy decontrol was introduced. Rental prices have soared ever since. The CMHC report found that in 2022, vacancy decontrol sharply increased rents for two bedroom apartments that had turned over by 26% in Hamilton, 17% in Ottawa, and 29% in Toronto – compared to 1.2% for existing tenants.

Rent control also doesn’t apply to rental units that were first occupied on or after November 15th, 2018. For those unfortunate tenants, they have no protections at all. Their landlords can raise the rent by however much they want. And raise it they do – we’ve had tenants coming to us in crisis because their landlords have demanded increases of 20% or higher and they can’t afford to pay it.

Policy-makers justified vacancy decontrol and the 2018 loophole because they claimed it would increase supply. These changes also came at a time when governments largely stopped investing in co-ops and other forms of affordable housing. Thirty or so years later, we still don’t have enough supply. Ontario needs to build at least 10,000 new rental units each year to meet the demand of a growing population. However, we’ve seen an average of only 5,500 rental completions annually over the period from 1990 to 2020. That’s approximately half of what we need. After decades of these policies, there is no evidence to suggest vacancy decontrol increases supply at all.

The real cost of vacancy decontrol

What is clear, however, is that vacancy decontrol and the 2018 loophole are a total disaster for housing affordability. It has become so dire that even a major Canadian bank is calling for Canada to double its supply of subsidized housing, sharing that Canada has one of the lowest rates of subsidized affordable housing of all the OECD countries – a paltry 3.5% of housing stock.

What does this tell us, in practical terms? Instead of creating more supply, these policies have incentivized landlords to evict tenants from their homes so they can make more money off a new tenant. It also means even if we do build more supply, anything new entering the rental market is going to be unaffordable, because it’s exempt from having any rent control at all. Renters will be forced to cut back on other basic necessities (like food) just to stay housed. Evictions (both formal and informal) will continue unchecked. It means more renters will be at risk of homelessness.

It doesn’t have to be this way. The right policies can correct the mistakes of the past. Eliminate vacancy decontrol and close the 2018 exemption to new units. It’s time to bring back true affordability for Ontarians. It’s time for real rent control.

Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario

Here’s what to do if you’re short on rent this month.

April 24, 2023 Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario

*This blog contains general information. It is not a substitute for getting legal advice about your particular situation. Contact your community legal clinic for legal advice.

Are you worried that you’ll be short on your next rent payment? There are many reasons why tenants are struggling financially. With the cost of necessities like food and gas continuing to jump, climbing Ontario-wide rent increases, and a never-ending wait for wages to keep pace with inflation, people across Ontario are struggling. Here are some resources that may help you.

Rent Banks

What they are

Rent Banks provide financial support to tenants that need help paying a rent deposit or are behind on their monthly rent payment. Some Rent Banks may provide financial support for other payments outside of rent and deposits. Rent Banks are available across Ontario as part of an eviction prevention strategy.

Am I eligible?

Along with demonstrating financial need, you need to live in the area the Rent Bank serves. For example, you must live in or be moving to Toronto to access the Toronto Rent Bank. They require information on your specific living situation, where you live, how long you have lived there or when you plan to live there, and how much your rent is.

What types of assistance are there?

This depends on your local Rent Bank. If you are eligible, you will receive a grant and/or a loan. A loan can be low-interest or interest free, and the payment you receive may be a one-time payment or monthly. Your local Rent Bank will limit the number of months you are eligible for support, and the amount you receive will be specific to you and your situation. For some Rent Banks, the amount will vary by the type of unit you live in.

Requirements by Municipality

*Please note that requirements are subject to change at any time, refer directly to the municipality website for the most up-to-date information.

Only a few of Ontario’s highly populated municipalities are listed here. If you don’t see your municipality, there may still be a Rent Bank you can access. Contact your local government or community legal clinic to learn more.

What to do if you receive an N4

Your landlord can give you a Form N4 or a “Notice to End a Tenancy Early for Non-payment of Rent” any time after the day your rent was due but not paid. The Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) gives you at least 14 days after you receive the notice to pay all overdue rent—check the payment deadline on the N4. If you manage to pay all overdue rent within this time, the notice will be “voided”, and you cannot be evicted. If you do not pay by the deadline, the landlord can apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB). The LTB will then schedule a hearing to determine whether you should be evicted. You should attend the hearing to present your side of the story and try to avoid eviction. You do not need to move out until after an eviction order has been made by the LTB.

You can access our Tip Sheet called “What to do if you get an N4 notice” to learn more about what you can do if you receive this type of notice.

