- Which LTB N-form do I need?
- It depends entirely on the reason. The N-series runs from rent increases through non-payment to ending a tenancy for the landlord's own use or for renovation, and each form carries its own notice period and evidence requirements. Serving the wrong form is one of the most common reasons a landlord loses at the Board.
- Does serving an N-form end a tenancy?
- No. An N-form is notice, not an eviction. If the tenant does not comply or move out, the landlord must apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board and obtain an order — only the Board can end a tenancy.
Rent increase notices
- N1 — Notice of rent increase
- N2 — Notice of rent increase (unit partially exempt)
- N3 — Notice to increase rent and/or charges for care services and meals
- N10 — Agreement to increase the rent above the guideline
Ending a tenancy
Which N-form applies depends entirely on why the tenancy is ending — using N12 language for what's actually an N4 non-payment situation (or vice versa) is one of the more common reasons a landlord's application gets kicked back at the LTB.
- N4 — Non-payment of rent
- N5 — Interfering with others, damage, or overcrowding
- N6 — Illegal acts, or misrepresenting income in a rent-geared-to-income unit
- N7 — Causing serious problems in the unit or residential complex
- N8 — Ending the tenancy at the end of the term
- N9 — Tenant's own notice to end the tenancy (issued by the tenant, not the landlord)
- N11 — Mutual agreement between landlord and tenant to end the tenancy
- N12 — Landlord, purchaser, or landlord's family member requires the unit
- N13 — Landlord wants to demolish, repair, or convert the unit
The four that come up most, in detail
Four forms account for most of what a landlord actually serves, and each has its own walkthrough — notice period, the defects that get applications dismissed, and what happens after the termination date.
- N1 — increasing the rent: the 2026 guideline, 90 days' notice, and the post-2018 exemption. See /guides/ltb-n1-rent-increase
- N4 — non-payment of rent: 14 days, voided by payment, and the L1 that follows. See /guides/ltb-n4-non-payment-of-rent
- N12 — landlord or purchaser needs the unit: 60 days, compensation before the order, good faith. See /guides/ltb-n12-landlord-own-use
- N13 — demolition, conversion or major repairs: 120 days, permit-level work, right of first refusal. See /guides/ltb-n13-renovation-demolition
- N9 — the tenant's own notice: 60 days monthly, 28 weekly, and not a form a landlord serves. See /guides/ltb-n9-tenant-notice
Notice periods: how much warning each form requires
The N-number only tells you which situation applies. How many days' notice you must give — and where the termination date must fall — is set separately for each form, and getting it wrong is one of the most common reasons the LTB rejects or delays an application. The notice period runs from the date the tenant is considered to have received the notice, not the date written on it.
Ending for cause: N4, N5, N6, N7
These forms end a tenancy because of something the tenant did, and carry the shortest notice periods.
- N4 (non-payment of rent): 7 days for daily or weekly tenancies; 14 days for monthly tenancies and fixed-term leases.
- N5 (interference, damage, overcrowding): 20 days for a first notice. A second N5 within 6 months of a first notice that carried a 7-day correction period needs at least 14 days.
- N6 (illegal act): 10 days if drug-related; 20 days for a first notice on non-drug-related acts, with the same 14-day repeat-notice rule as N5.
- N7 (serious problems, e.g. safety impairment): 10 days.
Ending without cause: N8, N11, N12, N13
These forms end a tenancy for reasons unrelated to tenant conduct, and generally require more notice — plus, for N12 and N13, compensation.
- N8 (end of term / persistent late payment): 28 days for daily or weekly tenancies; 60 days otherwise. The termination date must fall on the last day of the rental period or lease term.
- N11 (mutual agreement): no fixed statutory notice period — landlord and tenant can agree to end the tenancy at any time, including mid-lease, as long as both sign.
- N12 (landlord, purchaser, or immediate family member needs the unit): 60 days, terminating on the last day of the rental period or lease term.
- N13 (demolition, conversion, or repairs/renovations requiring vacant possession): 120 days, also terminating on the last day of the rental period or lease term.
After the notice: the L-application and what to expect at the LTB
Serving an N-form doesn't end a tenancy by itself — it starts the clock. If the tenant doesn't comply by the termination date, the landlord's next step is to file the matching L-application with the Board: an expired N4 leads to an L1 application (Application to Evict a Tenant for Non-payment of Rent and to Collect Rent), filed only once the termination date has passed and only while the tenant is still in the unit. N12 and N13 similarly lead to an L2 application. Only after the Board issues an order — and, for N12/N13, only after any required compensation has actually been paid — can a landlord proceed to enforcement through the Sheriff.
