The A2 Form in Ontario: Unauthorized Occupants, Subtenants and Sublet Disputes, Step by Step

The A2 is Ontario's Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) application for disputes about sublets and assignments, and both sides of a tenancy can use it. A landlord most often files one to remove an unauthorized occupant (a person who got the keys from the tenant rather than through the landlord's approval) or a subtenant who has overstayed a sublet that has ended; a tenant uses the form's own part when a request to sublet or assign is unreasonably refused. The single most important thing to know: a landlord has just 60 days from discovering an unauthorized occupant to act, or the law treats that person as the landlord's tenant.

At a glance

What the A2 does for each side

Two words in the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (RTA) carry the whole topic:

• Assignment: a permanent handover; the whole tenancy moves to a new person and the tenant is gone.
• Sublet: the tenant lets someone else live there for a while but keeps the right to come back.

Either one needs the landlord's consent (ss. 95, 97). When a tenant leaves and someone else steps in by any other route, s. 100 gives the landlord a way to ask the Board to terminate the tenancy and remove the tenant together with the newcomer. That person is called the unauthorized occupant.

The landlord's three reasons

1. Reason 1, an unauthorized occupant (s. 100). You can ask the Board to end the original tenancy and evict the occupant, and also to award compensation for every day the occupant stays. That compensation is available only if the occupant still has possession on the day you file (s. 100(3)). Taking compensation does not turn the occupant into a tenant unless the two of you agree to that (s. 103(2)).
2. Reason 2, a subtenant who will not leave (s. 101). A subtenant's right to be there stops once the subtenancy is over (s. 97(5)). Eviction can then be sought by either the landlord or the tenant.
3. Reason 3, a mobile home or land lease site (s. 159). Picture a site tenant selling their home and requesting your consent to pass the site to the purchaser. A refusal stands only if the Board accepts your grounds as reasonable, and your application has to be in within 15 days, failing which the law treats you as having agreed.

What it will not do

Unpaid rent and damage by the original tenant are outside the A2. So is a household where the tenant still lives on site alongside other people.

What it means for tenants and occupants

• A tenant who asks to sublet, or to assign after the landlord has agreed in principle, cannot be refused arbitrarily or unreasonably for a particular proposed person (ss. 95(5), 97(2)). If that happens, the tenant can file on Part 2 of the A2.
• The most a landlord may charge for consenting is the actual, reasonable out-of-pocket cost.
• Until they become a tenant (by a fresh agreement, or because the 60 days lapsed, as explained below), an occupant holds no RTA rights as against the landlord.

Which form fits your situation?

More A2s fail at this fork in the road than anywhere else. Answer these in order.

1. Has the tenant moved out, leaving someone else living there without your consent? Yes: this is an A2, Reason 1. Familiar versions include a tenant who "gave" the place to a relative or friend, a tenant who advertised the unit and took rent from a stranger, or an occupant who simply stayed on once the tenant left.

2. Is the tenant still living there, with an extra roommate or occupant? No A2 here: nothing has been sublet or assigned. According to Interpretation Guideline 21, a tenant who stays put and lets another person share the home creates no sublet, and needs no consent from you. Problems caused by the extra people (interference, damage, overcrowding) are handled with a termination notice, for example the N5, followed by an L2 application.

3. Did the sole tenant die? Where the only tenant has died, RTA s. 91 generally treats the tenancy as over 30 days later. A spouse who was living there with them may be treated as a tenant under O. Reg. 516/06, s. 3. Check Guideline 21 first.

4. Did you approve a sublet, and the subtenant now refuses to go? That is an A2, Reason 2.

5. Would you rather keep the occupant? You have the same 60-day window to make a fresh tenancy agreement with the person, and whatever rent you both agree on is lawful (s. 104(1), (3)). Watch the default outcome: let the window close with no lease signed and no A2 filed, and the law deems the occupancy an assignment made with your consent, dated back to its start (s. 104(4)). Silence, in other words, makes the occupant your tenant under the existing lease.

6. Has a tenant simply asked to assign or sublet? Nothing gets filed; you reply to the tenant. A blanket no to assignment is allowed, but after agreeing in principle you cannot arbitrarily or unreasonably turn down a specific assignee, nor a specific subtenant (ss. 95(5), 97(2)). Any fee for consent is capped at reasonable out-of-pocket costs.

The clock: deadlines and how to count them

The three time limits

• Reason 1: the statute says the application "must be made no later than 60 days after the landlord discovers the unauthorized occupancy" (s. 100(2)). The count starts at discovery, not at move-in. For that reason the form wants your "first aware" date, and you should keep a precise note of how and when the information reached you.
• Reason 2: you get 60 days, starting when the subtenancy came to an end (s. 101(2)).
• Reason 3: you get 15 days, starting when the tenant made the request (s. 159(2)). RTA s. 190(1) lets the Board lengthen that, yet the Request to Extend Time has to go in alongside the application itself (Rule 16.2), with no promise it will succeed.