There may be cases where you are given an ex parte order, which means your landlord can evict you without an N4 notice. You can learn more about how to reverse an ex parte order here.

For more information on your rights as a tenant, ACTO has developed a number of tip sheets and guides, which can be accessed here.

Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario

Sunday, June 16, 2024

Addressing Extreme Heat - Bill 198

Blog: A Protected Future – Bill 198 Creates Strategic Action Plan that Addresses Extreme Heat

By Maya Hribar

With the ongoing climate crisis, extreme heat is getting worse. It is a danger for people with disabilities, seniors, children, socially isolated individuals and lower-income people, as they disproportionately suffer and experience its many health implications.

Tackling global warming and addressing extreme heat is essential. In Ontario, a private member’s bill, Bill 198, An Act providing a climate change adaptation program for Ontario, recently had its first reading on May 16, 2024. If passed, the bill would enact the Ontario Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Act, 2024, setting out the procedures for creating, implementing, and financially supporting a Strategic Action Plan.

The Strategic Action Plan would aim “to ensure that Ontario citizens, communities, infrastructure and natural environment are protected from the risks and impacts of climate change”, which we know continue to grow and “threaten our health and security, our homes, our forests and wildlife, our electricity network, our roads and our water supply”.

Briefly, Section 3 of the Bill lays out how the Strategic Action Plan is to be developed; Section 4 lays out the establishment of an Ontario Climate Adaptation Fund and its functions; Section 5 lays out the establishment of an Ontario Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Resource Centre and its functions; Section 6 lays out the establishment of an Ontario Whole-of-Government Climate Adaptation Co-ordination Secretariat and its functions; Section 7 lays out the review of a Strategic Action Plan every two years; and Section 8 lists the contents of a Strategic Action Plan, referring to Sections 9 to 15 which detail specific adaptation activities based on a given topic.

On extreme heat, Section 8 states that a Strategic Action Plan shall, among other things, include:

4. Improvement of extreme heat preparedness and resilience, including through the measures set out in section 10.

The measures set out in Section 10, Extreme heat preparedness and resilience, include:

Conducting extreme heat risk mapping to identify vulnerable areas and populations at elevated risk from extreme heat events.
Developing and implementing a system for identifying and publishing timely data on heat-related deaths and illnesses in the province.
Requiring that official plans incorporate strategies to assess and reduce urban heat islands.
Providing funding for municipalities to plan and implement urban cooling strategies including cool and green roofs, cool pavements and parking lots, green corridors, expansion of tree canopies, green spaces and parks in nature-deprived areas and the provision of shade structures.
Assessing the need for cooling in schools, childcare centres, hospitals and nursing homes and developing a strategy with targets and dates to reduce heat loads and provide cooling during extreme heat events.
Amending the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 to set a maximum temperature requirement for rental units.
Providing to the owners of rental properties that currently lack cooling systems grants and incentives for retrofits, including heat pumps for individual units, that reduce heat loads or provide cooling and allow compliance with the maximum temperature requirement referred to in paragraph 6.
Conducting an annual province-wide awareness campaign about the risks of extreme heat and how to stay safe, using messaging modes most likely to reach people at elevated risk.
Passing and enforcing regulations related to heat stress under the Occupational Health and Safety Act to protect workers whose work exposes them to hot conditions, such as roofing, road paving and agriculture.

Bill 198 seeks to address some of the worst impacts of extreme heat, in particular for low-income tenants with rental units that are much too hot to be safe and outdoor workers. We urge all parties to support the bill and take action to protect our communities from extreme heat.

Source
Bill 198, An Act providing a climate change adaptation program for Ontario, 1st Sess, 43rd Leg, Ontario, 2024 (first reading 16 May 2024).

Image courtesy of @BeritK via Canva.com

Friday, June 14, 2024

Extreme Heat and Renal Housing

Recommendations for Municipalities Focus: Extreme Heat and Rental Housing

September 21, 2022

This report recommends and provides draft language for a maximum heat municipal bylaw, which would require landlords to maintain a maximum temperature of 26°C in rental units. The recommendation accounts for the worsening climate crisis and the disproportionate impact of extreme heat on vulnerable populations including the elderly, those with chronic illnesses and mobility challenges, and those that are socially and materially disadvantaged.

Prepared by Meaghan Kenley for Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, Canadian Environmental Law Association, Low-Income Energy Network.
CELA Publication No. 1488
ISBN: 978-1-77842-008-5