This bill rewrites multiple parts of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 to close an exemption from rent control, require documentary proof for demolition/conversion/major repair notices, set rules limiting the lawful rent a landlord may charge a new tenant, and create a provincially maintained rent registry. It also mandates tenant protections during renovations and establishes a Rental Task Force to study above-guideline increases.
Separately, the City of Toronto Act and the Municipal Act are amended to block approvals for conversions or demolitions that would remove six or more rental units unless rents already exceed mid-range levels or the owner replaces the units and implements an approved tenant relocation and assistance plan. The changes shift compliance responsibilities to landlords, the Landlord and Tenant Board and municipal approval authorities — and create new paperwork, disclosure and enforcement pathways that will matter to landlords, housing providers, municipal planners and tenant advocates.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill repeals section 6.1 (removing a specific rent-control exemption), requires that termination notices for demolition/conversion/repairs include supporting municipal approvals and an engineer’s statement, compels landlords who displace tenants for renovations to offer alternate accommodation or set a compensation formula, establishes a lawful-rent rule tying new-tenant rent to the previous lawful rent, and creates a Landlord and Tenant Board–maintained rent registry with mandatory landlord filings and public disclosure of select fields.
Who It Affects
Private and institutional landlords in Ontario (including non-resident landlords with Ontario agents), tenants and prospective tenants, the Landlord and Tenant Board (administration and enforcement), and municipal approval bodies in Toronto and other Ontario municipalities reviewing demolitions or conversions involving six-plus units.
Why It Matters
The bill limits rent resets on turnover, increases documentation required to remove or vacate units, and creates a public data source on unit-level rents — measures that can restrain revenue upside for landlords, raise compliance and record-keeping costs, and create new municipal gatekeeping for projects that reduce rental stock.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill closes a statutory loophole that previously exempted certain units from the rent control regime by repealing section 6.1 and related cross-references. Practically, that means more rental units remain subject to the Act’s limits on how and when rent can be increased, and to Board oversight when tenants dispute rent levels.
Notices to terminate tenancies for demolition, conversion or extensive repairs now have to be accompanied by the actual municipal approvals and an engineer’s declaration that vacant possession is necessary. This raises the evidentiary standard a landlord must meet before displacing a tenant and will give tenants and the Board clearer documentary grounds to challenge claims of necessity.When landlords evict for repairs or renovations, the bill obliges them either to offer the displaced tenant a temporary unit acceptable to the tenant or to compensate the tenant.
The compensation formula caps recoverable additional housing costs at not less than the tenant’s existing rent and not more than the greater of (a) 15% above the tenant’s former rent or (b) 30% above the area median market rent. That creates a bounded replacement-cost approach rather than leaving tenants to find and pay open-market alternatives without contractual relief.The bill also redefines what a landlord may lawfully charge a new tenant.
For units rented within the past 12 months, the new tenant’s permissible starting rent cannot exceed the last lawful rent charged (or that ought to have been charged) to the previous tenant. For units vacant longer than 12 months, the lawful starting rent may add permitted increases and subtract required decreases that would have applied during the vacancy.
The Landlord and Tenant Board can now hear tenant applications to set the maximum lawful rent and order rebates where landlords charged above that ceiling.To support transparency and enforcement, the Landlord and Tenant Board must create and maintain a rent registry. Landlords must file a statement within 30 days of entering a lease (and update within 30 days of any rent change).
The registry will be searchable by landlords, tenants, recent former tenants and prospective tenants; the Board must publish municipal addresses, rents and basic landlord contact info publicly. Failure to file can block Board proceedings or delay orders, and the Act adds offences for failing to file or for filing false information.At the municipal level, Toronto and municipalities generally cannot approve conversions or demolitions that would eliminate six or more rental units unless existing rents are already above mid-range or the owner replaces equivalent units and implements an approved tenant relocation and assistance plan that preserves similar rents and return rights.
Finally, the Minister appoints a Rental Task Force (majority tenants, diverse representation) to report within six months on above-guideline increases and related Board processes.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill repeals section 6.1 of the Residential Tenancies Act, removing a statutory exemption and bringing additional units back under provincial rent-control rules.
A notice of termination for demolition, conversion or repair must include all municipal approvals and an engineer’s statement declaring vacant possession is necessary.
Landlords who displace tenants for repairs or renovations must either offer an acceptable temporary rental unit or pay compensation capped at the greater of 15% above the tenant’s former rent or 30% above the area median market rent, and not less than the tenant’s current rent.
The lawful starting rent for a new tenant is generally tied to the last lawful rent charged (with a special calculation if the unit was vacant more than 12 months), and tenants may apply to the Board to determine the maximum lawful rent and obtain rebates for overcharges.
The Act creates a Landlord and Tenant Board–maintained rent registry requiring landlords to file standardized statements and updates; select fields (address, rent history, landlord contact) will be publicly available and non-filing can delay or block Board proceedings.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Remove the rent-control exemption and fix related cross-references
The bill repeals section 6.1 and removes dependent references elsewhere in the Act (sections 6, 7, 8, 30 and related clauses). The practical effect is to expand the universe of units subject to Part VII protections (rent increases and Board jurisdiction). For compliance teams this means reviewing leases and unit inventories to identify units that now fall under rent-control rules and updating rent-roll systems to track any legacy exceptions that no longer apply.
