Skipped Rent Increases for Years? What an Ontario Landlord Can and Cannot Do Now
There is no catch-up button in the Residential Tenancies Act. What you can do depends on who is in the unit, when the building was first lived in, and what you have actually spent on it.
Can an Ontario landlord make up for rent increases skipped in earlier years?
The answer turns on the unit and the tenant, not on how many years you waited. For a sitting tenant in a unit under rent control, each increase is capped at that calendar year’s guideline (RTA s.120(1)), which by statute can never exceed 2.5% (s.120(2)); the Act has no provision that stores unused room for later. Going above the guideline takes one of the routes s.120(1) lists: an agreement under s.121 or s.123, or a Board order under s.126 or s.127. Two situations sit outside that cap: a new tenant under a new agreement, whose first rent is the rent first charged (s.113), and a unit in a building first lived in after November 15, 2018 (s.6.1).
Source: Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17, ss. 6.1, 113, 120 (Ontario e-Laws, consolidation current to 2026)
I’m Arthur Zhao, a broker with AZ Real Estate Partners. This question tends to arrive with a listing link attached. A landlord has rented the same condo or basement suite to the same person for years, never touched the rent because the tenant paid on time and caused no trouble, and has just seen what a similar unit nearby is asking. The next line is some version of: can I bring us level now?
Under Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (RTA), the honest answer depends far less on how many years you skipped than on the situation in front of you. Below are five of them. For each one I name the tool the Act actually gives you, and the one landlords tend to assume exists but does not.
Situation 1: The unit is in a building first lived in after November 15, 2018
Check this first, because it changes everything else. Section 6.1(2) switches off the rent-control provisions, including ss.120, 121, 122, 126 and 127, for a rental unit in a building where no part was occupied for residential purposes on or before November 15, 2018, or for a unit located entirely in an addition that meets the same test.
Units inside houses have their own test in s.6.1(3). A unit in a detached, semi-detached or row house qualifies only if all of these are true:
- on or at any time before November 15, 2018, the house contained no more than two residential units;
- the unit has its own bathroom and kitchen facilities, one or more entrances, a door at each entrance that can be secured from inside, and at least one such door that can be locked from outside;
- it became that kind of self-contained unit after November 15, 2018; and
- either an owner lived in another unit of the house when it was first occupied as a self-contained unit, or it was created in space that was unfinished immediately before.
Two qualifiers matter. Under s.6.1(4), the exemption does not apply to a tenancy whose agreement was entered into on or before November 15, 2018; s.6.1(5) limits that to the one tenancy and not the ones after it. And under s.6.1(6), if the exemption is disputed at the Board, the onus is on you to prove it applies.
For a unit that qualifies, there is no guideline to catch up to. What still binds you: the 90-day written notice in s.116 and the 12-month spacing rule in s.119 are not on the s.6.1 exclusion list. According to the Landlord and Tenant Board (2019), landlords of these units “must still serve a notice of rent increase 90 days in advance with a Landlord and Tenant Board approved form” and can raise the rent only once every 12 months. The LTB’s notice form for units the guideline does not cover is N2 (Notice of Rent Increase, Unit Partially Exempt).
One rent question, two kinds of unit
Situation 2: A long-term tenant who will not agree to pay more
This is the most common case, and the Act’s answer is plain. You do not need the tenant’s consent for a guideline increase. Give written notice at least 90 days ahead on the Board’s form (N1; s.116(1) and (3)), make sure at least 12 months have passed since this tenant’s last increase or, if there has been none, since the unit was first rented to them (s.119(1)), and keep the amount within the current year’s guideline. A tenant who receives that notice and does not give notice to end the tenancy is deemed to have accepted whatever increase the Act allows (s.118). Their objection does not block it.
What does not exist is a way past the guideline without them. Declining an s.121 agreement is their right, and the only route above the guideline that needs no signature from them is a Board application under s.126, which turns on costs, not on lost time (Situation 4).
The tool that is prohibited is pressure. Section 23 reads: “A landlord shall not harass, obstruct, coerce, threaten or interfere with a tenant.” A tenant can apply to the Board over that conduct under s.29(1), paragraph 4 (the LTB form is T2), within one year of it (s.29(2)). It is also more than a tenancy dispute: knowingly harassing a tenant is an offence under s.235(1), and s.238 sets maximum fines of $100,000 for an individual and $500,000 for a corporation.
A notice to end the tenancy for your own or a family member’s use is not a side door either. Section 48(1) requires that you in good faith need the unit for residential occupation for at least one year. A notice whose real purpose is re-renting at a higher rent does not fit that wording.
⚠️Watch how you raise the subject with a long-time tenant. Hinting that they should “think about moving” if they will not pay more is the kind of pressure s.23 prohibits, and an above-guideline agreement signed because of coercion is void under s.124.
Situation 3: A long-term tenant who is open to a conversation
A willing tenant widens your options, but less than most landlords expect. Agreement on its own does not lift the cap: s.120(1) allows an increase above the guideline only through the routes it names, and the consensual ones are narrow.
Section 121 lets you and the tenant agree to go above the guideline only in exchange for something: a specified capital expenditure you have carried out or undertake to carry out, or a new or additional service. The agreement must be on the Board’s form (N10, Agreement to Increase the Rent Above the Guideline) and must set out the new rent, the tenant’s right to cancel and the date it takes effect (s.121(2)). The increase cannot exceed guideline + 3% of the previous lawful rent (s.121(3)). The tenant can cancel in writing within five days of signing (s.121(4)), and the agreement can come into force no earlier than six days after it is signed (s.121(5)). The 90-day notice rule in s.116 does not apply to it (s.121(6)). If you then fail to deliver the work or service, the tenant can apply for relief within two years of the increase taking effect (s.122(1) and (2)).
