LandlordCourse.ca · LEAD — Landlord Education & Development
The rule changes and market forces shaping rental housing across Ontario — what tightened, what loosened, where demand is heading, and what it means for owners. Tracked from 2022 to today, with a watch on the Highway 401 corridor.
Maximum fines under the Residential Tenancies Act double: up to $100,000 for an individual (from $50,000) and up to $500,000 for a corporation (from $250,000). Directors and officers can be charged personally. Expect more active enforcement from the province's Investigation and Enforcement Unit.
Alto (formerly VIA HFR) is Canada's planned Toronto–Quebec City high-speed line — 300 km/h, roughly $60–90B, with preliminary construction around 2029–2030. For corridor owners it cuts both ways. On June 22, 2026 the federal transport minister said Alto is studying a southern route with a possible Kingston stop, which would lift demand and values in any town that lands a station (Peterborough is already slated for one). But Bill C-15 amended the Expropriation Act to speed land acquisition — removing the duty to negotiate first and ending owners' right to contest at a hearing — and the minister has said plainly there will be expropriations along a roughly 60-metre right-of-way. There's also a real risk the existing VIA service through Belleville and Kingston is hollowed out if traffic shifts to Alto. Watch which alignment is chosen; it reshapes demand from Peterborough to Kingston.
Heads-up item, not yet independently confirmed: a local landlord reported in a Belleville-area Facebook group that the City has shifted how it administers water/sewer accounts on multi-unit buildings. Per that account, where owners previously let each tenant hold the water account in their own name, the City is now requiring the account to stay in the owner's name on tenant turnover — even where the owner installed separate, individually-metered (and locked) units. The reported effect is administrative: owners track each meter's invoices, re-bill tenants, and chase payment themselves, while the City's roughly $128 bi-monthly per-meter base charge applies before any consumption. The reported exception is meters in a separate utility room the City can read without entering a tenant's unit. We have not confirmed this with the City and the City's published billing pages don't state it — treat as a lead to verify, not a settled rule. Confirm directly with Belleville Water before relying on either the practice or the exception.
Approved April 1, 2026, in force September 1, 2026. Landlords must obtain a Rental Repairs and Renovations Licence within 7 days of serving an N13, get a city building permit, post a notice on the tenant's door and hand over a city information package, and support moving costs. A scaled licence system applies; fines run $500–$1,000. Mississauga becomes the fourth major Ontario city with a renoviction regime.
Changing the locks, removing belongings, or shutting off utilities to force a tenant out is illegal under the RTA — only the LTB and the sheriff can carry out an eviction. Tenants can report to the Rental Housing Enforcement Unit and file a Form T2, which the board fast-tracks: urgent lockouts are scheduled in roughly 5–6 weeks while ordinary matters wait months. The LTB can order the tenant back in, award rent abatements, and fine an individual up to $35,000 (or $100,000 for a corporation). Serving a retaliatory eviction after a tenant reports you is itself treated as bad faith and routinely dismissed.
Tribunals Ontario now reports non-payment applications (L1/L9) scheduled in roughly 3 months — down from 8–10 months in early 2023 — with most other application types at 5–7 months and urgent tenant lockouts (T2) in about 5–6 weeks. The active backlog has fallen from a peak above 53,000 to roughly 36,700. Real-world experience is often slower than the board's stated averages, so the planning rule stands: budget for months between filing an L1 and actually recovering possession or rent.
Approved Jan 28, 2026 and enacted March 11, 2026. Allows up to four residential units as-of-right on a serviced lot — one above the provincial three-unit floor — replaces building-type R-zones with size-based neighbourhood zones, and removes parking minimums city-wide. A leading example of a city going beyond the province to enable gentle density.
A Brampton landlord says a tenant paid first-and-last then stopped, leaving about $23,000 owing while he covered the mortgage and utilities; a hearing was set for April 2026. CBC reported the same tenant had earlier been ordered to pay a Toronto landlord $35,000 (the LTB's maximum) on a $59,000 arrears claim he never expects to recover. A vivid 'can't get them out' case — and the clearest argument for hard screening.
