Ontario Standard Lease Section 15: Reading an “Additional Terms” Attachment Before You Sign
Your signature does not lift a typed attachment above the Residential Tenancies Act. Here is how the layers rank, and which lines the form itself says cannot stand.
If I sign an “Additional Terms” attachment to the Ontario Standard Lease, is every line in it binding?
Only the lines that fit beneath two higher layers. At the top sits the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, which applies “despite any agreement or waiver to the contrary” (s.3(1)) and makes any lease provision inconsistent with it void (s.4(1)). In the middle are the fixed sections of Form 2229E, the standard lease required for tenancies entered into on or after March 1, 2021, whose sections are “mandatory and cannot be changed.” Section 15 sits at the bottom: by its own wording, a term that conflicts with the Act or with any other term in the form “is void … and it cannot be enforced.”
Source: Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17, ss. 3(1), 4(1) (e-Laws, accessed 2026); Ontario Standard Form of Lease 2229E (2020/12), header and Section 15
I’m Arthur Zhao. Picture the moment from the tenant’s side of the table. The standard lease is filled in, the rent matches what you were quoted, and behind the last page sits a typed sheet headed “Additional Terms.” Line three says rent paid after the due date carries a $50 late-payment charge. Line six says the tenant will pay for professional cleaning when moving out. The pen is in your hand, and the question is a practical one: if I sign this, does it become real?
For a good part of what tenants find on these sheets, the answer is no, and the reason is not a loophole. Ontario’s standard lease, Form 2229E, is built so that a signature cannot lift a typed term above the law it sits under. The $50 charge falls into a category the form itself names as void. The cleaning line needs a closer read, because the Act does give the tenant a cleaning duty, just not that one.
Knowing which layer outranks which is what lets you read that sheet in five minutes instead of guessing.
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Three layers, and what the bottom one is actually for
The Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (RTA) is the top layer. Section 3(1) applies the Act “despite any agreement or waiver to the contrary,” and s.4(1) says a provision in a tenancy agreement that is inconsistent with the Act or the regulations is void. The lease’s own header repeats the point in plain words: the agreement “cannot take away a right or responsibility under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006.”
The middle layer is the printed form. Its sections are “mandatory and cannot be changed,” and several of them already settle subjects people like to put in attachments: Section 5 covers rent and payment (including an NSF administration charge the form caps at $20), Section 9 the refundable key deposit, Section 10 smoking rules, and Section 11 tenant’s insurance.
Section 15 is the bottom layer, and the form describes its job modestly. Its two examples of what an additional term may do are, in this order: provide rules for use of common spaces and/or amenities, and require the landlord to make changes to the unit before the tenant moves in. Think of a gym booking rule, or a promise to replace the stove before the keys change hands. The form also asks that these terms be written in plain language, say clearly what the landlord or tenant must or must not do, and, if typed, use a font of at least 10 points.
One of the two checkboxes at the bottom of Section 15 must be ticked: either there are no additional terms, or the lease includes an attachment with additional terms the parties agreed to. If you are handed an attachment, the second box should be ticked. If it is not, ask why.
The void list the form prints for you
Section 15 does not leave tenants to work out the conflicts alone. Right after saying a conflicting term is void, it gives examples. Here they are grouped with the RTA provisions that sit behind them.
1. Repairs moved onto the tenant. A term that makes the tenant pay for all or part of repairs that are the landlord’s responsibility is void. Under s.20(1) the landlord must keep the complex and unit in a good state of repair and fit for habitation, and s.20(2) says this holds even if the tenant knew about the problem before signing. The tenant’s side is narrower: s.34 makes the tenant responsible for undue damage caused wilfully or negligently by the tenant, another occupant, or someone they let in.
2. Deposits, fees and penalties, including how and when rent is paid. The form names damage deposits, pet deposits and interest on rent arrears as void. Behind that is s.105(1) (the only security deposit allowed is a rent deposit under s.106), s.106(2) (no more than one month’s rent or one rent period, whichever is less), and s.134(1)(a), which bars a fee, premium, commission, bonus, penalty, key deposit or other like amount unless a regulation permits it. The $50 late charge in the attachment above falls here; a separate article on this site works through late and NSF charges in detail. The move-out cleaning line has to be read by its wording. Section 33 makes the tenant responsible for ordinary cleanliness, so a term that restates that duty is harmless. A flat professional-cleaning charge billed whatever condition the unit is left in reads, in my view, much more like the kind of fee s.134(1)(a) bars. Two more lines belong in this bucket. A clause saying all remaining rent becomes due if the tenant defaults is an acceleration clause, void under s.15. And a clause requiring post-dated cheques or automatic payments is barred by s.108; the tenant may choose those methods, but cannot be required to.
