Rent Increases
Is Your Unit Rent Controlled?
Please note that the information on this page is for tenants covered under the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), specifically those who live in for-profit rental housing. You may be excluded from all or parts of the Residential Tenancies Act if you live in social housing, non-profit housing, co-operative housing, a student dormitory, a shelter, a jail/prison, or a care home. If you share a kitchen or bathroom with your landlord or a landlord's close family member, you are likely exempt from the RTA (unless the landlord moved in after you moved in).
I'm not sure if Ontario rent control laws apply to my home...
Rent Control refers to limitations placed by a government on the amounts that can be charged for housing. In Ontario, the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) Increase Guidelines contains rules that certain rental units are subject to. Some forms of housing are not covered by the RTA, such as subsidized housing or renting a room in a house occupied by the owner.
Rent Controlled units can only have their rents increased in accordance with the Increase Guidelines, which are capped at 2.5% annually. It is important to know that rent increases are not automatic. Landlords can only raise rents 12 months after tenancy began or 12 months since the last increase, and only after giving 90 days written notice using an
N1 form. If these conditions have not been met, then the rent increase is not valid and you are not required to pay the increase.
Which Units are Rent Controlled?
Essentially, any unit which was occupied for residential purposes (i.e. lived in) before November 15, 2018, is subject to the RTA Increase Guidelines. For apartment and condominium buildings, as long as a unit was occupied for residential purposes before November 15, 2018, that unit is rent controlled.
To be considered a rental unit in a detached house, the unit has to have its own kitchen, bathroom, 1 or more interior or exterior entrances, and a door which can be locked from the inside and outside of the unit. For units in a non-detached or semi-detached house, it can get a little trickier:
- If the house had more than 2 units which were occupied before November 15, 2018, then the units are rent controlled. Additional units added after this date are also rent controlled since there were more than 2 units in the building before November 15, 2018.
- If a detached or semi-detached house adds a second unit (i.e. basement apartment) after November 15, 2018, that unit is not rent controlled.
- If a detached or semi-detached house adds an additional unit (i.e. attic apartment) after November 15, 2018, that unit is not rent controlled.
What is Vacancy Decontrol?
Regardless of whether your unit is rent controlled, it is also important to understand vacancy decontrol. Vacancy decontrol refers to the ability of the landlord to charge an unrestricted rental rate to a new tenant. This means that the rental rate for new tenants can be much higher than what the previous tenants paid. Vacancy decontrol applies to rental units that are vacant or are posted on the market for new tenants.
The combination of rent control exemptions and vacancy decontrol creates a housing climate that incentivizes landlords to pursue options to remove existing tenants. This is done regardless of how long tenants have lived in a unit, how “good” they have been, or how much they have made that unit their home. For most landlords, the best tenant is not a stable, long-term tenant, but anyone who can pay the always rising market rent.
If you are experiencing any issues with your landlord or feel you are being treated unfairly, please reach out to us!
For more information on the history of Rent Control in Ontario see:
Actually, Rent Control is Great, by Phillip Mendonça-Vieira for the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations