The A1 Form, Step by Step: Find Out Whether Ontario's RTA Covers Your Rental

Form A1 is the Ontario application that puts one question to the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB): is this unit or building covered by the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (RTA), fully, partly or not at all? Either side can bring it. A landlord learns whether the Board's notices and hearings are required; a tenant learns whether the Act's protections can be counted on.

The A1 in brief

What this application actually decides

Section 9 of the RTA allows either a landlord or a tenant to ask the Board to rule on whether the Act, or some part of it, applies to a given unit or complex.

Two rules frame every A1:

1. Nobody can contract out. Under s. 3(1), an agreement or waiver saying the Act doesn't apply has no effect on its coverage.
2. Substance beats wording. Whether the paper calls it a licence, a room rental or something other than a tenancy, the Board may set that aside and look at what is really going on (s. 202).

Most A1 questions fit one of three groups.

Full exemptions under s. 5. For instance:

• holiday or seasonal stays at a cottage, hotel, motel or similar;
• housing for farm workers, given on condition of employment;
• a set-up where the occupant must share the kitchen or a bathroom with the owner who lives there, or with a resident spouse, parent or child of the owner, or a resident parent or child of the owner's spouse;
• emergency shelter meant for a short stay;
• certain student residences;
• job-linked housing in a building that is partly a business;
• short respite stays in a care home.

Partial exemptions. The rent rules do not reach a unit in a building first lived in after November 15, 2018, or some second units in houses created after 2018 (s. 6.1). Partial exemptions also cover non-profit and social housing (s. 7).

Separate parts of the Act. Some sections are written only for care homes (Part IX); others only for land lease communities and mobile home parks (Part X).

Should you file one? A quick checklist

An A1 makes sense when:

• you need the answer before acting because it decides your process. Example: a boarder uses the owner's kitchen, and the owner wants to know if LTB termination notices are needed.
• a tenant, told the Act doesn't apply, wants the Board to settle it.

You may be able to skip it when:

• the coverage issue is already in front of the Board in another case. Say a tenant raises it when your L2 is heard: the member can decide it then, and a separate A1 only adds a hearing.

It is the wrong form when:

• the real dispute is about someone who moved in without permission and whether they have become the tenant. Use an A2 for that.

A caution for landlords. Never assume you're exempt. The post-2018 rent exemption is yours to prove (s. 6.1(6)), and any exemption you claim will need evidence behind it.

Timing: what the clock looks like

• Limitation period: none in section 9.
• When the Board treats it as received (Rule 4.8):
• by email, the same day it arrives;
• by courier, one business day after the courier takes it;
• by mail, on the fifth non-holiday day following mailing.
• Service on the other party: in the usual case the LTB itself serves the Notice of Hearing along with the application (Rule 5.1). When the Board directs you to do it instead, serve at least 15 days ahead of the hearing date (Rule 5.9), and get your Certificate of Service to the Board within five days (Rule 5.15).
• Disagree with the result? Where the order is dated July 1, 2026 or later, each party gets 15 days to request a review (Rule 26.5).

Worked example. An A1 mailed on Friday, March 5, 2027: weekends count as holidays (Rule 1.1), so the five non-holiday days are March 8 to 12, and it is filed on Friday, March 12, 2027.

Completing the A1: four steps

Use version 01/04/2022, typed or in block capitals, with the A1 instructions beside you.

Step 1: Part 1, General Information

• [ ] Applicant Information. Shade your role ("Landlord" for a landlord) and fill in your name or company, address, phone numbers and email. Co-landlords are listed on a Schedule of Parties.
• [ ] Address of the Rental Unit, Building or Residential Complex. Write it out in full, with the postal code and unit number.
• [ ] Other Parties to the Application. The tenant always belongs here, so a landlord shades "Tenant". Name each occupant whose status is in question; several names go on a Schedule of Parties.
• [ ] Related Applications. Note the file number of each unresolved application involving this unit or complex.