3. Guests, roommates and other occupants. A term that bans guests, roommates or additional occupants is void. The General Information pages attached to the form (Part Q) add that a landlord cannot require notice or permission before guests visit, cannot charge for them, and cannot prevent a roommate as long as municipal occupancy standards are respected. The RTA anchor is s.22: the landlord must not substantially interfere with the tenant’s reasonable enjoyment of the unit.
4. Pets. Section 14 of the RTA voids any provision prohibiting animals in or about the residential complex, and Part R of the General Information repeats it. The form’s single carve-out is that the landlord can require the tenant to follow condominium rules, which may prohibit certain pets. Our separate article on no-pets clauses covers the rest.
⚠️The only pet-related thing Section 15 can do is point to condominium rules. A term requiring the tenant to comply with the condo corporation’s rules is allowed, and those rules may restrict certain pets. Enforcement runs through the condo rules themselves (for a landlord, an LTB application, which Part R lists for this case), not through a no-pets clause in the lease.
Why the offer stage plays by different rules
Many tenants first see these terms earlier, in an Form 400 Agreement to Lease, the OREA form used at the offer stage. That form has a blank Additional Terms clause (cl.8), and clause 18 says that if an added provision conflicts with the pre-set wording, the added provision supersedes the pre-set clause. That is ordinary contract drafting: the parties’ typed words beat the boilerplate. The same Form 400 then says, in clause 12, that the lease itself will be drawn by the landlord on the standard form prescribed by the RTA and signed by both parties before possession. Once the deal moves onto Form 2229E, the ranking flips. The printed sections are no longer boilerplate that typed words can override; they sit above the attachment, and a typed term that collides with them or with the Act is the one that gives way.
Reading a line by its direction
The one default Section 15 is invited to switch off
Most of the form’s fixed sections cannot be touched from the attachment. Section 17 is the exception the form writes in itself. It says: “Unless otherwise agreed in the additional terms under Section 15, if there is more than one tenant, each tenant is responsible for all tenant obligations under this agreement, including the full amount of rent.”
So the default for co-tenants is that each one owes the whole rent, not a slice of it. If two roommates want each person to be responsible only for their own share, Section 15 is the place to say so, and the wording should name the share each tenant owes and what happens if one of them leaves. A vague line such as “rent is split equally” leaves room to argue about whether the default was really displaced. Whether a landlord agrees to that change is a business decision, not something the Act requires.
ℹ️Roommates on one lease each owe the full rent by default. That is the Section 17 rule, and it applies unless Section 15 says otherwise. If one roommate stops paying, the landlord can look to any tenant who signed for the whole amount.
💡 My own reading is that the most useful way to think about a void term is to ask who it arms. A void term is not neutral paper that both sides quietly ignore. It gives the tenant something, an application to the Landlord and Tenant Board under s.135(1) to recover money collected in contravention of the Act, and it gives the landlord nothing at all. A no-pets line is the clearest case: whatever a landlord can do about an animal runs through an LTB application on grounds such as those Part R of the form’s General Information lists (noise, damage, allergies, an inherently dangerous breed, condominium rules), never through the clause. If a landlord is relying on a typed line to collect money or control behaviour, that is the line to look at twice.
After signing: void stays void, and money can come back
Many leases start with a one-year term and then simply continue. Under s.38(1), a fixed-term agreement that ends without being renewed or terminated is deemed renewed as a monthly tenancy “containing the same terms and conditions” as the expired one. Valid Section 15 terms travel with it, including a Section 17 opt-out. A void term does not improve with time: it was inconsistent with the Act on day one, and s.4(1) applies to the monthly tenancy just as it did to the fixed term.
If money has already changed hands under a void term, s.135(1) lets a tenant or former tenant apply to the Board for an order that the landlord pay back any money collected or retained in contravention of the Act. Timing matters: under s.135(4), no order can be made on an application filed more than one year after the money was collected or retained. A landlord must give a receipt free of charge on request for rent and other amounts paid (s.109(1)), which is worth asking for before the clock becomes a problem.
This is a facts-and-rules overview, not advice on any particular lease. Consult a real estate lawyer before adding a term to Section 15 or relying on one.
Before the pen moves
Split by who is holding the attachment.
