Bill 64 amends the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 and the Technical Standards and Safety Act, 2000 to impose specific building-management obligations on landlords and elevator owners. Key duties include maintaining common-area temperatures below 26°C during summer months, installing video surveillance and security guards in large buildings, running digital visitor-parking systems for buildings with 100+ units, and uploading annual maintenance statistics for buildings of 10+ units to a government portal.
The Technical Standards and Safety Act changes require remote elevator monitoring and mandatory outage reporting.
The Bill pairs those requirements with enforcement tools: municipal inspectors and work orders for temperature breaches, the Landlord and Tenant Board’s authority to order abatements or compel remedial work, statutory rent abatements for vital-service and elevator outages, and a data-driven restriction blocking above-guideline rent-increase applications when maintenance resolution rates fall below 90 percent. For property managers, building owners, municipal enforcement units and tenant advocates, the Bill creates new operational, reporting and privacy considerations that will affect budgeting, procurement and dispute volumes at the Board.
At a Glance
What It Does
The Bill requires landlords to meet discrete operational standards (temperature control in common areas, video surveillance, on-site security for large buildings, digital visitor-parking systems) and to publish building maintenance statistics annually on a Minister-managed portal; it also mandates remote elevator monitoring and outage reporting to the Technical Standards and Safety Authority. It creates municipal inspection and work-order powers and expands the Landlord and Tenant Board’s remedial powers, including percentage-based abatements.
Who It Affects
The requirements fall unevenly by size: buildings with 100+ rental units trigger surveillance, security-staff and digital-parking obligations; buildings with 10+ units or three or more storeys must report maintenance statistics; elevator owners in any building with rental units must install remote monitoring and report outages. Municipal enforcement units, the Landlord and Tenant Board and the Technical Standards and Safety Authority will also take on new operational roles.
Why It Matters
This bill replaces many discretionary landlord practices with prescriptive operational standards and public reporting, tying certain landlord rights (like applying for above-guideline increases) to measurable maintenance performance. That shifts leverage toward tenants via transparency and automatic financial remedies while creating new compliance, privacy and administrative burdens for landlords and regulators.
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What This Bill Actually Does
Bill 64 creates a package of operational duties and reporting obligations aimed at improving tenant safety, transparency and responsiveness in multi-unit residential buildings. For climate control, landlords must keep indoor common areas at or below 26°C from May 15 to September 15; municipalities must investigate tenant complaints, appoint inspectors, and issue time-limited work orders when non‑compliance is found.
The Landlord and Tenant Board can enforce those work orders by ordering abatements or compelling landlords to do the work. Separately, tenants can seek a 20% rent abatement if a vital service is withheld for more than 24 hours within a three‑month period, with a carve-out for outages beyond a landlord’s control.
On security and building management, the bill requires buildings with 100 or more rental units to install and maintain video surveillance covering interior and exterior common areas, to post clear notice and contact information, and to employ a security guard per building with defined duties. Landlords cannot use the cost of surveillance to justify above-guideline rent increases.
The bill also forbids landlords from charging tenants for the use of visitor parking and requires buildings with 100+ units that have visitor parking to run a digital visitor parking registration system.For transparency and performance measurement, landlords of complexes with 10 or more rental units (or three or more storeys) must compile annual digital statistics on maintenance requests and upload them to a Minister-hosted portal by March 1 each year. The portal will accept supporting images from landlords and tenants; the portal’s contents may be admitted into Board proceedings when relevant.
If fewer than 90% of maintenance requests were resolved in the prior 12 months, the landlord loses the right to apply for an above-guideline rent increase for that complex.The Technical Standards and Safety Act amendments require elevator owners to use remote electronic monitoring and to report any elevator outage lasting more than 24 hours to the Technical Standards and Safety Authority within seven days; the Authority will publish core outage and availability information. The Residential Tenancies Act adds an elevator-specific remedy: tenants may seek a 5% rent abatement if elevators are out of service for more than 48 hours during a three‑month period.
Several provisions are staged: some come into force 12 months after Royal Assent, while the surveillance/security installation duties have a three-year delay in the bill’s commencement schedule.