Mayor Andrea Horwath owns a home at 76 West Avenue North occupied by her former common-law partner. Rather than file an N13 at the Landlord and Tenant Board, the City issued a Building Code Act emergency order to vacate and demolish the house, relying on an engineer Horwath had privately hired; a Superior Court judge invalidated that order because the City never conducted its own inspection. In February 2026 she asked the court for urgent relief to bypass the LTB to remove the occupant, citing a repair cost of at least $131,000. Integrity Commissioner complaints allege she received preferential treatment from staff and failed to declare a conflict when she voted in favour of the city's own renoviction by-law in 2024. Tribunals Ontario says no LTB application has been filed on the property in at least six years. Allegations in the complaints remain unproven.
Under the RTA an unauthorized occupant has no tenant rights — but if you don't file an A2 application within 60 days of discovering them, they can become a legal tenant by default. Accepting rent from them also creates a tenancy on the spot. True squatters who broke into a vacant unit are removed through the Superior Court, not the LTB. The practical rule: move fast, document, and never take their money.
Passed Nov 24, 2025 to speed up the LTB. The arrears (N4) notice period is cut from 14 days to 7, so landlords can file for eviction sooner. The window to request a review of an LTB order drops from 30 days to 15. Tenants must now pay at least 50% of claimed arrears to raise other issues (like maintenance) at a non-payment hearing, and the N12 own-use compensation requirement is waived where a landlord gives 120 days' notice. Largely landlord-favourable on process — but confirm current forms at Tribunals Ontario before serving.
After a multi-year review prompted by a 2022 council motion, staff concluded renovictions are not a demonstrated local problem and that a by-law could not run on full cost recovery (estimated in the hundreds of thousands). Council considered the recommendation Nov 4, 2025; the city will monitor trends and invest in tenant education instead — leaving no new municipal burden on Kingston landlords for now.
Oshawa's Residential Rental Housing Licensing program (the student area near Durham College / Ontario Tech under By-law 120-2005) stays in place, but in October 2025 council voted down a city-wide expansion and directed staff to explore dissolving the current program in favour of targeted unsafe-housing enforcement. A landlord-friendly turn in a key corridor city.
8 Wing / CFB Trenton — the largest air force base in Canada and the dominant employer in Quinte West — has a major infrastructure build underway to support its new CC-330 Husky tanker-transport fleet: a two-bay hangar, training facility, fuel depot and ramp extension. Unlike a speculative private megaproject, base investment is durable federal spending that sustains personnel, contractors and construction crews who all need housing in Trenton, Belleville and Quinte West. For corridor landlords this is the quieter, more reliable demand story — military posting cycles and base growth underpin steady occupancy and a built-in tenant pipeline.
The province's annual cap for most units first occupied on or before Nov 15, 2018. History: 2022 = 1.2% · 2023 = 2.5% · 2024 = 2.5% · 2025 = 2.5% · 2026 = 2.1% (lowest in four years). Requires 90 days' written notice on Form N1, once every 12 months. Units first occupied after Nov 15, 2018 remain exempt from the guideline.
Effective July 31, 2025. Landlords must obtain a per-unit licence ($700) within 7 days of an N13, backed by a building permit and engineer / architect report, then provide comparable temporary housing or monthly rent-gap payments plus moving allowances ($1,500 one-bed / $2,500 larger), and honour the right to return at original rent. Fines reach $1,000 for a late application, $10,000/day for continuing offences, and $100,000 for serious violations.
A landlord served an N12 claiming her daughter needed the unit; the tenant moved out, then found the unit re-listed on Kijiji for about $900/month more and re-rented. The LTB found bad faith and ordered a $35,000 fine — and the landlord's appeal was dismissed, with the penalty upheld in court. A clean illustration of the 're-rented within 12 months' bad-faith presumption.
Defers development charges to occupancy for all residential builds and removes interest on deferred DCs, exempts long-term-care homes from DCs, caps inclusionary zoning at 5% of units for 25 years (O. Reg 54/25, in force May 12, 2025), blocks municipalities from layering their own green-building / construction by-laws over the Building Code, and limits the studies a city can demand in a complete application. Aimed squarely at lowering build costs.
Kitchener prepared a proposed renoviction by-law modeled on Hamilton and Toronto, presented to council in 2025. Not yet in force — worth watching for final fees and scope.
