Tenant Not Paying Rent in Ontario

The Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 lets a landlord give a notice if the tenant fails to pay rent that is lawfully owing. The form is the N4, the Notice to End a Tenancy Early for Non-payment of Rent. For notices given on or after September 21, 2026, the termination date must be at least 7 days after you give it to the tenant. Before that date the period for monthly rent was 14 days.

The N4 gives the tenant a chance to fix the problem. If the tenant pays all the rent they owe before you file an application with the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB), the notice is void and the tenant does not have to move out. If they do not pay, you can file an L1, which asks the LTB to evict the tenant for non-payment and to order them to pay the rent they owe.

The L1 has no filing deadline, unlike most other eviction applications. The LTB, not you, decides whether an eviction is ordered, and only the Sheriff can carry it out. The full path is in how to evict a tenant in Ontario. For the tenant's side, see the Ontario eviction process.

Rent is due on the date set in the tenancy agreement; the Act does not set a default date.

• Late fees are not allowed. The Act bans any fee, penalty or similar amount unless a regulation allows it, and there is no late fee exemption. A lease term charging interest on rent arrears is also void.
• NSF cheques. You may charge the actual NSF charge your bank billed you, plus an administration charge of no more than $20 per NSF cheque.
• Receipts. You must give a receipt free of charge on request for any rent, arrears or other payment.
• Payment method. You cannot require post-dated cheques or automatic debits. The tenant may choose them.
• No acceleration. A lease clause saying the remaining rent for the term becomes due when the tenant defaults is void.
• The rent deposit. It is not a damage deposit. You must apply it as rent for the last rent period before the tenancy ends. You cannot keep any of it for damage or cleaning.

If the same tenant keeps paying more than a week late, there is a separate route, covered in the section on persistent late payment below. Also read can a landlord charge late fees and what to do if a tenant pays rent late.

1. Confirm the amount. Check what is owing and what has been paid, and give receipts for any payments on request.
2. Serve the N4. Use the current form from the LTB forms page. The termination date must be at least 7 days after you give it to the tenant.
3. Wait. If the tenant pays everything owing before you file, the N4 is void. If they pay only part, the notice is not cancelled by that alone. Accepting arrears or money for use of the unit after a notice does not cancel the notice or create a new tenancy unless you and the tenant agree otherwise.
4. File an L1 with the LTB. This asks for the eviction and for the rent the tenant owes. There is no deadline, and LTB fees are not refundable.
5. Attend the hearing. Bring your rent records. For applications filed on or after September 21, 2026, a tenant who wants to raise other issues, such as repairs, must pay half of the claimed arrears directly to you, at least seven days before the hearing.
6. Enforce the order. If the LTB orders an eviction and the tenant still does not leave, only the Court Enforcement Office (the Sheriff) can enforce it. Do not change the locks yourself.

The LTB brochure on unpaid rent walks through the same sequence. If the tenant stays after the date in your notice, see what to do when a tenant won't leave after notice.

Sometimes the rent does arrive, but always late. For that pattern the Act has a separate ground, which uses the N8 notice. The N8 requires 60 days' notice (28 days for a daily or weekly tenancy).

From September 21, 2026, the regulation says a persistent failure to pay on the due date includes paying more than seven days late on at least three occasions in any six-month period. The list is not exhaustive, so that pattern is one example of persistence rather than the only test. Read the wording in Ontario Regulation 516/06 and the current N8 form before you serve one.

An N8 is a slower route than an N4. It is worth considering when the tenant pays in full each month, so an N4 would be void, but pays well after the due date again and again.

While the tenant is still in the unit. The L1 covers both the eviction and the arrears. If you only want the money and not the eviction, the LTB also accepts an L9, an Application to Collect Rent the Tenant Owes.

After the tenant has moved out. Apply on an L10 within one year after the tenant left. The LTB brochure on collecting money a former tenant owes also covers the cost of replacing damaged items, but not normal wear and tear.

Mitigating your loss. The Act requires a person claiming money for a breach to take reasonable steps to minimize their losses, and the LTB takes that into account when it works out arrears. If a tenant leaves a fixed term early, they may owe rent for the rest of the term unless you find someone else to rent the unit. Try to re-rent and keep a record that you did.

Limits. The most the LTB can order is $50,000, which matches the Small Claims Court limit since October 1, 2025. For a larger claim you go to court instead, and any amount over the LTB limit is lost once the LTB issues its order.

Enforcing a money order. The LTB does not collect money. You file the money order with the Small Claims Court, where it is treated as a court order. From there you can pursue garnishment of wages or a bank account, seizure and sale of personal property or land, and an examination hearing about the debtor's finances. See the Ontario Small Claims guide on enforcement. For the wider question, read can a landlord sue for unpaid rent.

Unpaid rent does not open up self-help. In Ontario you must not:

• change the locks without giving the tenant a key;
• cut or interfere with water, fuel, electricity, gas, or heat from September 1 to June 15, even when rent is overdue;
• remove or dispose of the tenant's belongings except through the steps the Act sets for property left behind, such as waiting 72 hours after a Sheriff eviction;
• harass or threaten the tenant to get them to pay or leave.

Offences under the Act carry fines of up to $100,000 for an individual and $500,000 for a corporation.

The tenant says repairs were not done. The LTB tells tenants not to withhold rent over repairs, and a tenant who does so could be evicted. A tenant can instead file a T6 and ask the Board for permission to pay rent into the Board while the application is decided. Rent paid in that way is not treated as a default. You can read the LTB's maintenance and repairs guidance to see the tenant's side.

Standard lease demand. If a landlord does not give the Ontario standard lease within 21 days after the tenant's written demand, the tenant may withhold up to one month's rent. Make sure you can show you gave the standard lease on request before you serve an N4.

This guide explains the rules in general terms; for a specific case, ask the tribunal or a licensed legal professional.