When is it "filed"?

The date that counts is the day the LTB is treated as receiving it (Rule 4.8):

A worked example

Say a routine inspection on Thursday, September 10, 2026 turns up an unfamiliar person in the unit and no sign of the tenant. Counting 60 days lands on Monday, November 9, 2026.

• Emailed with payment on November 9: on time.
• Given to a courier on Friday, November 6: filed the next business day, Monday, November 9, so on time.
• Mailed on Monday, November 2: the fifth non-holiday day after is November 9, so just in time. Mailed one day later, it would land on November 10 and be too late.

The practical lesson is to file within days of finding out, not near the end of the window.

What missing the Reason 1 deadline costs

When the 60 days expire with neither a fresh lease nor an A2, s. 104(4) makes the occupant a deemed assignee. After that, the only way to end the tenancy is the usual one: a valid ground, a notice, and an L1 or L2.

Filling in the A2: a step-by-step walkthrough

The version in use is 01/04/2022. Landlords fill in Parts 1, 3 and 4 and leave Part 2 to tenants. Type or print in capitals, and keep the official A2 instructions open beside you.

Step 1: Part 1, General Information

• [ ] Applicant Information: shade "Landlord", then fill in the person's or company's name, how to reach them by mail, phone and email. More than one landlord? Use a Schedule of Parties.
• [ ] Address of the Rental Unit: every part of it, including unit number and postal code.
• [ ] Other Parties to the Application: the tenant goes here in every case. For Reason 1 add the current occupant as well, shading "Current Occupant" beside that person. For Reason 2 add the subtenant beside the tenant. Overflow goes on a Schedule of Parties.
• [ ] No legal name for the occupant? Neither the A2 instructions nor any published LTB guidance says what to do. Enter the best name or description you have and confirm with the LTB before sending.
• [ ] Related Applications: file numbers of any other open matters about the same unit.

Step 2: Part 3, your reasons

Reason 1 (unauthorized transfer by the tenant)

• [ ] Eviction box. Shade it and write the date (dd/mm/yyyy) on which you first became aware of the occupant. Filing must happen no more than 60 days after that date.
• [ ] Compensation box (each day they remain). Shade it; state the rent the tenant was paying before the transfer and its period (monthly, weekly or other). By default the claim runs from discovery; to start earlier, say from when and why.
• [ ] NSF Cheque Charges. Only bounced cheques written by the unauthorized occupant belong here. For each: cheque amount, cheque date, the day the bank charged you, the bank fee, and your administration charge, which O. Reg. 516/06, s. 17 limits to $20 a cheque. The "Total Charge" column adds just the bank fee and the administration charge, never the cheque's own amount.

Reason 2 (subtenant overstaying)

• [ ] Shade the box; enter the move-out date the subtenant failed to meet.

Reason 3 (site assignment refused)

• [ ] Shade the box; set out in detail the reasons you declined to consent and why they are reasonable.
• [ ] Outside the 15 days? Include a Request to Extend Time with the application.

Tick all boxes that fit. The Board is free to order a different remedy than the one you picked.

Step 3: Part 4, Signature

• [ ] Pick "Landlord" or "Representative", sign it, date it.
• [ ] Representatives also supply their name, Law Society number and how to contact them.

Step 4: Payment Information Form

• [ ] Shade how you are paying.
• [ ] Emailing it? Make the online payment beforehand (Online Payment for Tribunal Applications page) and copy the 7-digit receipt number onto the form.

Sending it to the LTB

Choose one route:

1. Email. The $201 is paid online first, by Visa or Mastercard, credit or debit. Within the next 24 hours, send the A2 and the receipt to LTBpayments@ontario.ca; the subject line carries the receipt number plus the unit's address. Should a day pass with no application arriving, the money is returned and nothing has been filed. Card numbers never go in the email.
2. Mail or courier. Enclose a certified cheque or money order payable to the "Minister of Finance", or fill in the Credit Card Payment Form. Allow for the deemed filing dates in the table above.
3. ServiceOntario counter. Choose an office that handles LTB filings; there you can pay in cash, by debit or credit card, or with a certified cheque or money order.

Fees are non-refundable; the LTB fees page has the details, and you may use a Fee Waiver Request if you qualify.

Service after filing. Normally it is the LTB that delivers the Notice of Hearing and the application to the parties (Rule 5.1). If instead you are directed to serve, the deadline is 15 days or more ahead of the hearing, with a Certificate of Service filed no later than five days afterwards (Rules 5.9, 5.15). Evidence is always yours to send directly to the others.