The Five Things You Need to Know
Common areas must be kept at 26°C or less from May 15 to September 15; municipal inspectors investigate complaints and can issue work orders setting compliance deadlines.
If a municipal work order under the temperature rule is breached, the Board may order a 1% per day rent abatement from the first day after the work-order deadline until the Board’s order or order the landlord to complete the work.
Buildings with 100+ rental units must install video surveillance in all common areas, post notice and contact information, and employ a security guard for each building; landlords cannot seek above‑guideline increases to pay for surveillance.
Landlords of complexes with 10+ units (or three+ storeys) must upload annual, itemized maintenance-request statistics by March 1; if under 90% of requests were resolved in the prior year, the landlord cannot apply for an above‑guideline rent increase for that complex.
Owners of elevators that serve rental units must use remote electronic monitoring and report outages lasting over 24 hours to the Technical Standards and Safety Authority within seven days; tenants can seek a 5% rent abatement if elevators are out of service more than 48 hours over three months.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Common-area temperature standard and municipal enforcement
Sections 20.1–20.3 place a summer temperature ceiling (26°C) on common areas and make municipalities the front-line enforcers. Tenants file complaints to the municipality, which must appoint inspectors and may issue work orders that specify the work and a deadline. Practically, that creates a two-step enforcement path: municipal inspection and remediation orders followed by recourse to the Landlord and Tenant Board if the order is not obeyed.
Board remedies for failure to comply with work orders
The Bill adds a Board enforcement pathway linked to municipal work orders: if the Board finds a landlord breached a work order issued under the temperature regime, it can impose a daily 1% rent abatement starting the day after the work-order deadline or compel the landlord to perform the work. That creates a predictable, formulaic penalty tied to non‑compliance rather than leaving remedy quantum solely to adjudication.
Visitor-parking rules and digital registration
For complexes with 100+ units that offer visitor parking, landlords must install a digital parking registration system and record every reservation in it. Separately, the Bill flatly prohibits charging tenants for visitor-parking use. Together the provisions standardize how visitor parking is managed and eliminate a previously common revenue stream for landlords that charged tenants or enforced paid visitor parking.
Video surveillance, repair duty and mandatory security staff in large buildings
These sections require buildings with 100+ rental units to operate video surveillance covering interior and exterior common areas and to employ a security guard for each building. Landlords must post legible notices, inform prospective tenants before signing and repair damaged surveillance components within seven days of written notice. The Bill also narrows rent-recovery by banning above-guideline increase applications that cite surveillance installation as justification, effectively socializing surveillance costs absent other eligible capital work reasons.
Tenant guide and annual newsletter requirement
Landlords must provide a paper guide explaining building amenities and how to use them on the first day of tenancy and update that guide every three years; they must also deliver a paper newsletter at least annually describing changes in the residential complex. This is an operational obligation meant to improve tenant information but adds recurring paper-distribution and updating tasks for property managers.
20% abatement for vital-service interruptions
The Board must order a 20% rent abatement if a tenant shows that a reasonable supply of a vital service was withheld for more than 24 hours over a three‑month period, though interruptions beyond the landlord’s control are excluded. The provision standardizes a substantial statutory remedy for vital-service failures but leaves room for factual dispute over what counts as a 'vital service' and what constitutes circumstances 'beyond the landlord’s control.'
Annual maintenance-statistics portal and consequences for poor performance
Landlords of complexes with 10+ units (or three or more storeys) must compile and upload, by March 1 annually, digital statistics on maintenance requests: nature, whether it involves vital services, who performed the work and receipt/resolution dates. The Minister must host a portal and include municipal registration data. The portal content can be used in Board proceedings, and a demonstrated resolution rate below 90% in the prior 12 months bars the landlord from applying for above‑guideline rent increases for that complex—tying transparency metrics to rent-regulation rights.
Elevator monitoring, outage reporting and abatement remedy
Elevator owners must use remote electronic monitoring to record operating availability. If an elevator serving rental units is out for more than 24 hours, the owner must report the outage to the Technical Standards and Safety Authority within seven days and report again when service resumes; the Authority must publish core availability information. The Residential Tenancies Act also lets tenants apply for a 5% rent abatement if elevators are out for more than 48 hours in a three‑month span, adding a tenant-facing financial remedy linked to elevator reliability.