A provincial court fined landlord Kevin Moniz $100,000 for renovicting four tenants in bad faith; the judge found he acted deliberately and described the impact on tenants as devastating. The tenants had each paid under $700 a month; one unit was re-rented for about $1,500 after the work. A co-landlord company was fined a further $25,000 plus a $6,250 victim surcharge. The charges were laid by Ontario's Rental Housing Enforcement Unit — striking because RHEU fines across all of 2022 totalled roughly $121,800, less than this single case produced. A preview of the stakes once RTA maximums double on July 1, 2026.
CIBC and Urbanation found that by the first half of 2024 roughly 81% of leveraged investors closing on newly built GTA condos were cash-flow negative — averaging about $597 a month in the red, with nearly a third losing more than $1,000 a month — as ownership costs jumped while rents lagged. New-condo sales fell to about 4,590 units in 2024, the lowest since 1996, and analysts projected double-digit price declines from the 2023 peak, leaving many pre-construction buyers facing 30–40% losses and a wave of investors listing units to stop the bleeding. The takeaway for owners: appreciation isn't a cash-flow plan, and rate-sensitive, fee-heavy units can turn a 'safe' rental into a guaranteed monthly loss.
Despite staff concerns about cost, Ottawa council approved a feasibility study for a potential renoviction by-law, with a report expected in 2026 — even as the city moves ahead on pro-build zoning. A reminder that a single city can tighten and loosen on different fronts at once.
A cluster of municipalities — including Whitby in the 401 corridor — are studying or signalling anti-renoviction or tenant-protection by-laws inspired by Hamilton. Early stage, but momentum is spreading from the big cities toward mid-size and corridor markets.
Umicore broke ground in October 2023 on a $2.76B EV battery-materials plant in Loyalist Township, just west of Kingston — about 600 permanent jobs and thousands during construction, backed by up to roughly $976M in promised federal and provincial support. Investors and small landlords positioned for the demand wave. Then the EV market cooled: Umicore paused construction in mid-2024 and, through 2025, gave no restart date (it maintains the project isn't cancelled). No public funding ever flowed. The lesson for the corridor: an announced megaproject is not a leasing plan. Underwrite acquisitions on today's rents and real shovels in the ground, not on a ribbon-cutting headline that can stall for years.
The northern-Ontario portfolio above was funded by hundreds of small private lenders — many using retirement savings — who advanced money through a Hamilton mortgage broker's companies (Windrose / Lion's Share) as secured mortgages and unsecured promissory notes, reportedly more than 1,300 loans worth tens of millions. When the borrowers filed for CCAA, the stay of proceedings blocked those lenders from using power of sale or repossession to recover their money, and Lion's Share itself was pushed into receivership and bankruptcy. A blunt reminder for anyone tempted by high-yield 'mortgage investment' or promissory-note deals: the yield is the risk, and one operator's failure can freeze or erase your principal.
Effective March 2025. Landlords must apply for a Rental Unit Repair Licence and give tenants an information package within 7 days of an N13, with verification that the work genuinely requires the unit to be vacant. Renovating without the licence carries a $2,500 penalty.
SID Developments — built by former child actor Robby Clark through a web of companies (Balboa, DSPLN, Happy Gilmore, Interlude, Joint Captain and others) — amassed roughly 600 rental properties across Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins and other northern towns, then filed for CCAA creditor protection in January 2024 owing more than $144 million with under $100,000 in cash. A judge described it as one of the largest residential holdings in Ontario. The portfolio was financed largely through high-rate private mortgages and unsecured promissory notes; many buildings sat vacant, boarded, or in disrepair — one Sault property was stripped of copper and left without running water. By early 2025 the court ordered a property-by-property sale. The lesson for scaling landlords: rapid leverage on thin cash flow, deferred maintenance, and a fragile lending stack can unwind an entire portfolio.
Ontario's first municipal renoviction by-law. After issuing an N13, a landlord has 7 days to apply for a renovation licence (~$750) backed by a building permit and an engineer's report proving the unit must be vacant. Landlords must offer relocation or compensation and the right to return. Fines run from $400 up to $10,000 for an individual and up to $50,000 for a corporation.
On top of Ontario's 25% NRST, Toronto added its own 10% tax on residential purchases by foreign buyers, effective Jan 1, 2025. Stacks the cost of foreign-buyer acquisitions of small residential property in the city.
