ONTARIO COMPLIANCE

The Ontario Standard Lease: who has to use it, and who's exempt

Ontario mandates a specific government template — form 2229E — for most new residential tenancies. Its terms can't be overridden by anything a landlord writes into a side agreement.

Updated 8 August 2026
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Rules, rates and fees change — this page reflects publicly published sources as of 8 August 2026 and isn't legal or tax advice. Confirm current requirements against the sources linked below, or with a licensed professional, before making a compliance decision.

Mandatory for most new residential tenancies

Ontario's Residential Tenancy Agreement (Standard Form of Lease, form 2229E) is required for most new residential tenancies signed in the province — houses, condos, basement apartments and secondary suites alike, whether the agreement is a fixed term or month-to-month.

It's a government-issued template, downloadable directly from ontario.ca/standardlease. A landlord can't substitute a homemade lease and expect it to carry the same standing — and any term in a side agreement that conflicts with the Residential Tenancies Act simply doesn't bind the tenant, standard lease or not.

What's exempt

  • Care homes — long-term care, retirement homes, and supportive housing
  • Tenancies where the landlord lives in the same unit and shares a kitchen or bathroom with the tenant
  • Commercial tenancies — retail, office, industrial space

Where this collides with multi-line operations

A portfolio running both long-term leasing and short-term stays needs to be precise about which unit is under which regime: a long-term lease on the standard form is a materially different legal relationship than a short-term guest stay, and treating them as interchangeable — reusing lease paperwork for a nightly booking, say — creates exposure neither the RTA nor a booking platform's terms were built to cover.