Section 123 is the smaller tool that gets forgotten. If you and the tenant agree that you will add a parking space, or a service or facility prescribed by regulation, the rent can rise by the prescribed amount at any time, despite the 90-day and 12-month rules (s.123(1) and (2)).
What is not on the menu is a side letter in which the tenant simply agrees to pay more “to catch up.” It is not one of the routes s.120(1) lists. And any s.121 or s.123 agreement is void if it was entered into because of coercion, or because of a false, incomplete or misleading representation by you or your agent (s.124).
Situation 4: The building really did get more expensive
If your costs have genuinely jumped, the Act has a channel for it, but the channel is built around the costs, not around the years of restraint. Under s.126(1), a landlord can apply to the Board (form L5) for an increase above the guideline on any of three grounds: an extraordinary increase in municipal taxes and charges, eligible capital expenditures, or operating costs for security services provided by people who are not the landlord’s employees.
The rules that decide whether it is worth doing:
- Timing. Apply at least 90 days before the first increase in the application takes effect (s.126(3)). Each tenant still needs the 90-day notice (s.116(2)).
- What counts as capital. The work has to fall in a listed category, such as protecting or restoring the building’s physical integrity, maintaining plumbing, heating, mechanical, electrical, ventilation or air-conditioning systems, access for persons with disabilities, energy or water conservation, or security (s.126(7)). Replacing something that did not need major repair or replacement generally does not count unless the replacement promotes accessibility, conservation or security (s.126(8)).
- A 3% annual ceiling on the capital and security portion. Where those costs justify more than 3%, the Board caps that part at 3% and can specify further increases in each of the next two 12-month periods, again no more than 3% in each (s.126(11)).
- Outstanding repairs can stop it. If the Board finds serious unaddressed breaches or incomplete work orders affecting a unit, it must dismiss the application for that unit or hold the increase until the work is done (s.126(12) and (13)).
- Later tenants fall out. Capital work completed before a new tenancy took effect is not eligible for that unit (s.126(9)).
For a unit covered by s.6.1, none of this is available: s.126 is on that section’s exclusion list.
Situation 5: A tenant who is leaving on their own
This is the one situation where the gap can close in a single step. Under s.113, the lawful rent for the first rental period for a new tenant under a new tenancy agreement is the rent first charged to that tenant. In practice, you and the new tenant set it. (People call this vacancy decontrol; the Act does not use that phrase.)
Three points keep it clean:
- The departure has to be the tenant’s own decision. Everything in Situation 2 about pressure and the s.48 good-faith test applies in full when a tenant is “encouraged” to go.
- A Board order under s.30(1), paragraph 6, can bar you from charging a new tenant more than the former tenant’s last lawful rent until specified work orders and repairs are completed. Confirm no such order is in place.
- Once the new tenancy starts, the ordinary clock restarts: 12 months from the date the unit was first rented to the new tenant before the first increase (s.119(1)(b)), and the guideline after that, unless the unit falls under s.6.1.
💡 My own read: the only full reset in the Act is a new tenancy, and that is exactly where the Act stands guard hardest: s.23, the good-faith test in s.48, the offence and fine provisions. The money incentive and the strictest rules point at the same door. If your plan for closing the rent gap runs through getting the current tenant out, it is the plan most likely to cost you, so price the five situations honestly before you pick one.
- Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17 (Ontario e-Laws): ss. 6.1, 23, 29, 30, 48, 113, 116, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 126, 235, 238
- Landlord and Tenant Board: forms list (N1, N2, N10, T2, L5)
- Landlord and Tenant Board news release, January 24, 2019: units first occupied after November 15, 2018
Agreeing to a Rent Increase for New Work or a New Service in Ontario: Reading Form N10 Box by Box, and Where s.121 Stops →Ontario’s 2026 Rent Increase Guideline and Above-Guideline Increases Explained →Auditing an Inherited Rent Roll: Which Improper Ontario Rent Increases Are Already Locked In →First-Time Renter Guide →
Frequently Asked Questions
If I add a parking spot for my tenant, can I raise the rent right away?
If the tenant agrees to take it, yes. Section 123 of the RTA allows the rent to rise by the amount set in the regulations, at any time, when you and the tenant agree to add a parking space or another prescribed service or facility, and s.123(2) says this applies despite the 90-day notice and 12-month rules. The agreement is void if it was obtained by coercion or a misleading representation (s.124).
My tenant signed an agreement to pay more, then backed out three days later. Can they do that?
Yes. A tenant who signs an above-guideline agreement under s.121 of the RTA can cancel it by written notice within five days of signing (s.121(4)), and the agreement cannot come into force earlier than six days after it was signed (s.121(5)). Build that window into your timeline instead of treating the signature as final.
Who has to prove my rental unit is exempt from rent control?
You do. Under s.6.1(6) of the RTA, in any Landlord and Tenant Board application where the November 15, 2018 exemption is at issue, the onus is on the landlord to prove it applies. Keep records showing when the building, addition or unit was first occupied for residential purposes.
While my above-guideline application is waiting at the Board, how much rent can I collect?
Under s.126(5) of the RTA, until the Board’s order takes effect you cannot require more than the lesser of the rent in your notice and the most you could charge without applying. The tenant may choose to pay the full noticed amount, but you then owe back anything above what the Board ultimately allows (s.126(6)).
Does a rent increase the Board approved carry over to my next tenant?
Generally not. Under s.126(14) of the RTA, the order stops having effect for a unit once a new tenant enters a new tenancy agreement that takes effect on or after the day 90 days before the order’s first increase date. For that new tenant, s.113 lets the first rent be whatever is first charged.
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