Not long after Nadia Elkharadly began managing her elderly relatives’ downtown Toronto rental unit in 2020, their tenant stopped paying rent.
It started with a polite text message from the tenant, asking for a brief extension. Wanting to be compassionate, Elkharadly and her relatives agreed. But a few days turned into months. Then the tenant stopped replying altogether, leaving months of unpaid rent with no formal repayment agreement in place.
What followed was what Elkharadly calls a “gruelling” 11-month ordeal through Ontario’s heavily backed-up tribunal process. The Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) eventually ruled in their favour, but the tenant had already vacated, leaving the family to absorb nearly a year of carrying costs.
Stories like Elkharadly’s illustrate problems Ontario’s newly enacted rental rules intend to address.
The province is implementing amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) through Bill 97 and Bill 60 to speed up the eviction and tenancy termination process at the Landlord and Tenant Board, with major provisions taking effect on July 1, 2026, and Sept. 21, 2026.
Ontario cuts N4 notice period to 7 days
Starting Sept. 21 under Bill 60 amendments, tenants who receive an N4 notice for overdue rent will have just seven days to pay what they owe — down from 14 days — before a landlord can file an L1 application with the LTB, which seeks an eviction order and payment of unpaid rent.
The value in the seven-day enforcement comes down to accountability, says Ontario Landlords Watch founder Kayla Andrade. It sets a clear standard that rent commitments are firm deadlines, designed to prevent multi-month arrears from mounting passively.
The changes, however, mean little without faster hearing dates at the LTB, stress both Andrade and the Federation of Rental-Housing Providers of Ontario (FRPO).
“A shorter notice period does not mean a faster eviction,” Andrade says. “It gets the landlord to the starting line seven days sooner. It doesn’t necessarily get them to the finish line seven days sooner.”
Even with a seven-day N4, a landlord must wait for a hearing date and written decision before beginning the physical eviction process. The LTB currently says L1 applications, which seek both evictions and unpaid rent, and L9 applications, which seek unpaid rent without evictions, are scheduled in three months on average.
But licensed paralegal Olga Leyenson, partner at Gobin & Leyenson LLP, says L1 applications seeking eviction for non-payment of rent can actually take as long as five to eight months to reach a hearing before the LTB. Once the hearing concludes, the LTB may take an additional three to eight weeks to issue an eviction order, Leyenson says.
In the meantime, landlords are left to absorb their mortgage payments, property taxes, condo fees, insurance, utilities and mandatory upfront LTB filing fees ($186 online through the Tribunals Ontario Portal; $201 in person).
Verbal deals no longer enough
Effective July 1 through Bill 97, repayment plans for late rent must be done through an official LTB-approved repayment agreement form if the agreement is being filed with the LTB under section 206 of the Residential Tenancies Act.
Found on the LTB website and initiated by landlords, the form covers what happens if the plan is broken, including an L4 provision allowing the landlord to seek an ex parte eviction order — an eviction without a hearing — without serving a new notice.
Previously, arrangements could be made informally, and the LTB could issue a consent order. The new changes don’t make every text message, email or verbal agreement invalid, but these informal arrangements don’t provide the same LTB-approved enforcement mechanisms if a tenant defaults.
“Landlords often utilize text messages or verbal methods of communication with their tenants because they believe it’s a more friendly, humane approach,” Leyenson says. “Unfortunately, the lack of written evidence often backfires when attempting to enforce legal rights.”
Once a repayment plan is signed by both parties and filed with the LTB, it’s legally binding.
If a tenant defaults on a payment date, the landlord has a strict 30-day window to file an L4 application. Miss it, and that enforcement route is gone for that default.
Yaroslava Avila Montenegro, executive director of the Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations (FMTA), warns that by penalizing informal extensions, the new rules create a “zero-tolerance eviction trap if tenants miss a single calendar date.”
As for landlords, minor technical mistakes in paperwork can force them to start the process over, Leyenson says. That’s why it’s important to thoroughly audit paperwork before filing — not after, Andrade says.
“I always tell housing providers: don’t start documenting when you have a problem; document because you own a rental property,” she says. Andrade advises landlords to maintain an accurate rent ledger, record all payments, and keep relevant communications, copies of notices and proof of service. “Know your dates,” she says.
Landlords can skip compensation with 120 days’ notice
Under Bill 60 amendments, if a landlord wants to move into their property or clear it for an eligible family member, they can choose between two legal paths starting Sept. 21.
With the updated rules, landlords can serve an N12 notice to end tenancy with at least 120 days’ notice (ending on the last day of a rental period), which waives the standard requirement to pay the tenant one month’s rent as compensation.
Alternatively, landlords can continue to use the existing 60-day N12 route, but must pay the required one-month compensation. The legislation doesn’t require urgent circumstances to use the shorter route.
Crucially, an N12 is not an eviction order, Andrade stresses. If a tenant disputes the notice, the landlord faces an L2 hearing — with application types other than L1 and L9 currently scheduled within five to seven months on average, according to the LTB. Individual cases can take longer.
At the same time, bad-faith evictions can carry serious financial consequences. Effective July 1, Bill 97 amendments raise maximum Residential Tenancies Act offence fines to $100,000 for individuals and $500,000 for corporations. Bad-faith N12 (personal use) and N13 (repairs and renovations) notices can also result in tenant compensation.
Tenants must pay 50% of overdue rent to raise repairs defence
Bill 60 attempts to curb stall tactics where tenants raise last-minute claims to delay non-payment evictions. Effective Sept. 21, tenants raising certain repair, maintenance or harassment issues as a defence at an L1 hearing must first pay 50 per cent of claimed overdue rent no later than seven days before the hearing.
The change is intended to help curb bad-faith claims and prevent landlords from suffering greater financial loss. Critics like Avila Montenegro with the Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations argue that it creates a financial barrier that blocks low-income tenants from challenging substandard housing.
Either way, it fundamentally shifts the dynamics of L1 hearings.
Review windows slashed to 15 days
Effective July 1 under Bill 60, the window to file a request to review an LTB decision was slashed to 15 days from 30 days. This deadline applies to orders issued on or after July 1.
The change means both landlords and tenants must review board decisions immediately to catch clerical errors and appeal adverse rulings before the window closes permanently. Missed deadlines can jeopardize a party’s right to seek review.
Months of unpaid rent, no easy recovery
Like Elkharadly’s family, many small housing providers end up absorbing unpaid rent expenses. For that reason, Leyenson recommends keeping three to four months of mortgage and property tax payments in reserve.
In the worst cases, Leyenson says, tenants have lived rent-free for six to 18 months as cases move through hearings, adjournments and order reviews.
Even when an eviction is granted with a monetary judgment for thousands in unpaid rent, collecting that money is a separate battle.
If a landlord wants to be reimbursed, they have to jump through additional hoops, Leyenson says. “They have to go to small claims court to enforce it. But if a tenant receives social assistance, has no job, no assets, and no bank account, there’s nothing we can collect.”
Ontario’s new rules offer small landlords faster legal tools — but the hope, ultimately, is they never need them.
“A good tenant is gold,” Elkharadly says. “If they’re taking care of your property and paying you on time, that’s everything.”