Where A2 applications go wrong

1. Missing day 60. For Reason 1 that is effectively the end: by law the occupant has turned into a deemed assignee, so nobody unauthorized remains. Begin the count the moment you learn of it and save whatever shows when that was, such as an email, inspection notes or a written log of a call.
2. Using the A2 although the tenant never left. Someone sharing the home with a resident tenant has not been sublet to or handed the unit. The application gets dismissed and weeks are wasted; a termination notice was the proper route.
3. Leaving someone off the form. A s. 100 order removes the tenant and the transferee. A person missing from the application may not be bound, and the Sheriff will only remove those the order names.
4. Paperwork that looks like a tenancy. Collecting compensation by itself creates nothing (s. 103(2)). But a signed lease, "rent" receipts made out to the occupant, or a welcome letter can all be put forward as proof that you entered a new tenancy under s. 104(1).
5. Claiming compensation once the occupant is gone. Section 100(3) only works if that person still occupies the unit when the A2 is filed.
6. A discovery date your records undercut. Months of payments accepted from the occupant, say, can lead the Board to conclude your window closed long before you filed.
7. Reason 3 filed late without an extension request. Absent a timely application, s. 159(4) deems you to have agreed to the site assignment.
8. Outstanding amounts owed to the LTB. Unpaid fines or fees can see an application refused or discontinued until they are cleared (Rule 6.1).
9. Absence on hearing day. An applicant who fails to appear risks dismissal, and skipping a case management hearing without exceptional circumstances can get the file treated as abandoned (Rules 9.4, 21.4). Come with the lease, your proof of when and how you discovered the occupant, and your messages with the tenant.

After you file

1. The hearing. A date is set. Because Reasons 1 and 2 ask for eviction, the member has to think about s. 83, which allows eviction to be refused or put off. After Bill 60, putting it off over the landlord's objection requires two findings: no unfairness to the landlord or to other tenants, and compelling reasons. (Tenants and occupants: this is where any request for more time is decided.)
2. The order. A landlord who wins takes the eviction order to the Court Enforcement Office (Sheriff), the only office allowed to physically remove people.
3. A review. Orders dated July 1, 2026 or later can be reviewed at any party's request made within 15 days.

Recent changes

• July 1, 2026: Rule 26.5 now gives 15 days, down from 30, to seek a review of any order dated that day or later.
• September 21, 2026 (Bill 60): postponing an eviction against the landlord's wishes requires the tenant to show it is "not unfair" and that there are "compelling reasons". The A2 itself stayed as it was that day; 01/04/2022 remains the current version.
• RTA ss. 95–104, which supply the A2 grounds and its 60-day limit, were untouched by Bill 60.

Frequently asked questions

What makes a person an "unauthorized occupant"?

They are in the unit because the tenant gave it to them, with no consent from the landlord and no approved sublet or assignment behind it. Typically the original tenant is gone. Such a person has no RTA rights against the landlord unless and until they become a tenant.

How long does a landlord have to act?

Sixty days, counted from discovery. File the A2 or sign a new agreement with the person inside that period; otherwise the occupancy becomes a deemed, consented-to assignment and the person is now the tenant.

Can a landlord skip the Board and change the locks, or call the police?

Doing so is a gamble. The Board has not yet ended the original tenancy, and the occupant may well argue they became a tenant through a deemed assignment or a new deal. If that argument wins, new locks amount to an illegal lockout. An A2 order carried out by the Sheriff is the safe route.

Does a notice have to come first?

Not for an A2. There is no termination notice; the landlord simply files in time and lists both the tenant and the occupant.

Can the landlord take payments from the occupant meanwhile?

Compensation for use and occupation can be claimed on the A2, as long as the occupant is still living there on the filing date. Accepting it is not enough by itself to make a tenancy, though documents that treat the person as your tenant may be, so sign nothing like that unless you mean it.

I am a tenant who wants to sublet. Can my landlord just say no?

A particular subtenant you propose may not be turned down arbitrarily or unreasonably, and consent can cost you no more than the landlord's reasonable out-of-pocket expenses. Faced with an unreasonable refusal, you can file the tenant's part of the A2.

Official sources

• Form A2 – Application about a Sublet or an Assignment (PDF)
• A2 Instructions
• LTB Forms, filing and fees
• Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, ss. 95–104 and 159
• O. Reg. 516/06 (General)
• Interpretation Guideline 21: Landlords, Tenants, Occupants and Residential Tenancies
• LTB Rules of Procedure
• LTB Operational Update, July 1, 2026

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