The rules where your property is, in plain language.
Rent increase limits, notice periods and deposit rules for every province, plus short guides on screening, leases, notices and the money. Every figure is sourced, and the calculators do the arithmetic for you.
31 articles
How to raise the rent in Ontario in 2026, step by step
The 2026 guideline is 2.1%. Who it applies to, when you are allowed to raise the rent, and how the 90 day N1 notice works, with the math.
Rent is late in Ontario: what happens, day by day
Rent is late the day after it is due. Here is the N4, the notice period, what voiding means, and the timeline from a missed payment to a hearing.
The Ontario Standard Lease, explained section by section
Seventeen sections in plain words: what each one asks for, the two that cause most arguments, and what happens if you never provide it.
Deposits in Ontario: what you can collect and what you owe back
Last month's rent, a refundable key deposit, and almost nothing else. Plus the interest you owe every year and how to settle it in one line.
Repairs in an Ontario rental: who fixes what, and how fast
The landlord repairs, the tenant cleans, and nobody withholds rent. What the law says, and how to document a repair so it holds up later.
Rental income and the T776 for the 2025 tax year
What counts as rent, the expense lines on the T776, why most small landlords skip capital cost allowance, and the receipts to keep for six years.
Screening a tenant in Ontario without breaking the rules
What you may ask, what you may never refuse for, and the order the rules put things in: references and credit first, income second.
For renters: entry, a sale, and a renovation, in plain words
When your landlord can come in, what a 24 hour notice must say, and what an N12 or N13 means for you, including the money you are owed.
They want $25,000 to leave. Work out what saying no costs first.
The arrears total is the number landlords watch and the wrong one to decide on. It is behind you either way, and an order for it is not money. What matters is the rent you will not collect between now and getting the unit back.
The N12 does not end when the tenant leaves. That is what costs landlords.
Almost nobody loses a bad-faith case because the reason was invented. They lose because the duties carried on after the unit was empty, and a year later they could not show three dates. Here are the three.
In Ontario your fixed-term lease already became month to month
When a one-year lease runs out, the tenancy does not end and nobody has to sign anything. It continues month to month on exactly the same terms. Here is what that changes about rent, notice and getting the unit back.
Your tenant stopped paying rent. Here is the order things happen in Ontario.
The N4, then the L1, then a hearing, then the Sheriff. Nothing in that sequence can be skipped and none of it can be done yourself. What you can control is how clean the file is when it gets there.
Ontario's 2027 rent increase guideline is 1.9%. Plan the notice now.
The guideline that applies is the one for the year the new rent starts, not the year you sign the notice. For a January 2027 increase that means 1.9%, and the notice has to be in the tenant's hands by early October 2026.
How much you can raise rent in each province, 2026 and 2027
Ontario is 2.1% this year and 1.9% next. British Columbia is 2.3%. Nova Scotia is capped at 5% until the end of 2027. Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland have no cap at all. Here is the whole country, with the notice period that actually governs your calendar.
You owe your tenant interest on their last month's rent. Every year.
Section 106 of the Residential Tenancies Act makes interest on a rent deposit payable annually, at the same rate as the rent increase guideline. Almost nobody pays it, and it compounds into a real number by the time a tenancy ends.
Five charges Ontario landlords collect that they are not allowed to
Damage deposits, pet deposits, late fees, credit check fees and oversized key deposits are all unlawful in Ontario. Here is what the Act actually permits, and the one extra charge that is legal.
Which notice ends a tenancy in Ontario, and how many days it needs
N4 through N13, what each one is for, the notice period, and whether the termination date has to land at the end of a rental period. Plus the two date mistakes that get most of these thrown out.
Heat, air conditioning, and what Ontario actually requires you to provide
Heat is a vital service and the temperature is set by your city, not the province. Cooling is not a vital service anywhere in Ontario, but since July 1, 2026 your tenant can install their own unit on written notice.
Ontario's September 21 rule changes, and one claim going around that is simply wrong
Three changes to the Residential Tenancies Act land on September 21, 2026: a seven-day N4, a 60-day move-in deadline on N12 personal-use evictions, and no compensation where you give 120 days' notice. Two of them help you. One creates real exposure.
Above-guideline increases: run the number before you spend the weekend
An AGI spreads the eligible spend over the useful life of the work, splits it across every unit, then caps it at 3% of rent a year for up to three years. For most small landlords the answer falls out of the arithmetic.
Toronto gives you seven days to apply for a renovation licence. Then the fines start.
Since July 31, 2025, a Toronto landlord serving an N13 has to apply for a Rental Renovation Licence within seven days. Hamilton and London run their own versions. The N13 on its own is no longer enough.
The 24-hour entry notice, and the three words that make it valid
Ontario lets you enter with 24 hours' written notice, between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., for a stated reason. Most failed entry notices fail on the time window, not on the right to enter.
The eight questions to ask a rental lead, and the five that will get you in trouble
A script you can paste into WhatsApp, Messenger or Kijiji that filters out the time-wasters in one message, without touching anything the Ontario Human Rights Code protects.
Ontario rent increase rules: the mechanics, start to finish
The guideline, who it applies to, N1 versus N2, the two timing rules that void an increase, and what to do when a tenant says the notice was invalid. The full mechanics rather than just this year's number.
Marketplace, Kijiji and WhatsApp: where Ontario rental leads actually come from
Three channels, three completely different lead shapes, three different response speeds. Running all three is normal. Running all three from three separate inboxes is what costs you the extra weeks of vacancy.
What AI is actually good for in a small rental portfolio
Not predictions and not decisions. The value is in the repetitive, well-defined work that eats your evenings: answering the same lead questions, chasing the same reminders, and turning a year of records into something readable.
Ontario landlord and tenant law: what landlords are actually entitled to
Ontario has a reputation as a tenant's province, and it is mostly earned. But landlords have real, enforceable rights here. Almost all of them are conditional on process, which is why they get lost.
Verifying a rental applicant: what to check, and what people fake
Prescreening tells you who to take seriously. Verification tells you whether what they said is true. Here is the order to do it in, and the three documents that get forged most often.
The five numbers that decide what a rental portfolio earns
Most landlords track the rent roll and nothing else. The money is usually lost in the four numbers underneath it: days vacant, days to lease, on-time payment rate, and turnover cost.
The move-in day that saves you the argument two years later
Almost every damage dispute comes down to what the unit looked like on day one. An hour of documentation at move-in is the cheapest insurance in the business.
The Ontario lease: the standard form is mandatory, and skipping it has a price
For most private tenancies signed since April 30, 2018 you have to use the standard lease. If a tenant asks for one and you do not provide it within 21 days, they can withhold a month's rent, and after 30 more days they can keep it.
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