Limits on rent increases tied to ongoing disputes and access to amenities
The Bill prevents proposed rent increases from taking effect while an application under certain sections is outstanding before the Board and prohibits a landlord from increasing rent on the basis that a tenant had access to an amenity (or enjoyed it) since the start of the rental period. Crucially, repeal of paragraph 3 of s.126 and the maintenance-portal rule combine to limit landlords’ ability to use capital or service changes to justify above‑guideline increases when performance or access is deficient.
Staggered commencement dates for major obligations
The Bill staggers commencement: some obligations come into force on Royal Assent, elevator monitoring and related provisions after 12 months, and the surveillance/security installation duties after three years. Those staggered start dates create transition windows for landlords to plan capital projects and for regulators to stand up portals and inspection regimes.
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Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Tenants in large buildings: gain more surveillance-backed safety measures, on-site security presence, prohibition on visitor-parking fees, and explicit notice about surveillance and amenity use; they also get statutory rent abatements for vital-service and elevator outages.
- Tenants in mid-sized buildings: benefit from annual maintenance transparency via the Minister’s portal, including the ability to post photos and comments and to use portal data in Board proceedings, which increases bargaining leverage in dispute resolution.
- Recipients of ODSP and Ontario Works direct-payments: receive a protective carve‑out preventing landlords from using persistent late rent rules to terminate tenancies where rent is paid directly under those Acts, reducing eviction risk tied to payment-source arrangements.
Who Bears the Cost
- Large-property landlords/owners: face capital and operating costs for installing surveillance systems, digital parking registries, hiring security guards and meeting seven‑day repair obligations for surveillance components; these expenses can be substantial for older properties.
- Owners/managers of smaller multi–unit buildings: incur recurring administrative costs to compile, verify and upload annual maintenance statistics, respond to tenant-uploaded evidence, and potentially be blocked from above‑guideline increases if resolution rates lag.
- Municipalities and regulatory agencies: must allocate staff to receive complaints, appoint inspectors, issue work orders, and for the Technical Standards and Safety Authority to process and publish elevator outage reports—creating unfunded or under‑funded administrative workloads.
- Landlord and Tenant Board: likely faces increased caseloads as tenants seek abatements, enforcement of work orders, and admission of portal data into proceedings, requiring administrative scaling or longer adjudication timelines.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The Bill is trying to balance tenant safety, transparency and tangible remedies against landlord property‑management autonomy and privacy rights—protecting tenants with prescriptive rules and financial penalties while shifting substantial compliance and cost burdens onto landlords and local regulators, with privacy, enforcement capacity and potential cost-shifting as the unavoidable trade‑offs.
The Bill mixes prescriptive operational standards with data-driven accountability, but several implementation gaps could generate friction. Privacy and retention rules for video surveillance are left mostly to regulation; until those regulations are drafted there is uncertainty over footage retention periods, tenant access rights, responsibilities to redact images, and compliance with provincial privacy law.
The portal requirement creates incentives to publish curated evidence (photos of completed repairs) and gives tenants a mechanism to add content—both useful for transparency but potentially open to disputes over authenticity, defamation, or privacy of contractors and other residents. The Bill does not specify quality standards for 'resolved' maintenance beyond legal compliance, so landlords could claim resolution by satisfying municipal standards while tenants view the problem as practically unresolved.
Enforcement capacity is another tension point. The architecture assumes municipalities will appoint inspectors and issue work orders, but many municipalities already face staffing limits; inconsistent enforcement across municipalities could produce uneven protections and forum-shopping.
Financially, the Bill forces landlords to absorb costs of cameras, security guards, digital systems and elevator-monitoring equipment without allowing above‑guideline rent increases tied to surveillance, potentially prompting owners to reallocate costs elsewhere (e.g., deferred capital replacement or higher turnover). Finally, the statutory abatements (1% per day for temperature work‑order non‑compliance, 20% for vital-service interruption, 5% for elevator outages) are blunt instruments that may incentivize rapid settlements and Board filings instead of cooperative remediation, and they raise questions about cumulative abatements when multiple breaches occur concurrently.
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