Your first stop for self-help is a review of our FAQs. Take a look at the ever increasing collection of questions asked by Ontario’s small-scale landlords as well as the actual answers provided by Landlord’s Self-Help Centre.
A landlord can offer a prompt payment discount of up to 2 percent of the rent without affecting the lawful rent. If the tenant does not pay the rent on time then he/she must pay the full amount of the rent, otherwise you could serve notice for nonpayment of rent using the Form N4.
In order to change this arrangement, the tenant has to agree before you can cease to include hydro in the rent and reduce the rent accordingly. If the tenant does not want to change this arrangement, there is nothing you can do until the tenancy ends and the tenant moves out. At that time, you can set a new rent amount and have the new tenant set up their own account with the utility company and pay for her own usage directly.
It is your legal right to serve your tenant with a notice of nonpayment of rent using Form N4. The notice informs the tenant that she must pay the outstanding rent by the termination date which is fourteen days without counting the date of service. If she pays within that time, the notice becomes null and void. If she does not pay accordingly, you need to file the notice with the Landlord and Tenant Board and continue with the eviction process. The Form N4 can be obtained from the Landlord and Tenant Board’s website at https://tribunalsontario.ca/ltb/forms/#landlord-forms
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Since this is a weekly tenancy, you are required to give the tenants seven days’ notice to pay the outstanding rent in the N4 notice. If the tenants do not pay the rent within that period of time, you can file an application with the Landlord and Tenant Board for an eviction order after the seven days have elapsed and proceed accordingly.
The law does not have any specific rules on where rental payments should be made. It is then up to the landlord and the tenant to decide what method of payment is convenient for both parties.
If the tenant only gave you verbal notice to move out, you and the tenant should sign an N11 form confirming that she is moving out. You can find the form on the Landlord and Tenant Board’s website at https://tribunalsontario.ca/ltb/forms/#landlord-forms.
There is not a standard form that your tenant can sign stating the amount owed, so you could create your own agreement and have the tenant sign it. As of September 1, 2021, landlords can file an application for arrears of rent with the LTB within one year from the date the tenant moved out of the rental unit. The tenant must have moved out of the rental unit on or after September 1, 2021.
If rent is due on the first of the month, it must be paid on that day. It is legal to collect rent on a holiday as the law does not set out an exception if the first of the month happens to fall on a holiday.
If the tenancy agreement requires the tenant to pay the rent on the first of each month (or any other specific day as indicated in the agreement), the tenant has until midnight on that day to pay the rent. If the rent is unpaid, you may issue a notice of early termination for non-payment of rent (Form N4) the next day. The tenant may avoid termination by paying the outstanding rent within 14 days of receiving the N4 notice.
Pre-authorized deposits can be used as a method of payment as long as the tenant agrees to pay in this manner. Section 108 of the Act says “Neither a landlord nor a tenancy agreement shall require a tenant or prospective tenant to, (a) provide post-dated cheques or other negotiable instruments for payment of rent; or (b) permit automatic debiting of the tenant’s or prospective tenant’s account at a financial institution, automatic charging of a credit card or any other form of automatic payment for the payment of rent.
The Regulations of the Residential Tenancies Act set out different rules when providing discounted rents while protecting the lawful rent. You can review these rules under Regulations 516/06 sections 10 and 11 at https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/060516. Further, you can review Part G entitled Rent Discounts from the Standard Form of Lease which discusses the legal ways of giving a rent discount. To review the Standard Lease, visit http://www.forms.ssb.gov.on.ca/mbs/ssb/forms/ssbforms.nsf/FormDetail?OpenForm&ACT=RDR&TAB=PROFILE&SRCH=&ENV=WWE&TIT=2229E&NO=047-2229E
If the tenant pays the total amount for arrears including the filing fee before the Board hearing, you will not be able to continue with the eviction process. If the tenant defaults with her rent payment next month, you will have to serve another N4 form and file it with the Board if necessary. However, if the tenant has been served with multiple N4s, you may have grounds to terminate the tenancy based on persistently late payment of rent. You would serve your tenant with an N8 form, which is a 60 days’ notice ending on the last day of the rental period or term. If there is a fixed term lease in place, this notice can only be given at the end of the lease term.
The interest rate on the last month’s rent deposit is the same rate as the rent increase guideline. However, interest on the last month’s rent is paid annually and according to the rent increase guideline of the year in question. Based on this scenario, you owe the interest on the last month’s rent deposit for two years. Assuming the tenant moved in March 2016, you would pay the interest for the first year in March 2017 according to the rent increase guideline of 2017. You would then pay the interest for the second year in March 2018 according to the rent increase of 2018. You can find the interest rates for the past few years on our website at https://www.landlordselfhelp.com/RentIncreaseGuideline.htm or at https://www.ontario.ca/page/rent-increase-guideline.
It is your legal right to serve a notice of non-payment of rent which is the N4 form even if you have not talked to the tenant about it. You can serve this notice by handing it to the tenant, sliding it under the door, or placing it in the mailbox among other permitted methods of service. This notice advises the tenant to pay the rent within 14 days or move out. If the tenant is still in possession of the rental unit and has not paid the rent by the termination date stated in the N4, you can file the N4 notice with an L1 application with the Landlord and Tenant Board for an Order to evict the tenant. You can obtain all the forms from the Landlord and Tenant Board’s website at https://tribunalsontario.ca/ltb/forms/#landlord-forms.
Post-dated cheques can be used as a method of payment as long as the tenant agrees to pay in this manner. Section 108 of the Act says “Neither a landlord nor a tenancy agreement shall require a tenant or prospective tenant to, (a) provide post-dated cheques or other negotiable instruments for payment of rent; or (b) permit automatic debiting of the tenant’s or prospective tenant’s account at a financial institution, automatic charging of a credit card or any other form of automatic payment for the payment of rent .” Once the tenant agrees on a method of payment they cannot unilaterally change the method of payment.
The Residential Tenancies Act does not specifically give tenants the right to deduct amounts of money from the rent payments for any reason. However, if the tenant files an application with the Landlord and Tenant Board based on unattended maintenance or repairs in the rental unit to be carried out by the landlord, the Landlord and Tenant Board is allowed to order a rent abatement, or reimbursement for the reasonable costs that a tenant has incurred in repairing or replacing damaged, destroyed or disposed of property by the landlord’s breaching of their obligations. Further, a tenant may hold back a rent increase amount that may be in dispute, or because the landlord failed to pay the interest on the last month’s rent, or for an automatic rent reduction where the municipality has notified the parties of the rent reduction due to a decrease in municipal taxes and charges. In most cases, the board member will have to decide on the validity of the tenant unilaterally deducting any amounts from the rent payments.
It is fairly common for a tenant to split the costs of renting by bringing in a permanent guest, or “undertenant”. The Residential Tenancies Act includes no remedy for a landlord in such cases, because it does not consider it to be unlawful. A landlord can neither raise the rent to reflect the additional utility use and wear and tear on the rental unit, nor prevent the tenant from having the roommate, as long as local municipal bylaws on occupancy standards are respected.
A landlord can do a maintenance inspection provided that a 24 hours’ written notice of entry is given to the tenant, specifying the date and a 2-hour window of time for entry between 8 am and 8 pm, as well as the reason for the notice. It is advisable to include in the notice that photographs may be taken of specific parts of the property that need to be repaired or maintained. If she makes it clear that she will not allow you to take photographs, it would be better not to force the issue. However, photographs of before and after repairs are the best evidence when proving damages before the Landlord and Tenant Board. The member may or may not allow the photos into evidence depending on whether or not they include the tenant’s own belongings in the pictures.