Step 2: Part 2, Reason for Your Application

This part asks for a description of the premises and your reasons for saying the Act does, or doesn't, apply. Give facts, not conclusions. Cover:

• [ ] how the space is laid out: a self-contained unit, or a shared bathroom and kitchen (and shared with whom?);
• [ ] the owner's identity, who lives on the property, and for how long;
• [ ] what the occupant pays, and for which things;
• [ ] whether a job, a program, care or a season is part of the arrangement;
• [ ] if you rely on s. 6.1, when the building or the addition first had residents, backed by an occupancy permit or similar proof;
• [ ] the exact section relied on (s. 5(i), for example) and the provisions you say do or don't apply.

Last, fill in the complex's total rental units and the number covered. If more than one unit, but not every unit, is covered, list them on an extra page.

Step 3: Part 3, Signature

Sign and date after shading either "Landlord" or "Representative". A representative also adds a Law Society number and contact details.

Step 4: Payment Information Form

Mark your payment method, and add the receipt number when the fee was paid online.

Sending it to the Board

Pick one route:

1. Email. First pay the $53 online (Online Payment for Tribunal Applications), using a Visa or Mastercard debit or credit card. Then, within 24 hours, email the form and receipt together to LTBpayments@ontario.ca; the subject line should show the unit address and receipt number.
2. Mail or courier. Pay with the Credit Card Payment Form, or enclose a certified cheque or money order payable to the "Minister of Finance".
3. In person. Bring it to a ServiceOntario office that takes LTB filings.

Note: the A1 instructions (August 2023) list only mail and courier. The Board's current forms, filing and fees webpage adds email and ServiceOntario. No fee is refunded (see the LTB fees page), and a Fee Waiver Request is available if cost is a barrier.

Six ways an A1 goes wrong

1. Leaning on the agreement's wording. Under ss. 3(1) and 4, a clause excluding the RTA is void, and s. 202 lets the Board go by substance.
2. Reading s. 5(i) too broadly. The person sharing the kitchen or bathroom has to be the owner, or a listed relative of the owner, living in the building. Sharing with a fellow tenant, a property manager or a landlord who isn't the owner doesn't qualify.
3. No proof for a post-2018 rent exemption. The onus is on the landlord (s. 6.1(6)). Without evidence of first occupancy, expect to lose that point.
4. A one-line Part 2. A bare statement that the Act doesn't apply, without facts or a section number, gives nothing to decide.
5. Acting before the ruling. A landlord who, say, changes the locks on the theory that the Act doesn't apply, and is then told it does, may face tenant applications about that conduct.
6. Fee unpaid or LTB fines owing. The Board won't process the application in either case (Rule 6.1).

After you file

• The Board sets a hearing date.
• Afterwards it issues an order on coverage: yes, no, or only in part.
• Act applies: from here, both sides follow the regular RTA notices and applications. The tenant keeps its protections; the landlord must use its procedures.
• Act doesn't apply: the LTB lacks jurisdiction, so any dispute is for the courts.

Questions people ask about the A1

I rent out a room in the house I live in. Is that covered?

Not where you, the owner, must share a bathroom or kitchen with the occupant, or where they share with your resident spouse, parent or child, or a resident parent or child of your spouse (s. 5(i)). If the owner lives elsewhere, or the room has a private bathroom and kitchen, the Act probably applies.

My lease says the RTA doesn't apply. Does that hold up?

No. The Act governs whatever the agreement says, and any lease term inconsistent with it is void.

Is a newly built rental free of the RTA?

Only in part. A unit in a building with first occupancy after November 15, 2018 is free of the guideline cap and related rent rules (s. 6.1). Eviction rules and the rest of the Act still govern it.

How much does an A1 cost, and who pays?

The person filing pays $53, landlord or tenant alike.

Official sources

• Form A1 – Application about Whether the Act Applies (PDF)
• A1 Instructions
• LTB Forms, filing and fees
• Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, ss. 3, 5, 6.1, 9
• Interpretation Guideline 21: Landlords, Tenants, Occupants and Residential Tenancies
• LTB Rules of Procedure

Last reviewed October 31, 2026. General information, not legal advice for your situation. Always use the current version of the form from the LTB.