Can't Afford the LTB Fee? Ontario's Fee Waiver Request for Tenants and Landlords

If paying a Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) fee is out of reach, Ontario's Fee Waiver Request asks the Board to drop it. Applications, review requests, recordings, copies — the waiver reaches all of those charges. Tenants on modest incomes are the usual users. Landlords sometimes qualify as well, provided the landlord is a person (not an entity) and the household either depends chiefly on government benefits or falls under the income table. A company that owns a rental never qualifies.

Quick summary

What a waiver does

The power comes from the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (RTA), s. 181.1: the Board can waive or defer fees, fully or partly, for people with low incomes where appropriate, as its Rules provide. Those Rules (Rule 2) insist on the official form and promise a waiver to anyone who satisfies the requirements printed on it.

After approval, the Practice Direction on Fee Waiver says, you pay no further LTB fees tied to that application.

Quick eligibility check

You need to fit one of these two reasons.

Reason 1 — your household lives mainly on income support

Most of the household's money comes from at least one of these:

• [ ] Canada Pension Plan
• [ ] ODSP (Ontario Disability Support Program)
• [ ] War Veterans' Allowance
• [ ] Ontario Works
• [ ] OAS combined with GIS (the Guaranteed Income Supplement). OAS alone won't do

Reason 2 — your household income is under the limit

Total every dollar the household receives in a month, before any tax or deductions, and compare:

Source: the current form, matching the Practice Direction dated August 14, 2026. Household = you + spouse + dependent children.

Two examples:

• A tenant in Brockville lives with her two children. Together the household brings in $2,600 a month before deductions. That's under $2,840 for three people, so she meets Reason 2.
• An individual landlord and his spouse have combined gross income of $2,500 a month, including the rent they collect. For two people the limit is under $2,475, so they don't qualify under Reason 2.

When it fits, and when it doesn't

It fits a qualifying person on either side filing something that costs money: a tenant's application, a landlord's L-series application, a review request, or a hearing recording ($16.15).

It doesn't fit if:

• the landlord is incorporated, a partnership or any other kind of organization; or
• payment has already gone through — no refunds, and no backdating.

Filling in the form

Part 1 — General Information. Who you are and how to reach you (mail, daytime phone, email).

Part 2 — Reason for Request. Choose one reason — Reason 1 or Reason 2, never both.

• Reason 1: tick every income support program that is your household's main source of income.
• Reason 2: household size, then everyone's combined gross monthly income, all sources.

Part 3 — Declaration. Read it before you sign. By signing you confirm:

1. what you wrote is full and true;
2. you understand false or misleading filings are an offence (RTA s. 234); and
3. the Board may want financial records as proof.

Sign, date, and ignore the staff-only box.

Filing it — step by step

1. Put it on top. The form insists, in bold, that it go on the front of whatever it accompanies — an application, a request, or a note describing what you want (copies, say).
2. Choose your route. Per the forms page: post, courier, or a ServiceOntario counter.
3. Have a representative? A Law Society licensee may fill it in on the Portal from your information (Rule 2.1).
4. The Practice Direction's version. It names ServiceOntario (in person) and mail to an LTB office. Fax shows up only in a line about response times — decisions on ServiceOntario, mail or fax requests are mailed within a week — not as a separate way to file.

Why requests are denied or held up

1. A company is applying. Your numbered company owns the building? Denied — people only.
2. Household income left out. All gross income counts: your spouse's pay, rent you receive, everything. Understating it breaches s. 234, and documents can be demanded.
3. Both reasons ticked, or neither. The form needs exactly one.
4. OAS but no GIS. Old Age Security on its own doesn't satisfy Reason 1.
5. Form filed separately, or behind the application. Front page, same bundle.
6. No payment after a denial. Didn't include payment details? After a refusal you get three business days from the LTB's call or message (Practice Direction). Miss it and the application is sent back — painful when timing matters.

After you file

Staff review it; your copy returns marked either Approved or Denied (criteria not met).

• Approved: no fee now, and none later on this application.
• Denied: pay within the three business days if you didn't include payment information.
• Circumstances changed mid-case? You can make a fresh request (Practice Direction).

Questions people ask

I'm a landlord. Can I get the filing fee waived?

Yes — as a person whose household satisfies one of the two reasons. Never as a corporation or organization.

What are the 2026 income limits?

Below $1,650 a month for a single person; below $2,475 for two; $2,840 for three; $3,390 for four; $3,940 once you reach five. Gross, household-wide.

Can I ask for a waiver through the Tribunals Ontario Portal myself?

Lawyers and paralegals can, for clients (Rule 2.1). Self-represented filers have mail, courier and ServiceOntario on the forms page, and just ServiceOntario and mail in the August 14, 2026 Practice Direction. No Portal path for you appears in either — ask the LTB first.

Will I have to prove my income?

Possibly. The declaration warns that the LTB may require financial documents.

Official sources

• Fee Waiver Request (form)
• Practice Direction on Fee Waiver
• LTB Rules of Procedure, Rule 2
• Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, s. 181.1
• LTB Forms, filing and fees

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