Plan for this stage to take time. Tribunals Ontario's own 2024–25 Annual Report put the LTB's active caseload at 41,465 as of 31 March 2025, down from a peak of 53,057 in December 2023. The same report describes processing times in the roughly three-to-seven-month range for that fiscal year, with maintenance and repair applications generally running longer than eviction applications — treat any single 'X weeks to a hearing' figure elsewhere with caution, since the Board itself reports a range, not one number.
Compensation and bad-faith rules on N12 and N13
N12 and N13 are the two notice types with a direct financial obligation attached, and missing it is fatal to the application — the Board won't issue an eviction order until it's met.
Compensation before the termination date
For an N12, the landlord must pay the tenant compensation equal to one month's rent, or offer another acceptable rental unit, on or before the termination date — not after the tenant has moved out. N13 notices carry equivalent obligations depending on the specific circumstance. Compensation paid late, or only after the tenant vacates, is a standard defence tenants raise successfully at hearing.
Bad-faith presumptions and penalties
The person named on an N12 is expected to actually move in and occupy the unit, generally for around a year. If that doesn't happen, or the landlord instead re-rents to someone else, relists the unit for sale, demolishes it, or converts it to non-residential use within that window, the Residential Tenancies Act presumes the notice was given in bad faith and puts the burden on the landlord to prove otherwise.
A bad-faith finding carries consequences on two tracks. At the LTB, a tenant can be awarded rent-differential compensation and moving/storage costs, and the Board can additionally impose an administrative fine payable to the Minister of Finance as a deterrent, separate from any amount awarded to the tenant. Separately, bad-faith conduct can be prosecuted as an RTA offence in court, where the statutory maximum fines are $100,000 for an individual and $500,000 for a corporation — doubled from $50,000/$250,000 as of 1 July 2026 under the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, 2023.
A 2025 change to the compensation rule
The Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025 (Statutes of Ontario 2025, chapter 14) received Royal Assent in late 2025 and added an exception to the compensation requirement: a landlord who gives 120 or more days' notice — double the usual N12 minimum — can serve certain notices without the usual compensation or alternate-unit obligation attached. This doesn't change the notice periods listed above; it changes what's owed if a landlord chooses to give more notice than the form requires.
Filing and appeals
How to file your application
Once an N-form's notice period has expired, applications go to the Board through the Tribunals Ontario Portal — the online system for filing, paying fees, uploading evidence and tracking a file, covering the L-series and T-series applications — by mail or courier to an LTB office, or in person at select ServiceOntario locations. Some applications can also be filed by email; fax is not accepted, and credit card details sent by fax or email are automatically discarded rather than processed.
Appealing a Board order
A landlord or tenant who disagrees with an LTB order can appeal to the Divisional Court within 30 days of the order being issued. The scope is limited: an appeal under section 210 of the Residential Tenancies Act covers questions of law only — the Board's findings of fact aren't up for re-argument. The court can affirm, rescind, amend or replace the order, or send the matter back to the Board with its opinion attached.
Why this belongs in a portfolio system, not a filing cabinet
The forms themselves are static PDFs from the LTB — the operational risk isn't finding them, it's tracking which notice was served on which tenancy, on what date, and whether the required notice period has actually elapsed before the next step. That's a per-tenancy audit trail problem, which is exactly the kind of thing that gets lost between a spreadsheet and an inbox once a portfolio passes a few dozen units.
Direct PMS tracks arrears per tenancy with the dates a notice period is counted from, so the N-form you serve is dated off the record rather than off memory.
Arrears and tenancies →- Tribunals Ontario — Landlord and Tenant Board forms →
- Tribunals Ontario — How a Landlord Can End a Tenancy →
- Tribunals Ontario — If a Tenant Does Not Pay Rent →
- Tribunals Ontario — Forms, filing and fees →
- Tribunals Ontario — 2024-25 Annual Report →
- Tribunals Ontario — Interpretation Guideline 16: Administrative Fines →
BC moved short-term rental regulation from the municipality to the province: a principal-residence requirement in most communities, a provincial registry, and a duty on the platforms to enforce both.
Alberta is the loosest short-term rental regime of the four big provinces — no provincial licence, no principal-residence test — which puts the whole of the compliance burden on the city and the tax.
Quebec put the enforcement duty on the platforms: a listing without a valid registration number is one the platform is not allowed to publish, and the fines for publishing it anyway are aimed at the platform as much as the host.
La France superpose trois régimes : la déclaration, qui est nationale ; le plafond de nuitées, qui dépend de la commune ; et le changement d'usage, qui ne concerne que les logements qui ne sont pas votre résidence principale.