The N1 Notice of Rent Increase in Ontario: A Step-by-Step Guide for Landlords and Tenants

In Ontario, most landlords who want to charge a tenant more rent must first deliver the Landlord and Tenant Board's N1 Notice of Rent Increase. For a landlord, it is the paperwork that makes an increase lawful. For a tenant, it is the document that tells you whether the new amount can actually be collected. Three tests apply to almost every N1: the notice is in writing, it lands at least three months (90 days) ahead of the higher rent, and a full 12 months have gone by since the last increase or move-in. For 2027 the yearly guideline caps most increases at 1.9%.

The N1 in a nutshell

What it means for each side

If you are the landlord: without a proper N1 there is no lawful increase. Under RTA s. 116, rent cannot go up until the tenant has had 90 or more days' written notice on a Board-approved form stating the new rent. Without it, the increase is void, you have to start over with a new notice (s. 116(4)).

If you are the tenant: you do not sign anything, and you do not need to sign a new lease. Check the three tests (written, 90 days, 12 months) and the amount. If something is off, you can apply to the LTB, but an increase nobody challenges within a year of first being charged becomes lawful (s. 136).

The four rules behind every N1

1. Notice (s. 116). Written, on the approved form, 90 or more days ahead, with the new rent stated.
2. The 12-month gap (s. 119). A year must separate this increase from the tenant's last one, or, if there never was one, from the tenant's start date. For an assigned unit, the N1 instructions tell you to count from the last increase the previous tenant received.
3. The guideline (s. 120). Most units cannot rise faster than that calendar year's guideline. Going higher requires one of three things: a Board order approving an above-guideline increase (s. 126); a s. 121 agreement (N10); or a s. 123 agreement covering a prescribed service or a new parking space. By law the guideline can never top 2.5%. The province fixed it at 1.9% for 2027; in 2026 it was 2.1%.
4. The one-year safe harbour (s. 136). An increase nobody disputes at the LTB during the first year it is charged becomes lawful.

Exempt from the guideline: buildings first lived in after 2018 (s. 6.1)

No guideline limit applies to a unit in either situation:

• on or before November 15, 2018, no part of the building or addition had any residential occupant; or
• it is a second unit created after that date inside a house that held two units at most, and it meets s. 6.1(3).

Even so, these units are not excused from 90 days' written notice or the 12-month gap, because s. 6.1 does not touch ss. 116 or 119. Ontario's advice is to record the exemption in the lease and hold on to permits, occupancy records and similar proof. Proving the exemption is the landlord's job (s. 6.1(6)).

Choosing the right notice

Reach for the N1 for an ordinary annual increase in a rent-controlled unit, or for an increase over the guideline backed by an L5 (granted or pending).

The N1 instructions point elsewhere in these cases:

• Care home unit: use the N3.
• Unit not subject to the limits on how much rent can rise (most social and non-profit housing, for instance): use the N2.
• Landlord and tenant agreed on an above-guideline amount tied to capital work or a new service: the N10 replaces the N1 entirely.

The post-2018 grey area. According to the N1 instructions, exempt units belong on an N2. Yet those instructions were written in 2015, and the N2's from 2017, both before s. 6.1 was enacted, and the N1's check-boxes are not built for an uncapped amount. No LTB guidance says which of the two it expects for a s. 6.1 unit. Either way, s. 116 demands an approved form and 90 days' written notice, so check with the LTB first.

A new tenant's first rent is simply agreed between the parties; no increase rules apply to it.

Counting the days

• Ninety days in writing. Leave out the delivery day itself (Rule 1.13). Under RTA s. 191(3), mail is treated as delivered five days after it is sent, which pushes your start date out by five days. O. Reg. 516/06, s. 56 stops the LTB from cutting either the 90-day or the 12-month period.
• Worked example. Rent last went up on August 1, 2026, so the earliest next increase is August 1, 2027. Handing the N1 over works if done on or before Monday, May 3, 2027. Mailing it means posting it by Wednesday, April 28, 2027.
• Above-guideline applications go to the LTB 90 or more days before the first increase date they cover (s. 126(3)).
• Challenges by tenants: after one year from when it was first charged, an unchallenged increase counts as lawful (s. 136).

Filling in the N1, step by step

The current version is 01/04/2022 and runs two pages.

