Several new tenancy rules on rent, eviction and co-op housing are now in force

Plain-language summary · AI-assisted · not legal advice

Changes to the regulation under Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act bring a set of previously announced provisions into the consolidated text, removing their "future commencement" notices and making them active rules. A tenant now has a formal definition of "persistent failure to pay rent": missing rent by more than seven days on at least three occasions within any six-month period can meet this threshold and give a landlord grounds to seek termination. New rules also define when the Landlord and Tenant Board may postpone enforcement of an eviction order — consent from the landlord is required, or the Board must be satisfied that postponement would not be unfair. Tenants in rent-arrears agreements who later seek to set aside an eviction order cannot rely on personal circumstance changes that arose after the agreement was signed. Similar persistent-non-payment and eviction-postponement rules now apply to members of non-profit housing co-operatives. Landlords, tenants, and co-operative housing members should familiarise themselves with these thresholds and procedural rules when dealing with rent disputes or eviction proceedings before the Board.

Who this affects: residential tenants · residential landlords · non-profit housing co-operative members · non-profit housing co-operatives · Landlord and Tenant Board applicants