- ☐Write each term so it says plainly what the landlord or tenant must or must not do, and type it at 10-point or larger.
- ☐Delete any charge beyond a rent deposit (no more than one month or one rent period, whichever is less) and a refundable key deposit no higher than replacement cost.
- ☐Remove any line that bans pets, guests, roommates or extra occupants; if the unit is a condo, attach the condominium rules and require compliance with them instead.
- ☐Remove any line that moves the cost of landlord repairs onto the tenant.
- ☐Decide whether co-tenants keep the Section 17 default of full liability each; if not, write out each tenant’s share.
- ☐Tick the second box in Section 15 and give the tenant a copy signed by both sides within 21 days after the tenant signs and returns it (s.12(2)).
- ☐Read every line and ask one question: does it add work for the landlord, or take away something the Act gives me?
- ☐Circle any money besides rent, the last-month rent deposit, a refundable key deposit and an NSF charge capped at $20 plus the bank’s own fee.
- ☐Check the payment line: you can choose post-dated cheques or automatic payments, but no term can require them.
- ☐If you are signing with roommates, look for wording that changes Section 17; without it, each of you owes the full rent.
- ☐Ask for your own fully signed copy and keep it with your rent receipts.
- ☐Keep proof of every payment made under the term, and request receipts from the landlord, which must be given free of charge (s.109(1)).
- ☐File an LTB application under s.135(1) within one year of the payment if you want the money back.
- ☐Treat the term as void after the lease rolls into month-to-month too; s.38(1) carries forward the terms, not their validity.
- ☐Speak with a real estate lawyer before relying on a term or challenging one.
- Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17, ss. 3(1), 4(1), 12(2), 14, 15, 20, 22, 33, 34, 38(1), 105(1), 106(2), 108, 109(1), 134(1), 135(1), 135(4) (Ontario e-Laws)
- Ontario Standard Form of Lease (Form 2229E, version 2020/12), Sections 5, 9, 10, 11, 15 and 17, and its General Information Parts H, J, Q and R
- OREA Form 400, Agreement to Lease – Residential, clauses 8, 12 and 18
Why a “No Pets” Clause Is Void in Ontario Leases — and Why That Doesn’t Mean Anything Goes →Late Fees, NSF Charges, Key Deposits: What Can an Ontario Landlord Legally Charge a Tenant Beyond Rent? →Ontario’s Mandatory Standard Lease (Form 2229): Your Rights If a Landlord Won’t Provide It →First-Time Renter Guide →
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Section 15 say I must not change the locks without permission?
Yes, because it restates a duty the Act already imposes: under s.35(1) of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, a tenant may not alter the locking system on a door giving entry to the unit or the building without the landlord’s consent. What Section 15 cannot add is a penalty or an automatic charge for doing so; a fee or penalty of that kind is a like amount barred by s.134(1)(a). The landlord’s remedy for an unauthorized lock change is an application to the Landlord and Tenant Board under s.35(2).
Can a lease make me shovel snow and cut the lawn for a backyard only I use?
Neither the form’s list of void examples nor its two positive examples mention yard chores by name. The RTA makes the tenant responsible for ordinary cleanliness of the unit (s.33) and the landlord responsible for keeping the property in good repair (s.20(1)), so a term that has the tenant pay for repairs to the fence, deck or drainage falls into the form’s void category. Where routine upkeep ends and a shifted repair begins is not spelled out, so have that line reviewed by a lawyer.
My roommate and I are signing one lease. Can we each be responsible only for our half of the rent?
Yes, if Section 15 says so. Section 17 of the standard lease makes each tenant responsible for all obligations, including the full rent, “unless otherwise agreed in the additional terms under Section 15.” The term should state each person’s share in dollars and what happens if one of you moves out.
Can the landlord insist on e-transfer, post-dated cheques or automatic withdrawal?
A lease cannot require post-dated cheques or any form of automatic payment; s.108 of the RTA bars both, and Section 5 of the form repeats that the tenant can choose them but cannot be required to. A term in which the landlord agrees to accept e-transfer simply sets out a method. E-transfer sent by the tenant each month is neither a post-dated cheque nor an automatic payment, and Section 5(d) of the form is simply where the agreed methods are written down.
Do my Section 15 terms still apply after the first year when the lease goes month-to-month?
Valid ones do. Section 38(1) of the RTA deems an expired fixed-term lease renewed as a monthly tenancy with the same terms and conditions. A term that was void at signing stays void, because s.4(1) still makes any provision inconsistent with the Act void.
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