1. The "To" box: each tenant in the unit by name, with a mailing address where it is not the unit.
2. The "From" box: each landlord by name, with a mailing address.
3. Rental unit address: street, unit number and postal code.
4. New rent section. - Date: when the higher rent begins, which must respect both the 90-day and 12-month rules. - Amount: the whole new rent, not just the raise. As the form explains, that total includes basic rent and any separate charges paid to the landlord for services. - Period: monthly, weekly or other.
5. The explanation section. Show the raise both in dollars per period and in percent. A 2027 guideline example: $1,450.00 × 1.9% = $27.55, making the new rent $1,477.55 ($27.55 more each month, or 1.9%).
6. Pick one box. Either the increase is at or below the guideline (no approval needed), or it is above the guideline, in which case shade 1 if an LTB order already permits it or 2 if an above-guideline application is on file.
7. Page 2 (legal information). Leave the printed text alone. It covers the 12-month gap, confirms no new lease is required, and notes that a tenant facing a pending above-guideline application owes only the guideline increase meanwhile.
8. Signing. Mark whether you are the landlord or a representative, print your name and phone number, sign, and date it. A representative also fills in the representative section.

Delivering it to the tenant

Approved methods under the N1 instructions:

• [ ] personal delivery to the tenant, or to any adult living there;
• [ ] the mailbox, or the spot where mail is normally dropped;
• [ ] under the door, or in through the mail slot;
• [ ] mail or courier;
• [ ] fax, to home or business.

Email is allowed under Rule 3.1 only where the tenant agreed to it in writing. Taping it to the door does not count. Each tenant gets a copy, and the landlord should keep a record of how and when.

Eight problems that undo an increase

1. Short notice. The usual culprit is forgetting the five mailing days. The result is a void increase (s. 116(4)), a new N1, and a fresh 90-day wait; moving the date on the old notice does not fix it.
2. Too soon after the last increase. If a year has not passed since move-in or the last raise, the increase has no legal effect.
3. No order or N10 to justify an above-guideline amount. For a rent-controlled unit, anything past the guideline is unlawful. With an L5 still pending, tenants owe only the guideline increase until the Board rules.
4. Applying last year's percentage. Use the figure for the year in which the new rent begins: 1.9% in 2027, 2.1% in 2026.
5. Starting from the wrong number. The math runs on the current lawful rent. A void earlier increase throws off every figure built on top of it.
6. Anything other than the approved form. A verbal notice, a text or a home-made letter does not meet s. 116(3), and the increase is void.
7. A ripple into eviction cases. Interpretation Guideline 10 mentions an N4 held invalid because arrears rested on an "incorrect lawful rent" after a valid rent increase notice was never served. A flawed N1 can later defeat a non-payment eviction.
8. Taping it to the door, or emailing without signed consent. That service is flawed, and the increase survives only if the landlord can show actual, timely receipt (s. 191(2)).

After the notice is served

• Landlord: nothing is filed. The new rent is owed from the effective date. Keep the N1, proof of delivery and your guideline math for at least a year.
• Tenant: if you do not give notice to end the tenancy, you are treated as accepting any increase the RTA permits (s. 118). An increase you believe is unlawful can be taken to the LTB, but act within the year: after that, s. 136 makes it lawful.

Your N1 questions

What is the most rent can go up in Ontario in 2027?

Up to 1.9% in a typical rent-controlled unit, with 90 days' written notice and a year since the previous increase. Going further takes either a Board order on an L5 or an N10 the tenant has signed.

My unit was first lived in after November 15, 2018. Is an N1 still needed?

No guideline cap applies, but sections 116 and 119 of the RTA (written notice of 90 days, and a year between increases) still do. Which form to use is unclear from the current instructions; see the grey-area note above.

The landlord gave fewer than 90 days. What now?

That increase is void. A new notice is required, followed by at least another 90 days.

Must the tenant sign the N1?

No. A notice is not a contract. Neither a signature on the N1 nor a new lease is needed for the increase to apply.

Official sources

• N1 form (PDF)
• N1 Instructions (PDF)
• Residential rent increases and the guideline (ontario.ca)
• Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, ss. 6.1, 116–121, 126, 136 and 191
• O. Reg. 516/06 (General), s. 56
• LTB Rules of Procedure
• Interpretation Guideline 10

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