Ontario's 7-Day N4 Notice: What Changed September 21, 2026
If a tenant falls behind on rent in Ontario, the N4 is the first step. Since September 21, 2026, that step is shorter. Bill 60, the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, cut the N4 notice period from 14 days to 7 for any N4 given on or after that date.
Here's what that means in practice, and the mistakes that will still send you back to square one.
The new timeline
For an N4 given on or after September 21, 2026, the termination date must be at least 7 days after the notice is given. Before that date, monthly tenancies needed 14 days.
You do not count the day the notice is given. Day one is the next day.
By hand, in the mailbox, or under the door: the notice counts as given that day. Hand it over on October 1 and the earliest termination date is October 8.
By courier: add one business day before you start counting.
By regular mail: add five days. Mail it on October 1 and it counts as given October 6, so the earliest termination date is October 13.
The earliest you can file your L1 application is the day after the termination date.
If the tenant pays everything they owe by the termination date, the N4 is void and you can't file on it.
Work out your dates: our free N4 calculator gives you the earliest termination date and the first day you can file the L1, for any service method.
Use the new form
The LTB released an updated N4 on September 21, 2026. Download it fresh from the Tribunals Ontario website rather than reusing a saved copy. The LTB also replaced the L1, L2, L9, L10 and several other notices the same day, and it stops accepting the previous versions of those forms on November 30, 2026.
The 50% rule changes your hearing
For rent arrears applications filed on or after September 21, 2026, a tenant who wants to raise other issues at the hearing, such as maintenance complaints, has to pay you half the arrears claimed in your application at least seven days before the hearing. They pay you directly, not the LTB, and they still have to give you and the LTB written notice of the issues they plan to raise.
For landlords this matters. Maintenance counterclaims were the most common way an arrears hearing turned into a long, unpredictable one. Keep a clean record of every payment so you can show the board exactly what was and wasn't paid.
Persistent late payment is now defined
Rent counts as persistently late when it arrives more than seven days after the due date at least three times in six months. Payments you applied to older arrears don't count. Track due dates and received dates for every tenant; you'll need them if you ever serve an N8.
What hasn't changed
A shorter notice doesn't shorten the LTB's backlog. You can file sooner, but you still wait for a hearing date. That makes the details more important, not less. A wrong termination date, the old form or a missing Certificate of Service can get your application dismissed after months of waiting.
Get it right the first time
LTB Mastery with Jordan Nieuwhof covers the N4, the L1, the hearing and enforcement step by step, with a year of LEAD community access and Jordan's template vault included. CA$197, one time.
This article is general information, not legal advice.