A pro-supply omnibus that eliminates most third-party appeals to the Ontario Land Tribunal (neighbours and ratepayer groups can no longer appeal approvals), rolls back Bill 23's five-year DC phase-in, restores studies as eligible DC costs, makes pre-application consultation voluntary, scraps Bill 109's fee-refund regime, and exempts public-university student housing from the Planning Act. Paired with the new Provincial Planning Statement 2024.
A city-wide framework that legalizes multi-tenant houses (four or more rooms) everywhere in Toronto while requiring operators to hold a licence and maintain property-maintenance, pest and waste plans. Expands legal rooming-house supply, but adds a licensing and compliance layer for operators.
A rental licensing pilot launched Jan 2024, paused after resident pushback, and relaunched March 28, 2024 for a two-year evaluation in Wards 1, 3, 4, 5 and 7, covering properties with four or fewer units.
As of March 27, 2024 every single- and upper-tier municipality can impose a vacant home tax. Five are live: Toronto (3% of assessed value, up from 1%), Ottawa (1% rising +1%/yr to a 5% cap), Hamilton (1%, first billed 2025), Windsor, and Sault Ste. Marie (4%). Most require an annual occupancy declaration — miss it and the unit is deemed vacant and taxed. A real cash-flow risk on temporarily empty units.
Deborah Paylor, a 14-year tenant of a downtown Brampton heritage home, fought a landlord's-own-use N12 and won — after what advocates described as an earlier illegal eviction attempt. ACORN data shows Brampton issued the province's second-highest volume of N12 notices (about 1,193 between 2017 and 2021, behind Toronto's 5,085). The lesson for owners: own-use and renovation notices now draw real scrutiny, and a thin or pretextual N12 can fall apart at the LTB and expose you to a bad-faith claim.
A CBC review of LTB data found just 13 fines for bad-faith (T5) evictions over nearly four years — most in the $1,000–$2,000 range, far below the $50,000 maximum, and only a handful actually paid. Advocates argued the economics still reward illegal eviction because rent resets on turnover. Useful context for why the province is doubling RTA fines on July 1, 2026.
Strengthens tenant protections around renovations, demolitions, conversions and landlord's-own-use evictions. A landlord using an N13 renovation eviction must obtain a report from a qualified person confirming the unit must be vacant. Confirms a tenant's right to install a window or portable AC with written notice, and standardizes LTB rent-repayment agreements. Most RTA provisions were not proclaimed until 2026.
County planning staff reviewed Bill 23's as-of-right rules (up to three units per lot, no minimum unit sizes, limited appeals) to update local programs, development charges and parkland calculations. Useful groundwork for added-unit and infill projects across the Quinte-area lower-tier municipalities.
Sets a province-wide floor of up to three residential units as-of-right on most serviced residential lots, with no rezoning. Added units in or around existing houses are exempt from development charges and parkland fees; purpose-built rentals get DC discounts (deeper for family-sized units). Site plan control removed for buildings of 10 units or fewer, and most third-party planning appeals eliminated.
Ontario's NRST on residential purchases by foreign buyers rose to 25% (from 20%) for agreements signed on or after Oct 25, 2022, and applies province-wide to land with up to six single-family residences. From March 27, 2024 it also catches standalone condo parking and storage units. Relevant to investor-landlords buying small residential.
Under By-law 108-2021 (amended 75-2022), all STAs (rentals under 30 days) must be licensed, with a 15% cap on STA units per neighbourhood and a Municipal Accommodation Tax. Since Sept 20, 2022 the County stopped issuing new secondary-residence (whole-home) STA licences — only previously licensed properties are grandfathered; primary-residence STAs remain allowed. About 850 licensed STAs remain. A tightening that nudges some stock back toward long-term rental.
One of Ontario's earliest rental-licensing regimes. Licences require safety inspections, proof of insurance, and HVAC / electrical / zoning compliance, with annual renewal. Long scrutinized by the Ontario Human Rights Commission over potential barriers — a useful precedent for how mature licensing programs operate.
A fast read on municipal posture. "Tightening" cities are adding licensing, renoviction rules, or vacancy taxes; "building-friendly" places are clearing the path for new units; some have actively pulled back.
Plain-English answers to the questions landlords search most. Educational only — not legal advice; confirm every detail against the linked source and Tribunals Ontario before acting.
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