Tighter documentary requirements for demolition/repair notices
New subsection 50(1.1) forces landlords to attach municipal approvals and an engineer’s declaration to any termination notice premised on demolition, conversion or extensive repairs requiring vacancy. This converts what was often a procedural notice into a document package that must be assembled before a tenant can be lawfully displaced. For landlords and municipal planners it raises timing and sequencing issues: approvals and engineer reports must be complete before notices go out; for tenants it creates an early opportunity to verify the landlord’s claim.
Obligation to provide alternate housing or formula-based compensation
The replacement for s.54 requires landlords who terminate tenancies for repairs/renovations to either offer another unit acceptable to the tenant for the work period or compensate the tenant for comparable housing costs, bounded by a formula. The formula establishes both a floor (no less than the tenant’s existing rent) and a ceiling tied to either 15% above the former rent or 30% above the area median market rent. Administratively, landlords will need to document offers and calculate compensation; disputes over what constitutes a 'comparable unit' or the correct median market rent will likely generate Board applications.
New rules for lawful rent charged to incoming tenants and Board enforcement
Section 113 is rewritten to tie the first-period lawful rent to the last lawful rent charged for the unit, with a special calculation if the unit was vacant more than 12 months. Section 115 lets most tenants apply to the Board to have the maximum lawful rent declared and gives the Board power to order rebates where landlords overcharged. This creates a predictable statutory ceiling anchoring turnover rents to historical rents rather than to current market-clearing prices; landlords must preserve rent-history records and be prepared for Board scrutiny of historical lawfulness.
Rent registry: mandatory filings, public disclosure and enforcement links
The Board must establish a rent registry and require landlords to file a statement within 30 days of entering a lease and to update within 30 days of rent changes. Statements must list landlord contact, unit municipal address and the rent including service/utility splits. The registry’s searchable disclosures are tiered: tenants, recent former tenants and prospective tenants get unit-specific data; the public gets addresses, rents and landlord contact info. The statute ties non-filing to procedural consequences at the Board and creates offences for false or missing filings, signalling criminal or administrative enforcement options.
Municipal approval limits and mandatory replacement/relocation terms
The City of Toronto Act and the Municipal Act gain parallel 'residential replacement' clauses that block approvals for conversions or demolitions that would remove six or more rental units unless the units already rent above mid-range or the owner replaces equivalent units and implements an official-plan‑approved tenant relocation and assistance plan. Municipalities will need to operationalize mid-range rent thresholds, define acceptable 'replacement' rents and build processes to approve and monitor relocation plans.
Rental Task Force to study above-guideline increases
The Minister must appoint a five-to-ten-person Rental Task Force (with efforts to ensure tenant majority and diverse representation) to inquire into above-guideline rent increases, their financial impacts, frequency, causes and potential prohibitions, and to report within six months. The Task Force’s findings will inform whether the government pursues further legislative or financial interventions.
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Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Current tenants facing turnover or renovation displacement — gain a statutory ceiling on what a new tenant can be charged and a right to alternative accommodation or formula-based compensation during renovations.
- Prospective tenants and tenant organizations — gain access to a public rent registry that provides unit-level rent histories and landlord contact information for transparency and screening.
- Tenants displaced by demolitions/conversions — gain stronger procedural protections because termination notices must be supported by municipal approvals and engineer statements, creating earlier verification points.
Who Bears the Cost
- Private landlords and property managers — must prepare and file standardized statements, preserve rent-history documentation, attach municipal approvals and engineer reports to notices, and potentially supply replacement units or pay compensation under the statutory formula.
- The Landlord and Tenant Board — will absorb registry administration, verification duties, and increased casework from tenant applications about rent lawfulness and registry disputes unless funding and staff are added.
- Municipal planning departments — must implement mid-range rent thresholds, review and approve tenant relocation plans, and monitor replacement units, adding workload and procedural complexity for demolition/conversion approvals.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The bill pits two legitimate goals against each other: protecting tenants from steep turnover increases and unnecessary displacement versus preserving incentives for owners and developers to invest in, maintain and expand rental housing. Stronger controls, documentation requirements and limits on rent resets shield tenants and make municipal oversight of stock loss possible, but they also raise compliance costs and can dampen private investment in rental supply — a trade-off the bill addresses administratively rather than economically, leaving implementation choices to regulators and municipalities.
The bill stacks compliance obligations across provincial and municipal regimes, but leaves several operational details undefined. 'Mid-range rents' used to gate municipal approvals are not defined in the text, so municipalities will need to adopt local methodologies — a process that will produce uneven thresholds across jurisdictions and may shift development activity to areas with higher or less strictly applied mid-range calculations. The rent-registry’s public disclosure of addresses and rent history raises privacy and data-quality stakes: landlords must file accurate information but the statute permits the Board to ‘take reasonable steps’ to ensure accuracy without specifying audit powers or penalties beyond procedural bars and criminalized false statements.
The compensation formula for displaced tenants sets numeric bounds (15% above former rent or 30% above median), but it does not resolve how to calculate 'median market rent for the area' (geographic unit, data source, update cadence) or how to treat furnished units, utilities-included rent or subsidized tenancies. Practically, those open points will drive disputes and Board interpretations.
Finally, tying lawful new-tenant rent to the last lawful rent reduces turnover-driven rent resets but may also reduce incentives for owners to maintain or invest in older rental stock, potentially accelerating alternative conversion strategies (e.g., short-term rentals, condominium conversion applications) unless municipalities enforce replacement obligations strictly.
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