Giving or Getting an N9 in Ontario: The Tenant's Notice to Move Out, Step by Step

The N9 is Ontario's official form for a tenant who has decided to move out and wants to end the tenancy in writing. For the tenant, it is how you give proper notice so the tenancy ends cleanly on a date you choose. For the landlord, it is a document to check carefully on arrival, because a valid N9 is also what supports an L3 application if the tenant ends up staying.

Quick facts

What an N9 does

Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (the RTA) gives tenants the right, in s. 47, to bring a tenancy to an end when a period or fixed term finishes, provided the notice respects the timing in s. 44. Under s. 43(1), any such notice has to:

• be on the form the Board has approved;
• identify the rental unit;
• state the date the tenancy ends; and
• carry the signature of the person giving notice (or an agent acting for them).

The N9 is the approved form. When the tenant leaves in line with a valid N9, the tenancy is over on the termination date (s. 37(2)). When the tenant stays put, that same N9 becomes the landlord's basis for an L3 under s. 77.

Is the N9 the right tool?

The N9 is for a tenant who simply wants to leave. Check this list first, because each item follows its own rules:

• ☐ You were served an N12 or N13. Then 10 days' notice is enough, and the date need not be the end of a period (see ss. 48(3)–(4), 49(4)–(5) and 50(4)–(5)).
• ☐ An assignment request was refused (assignment means handing the lease over to someone new), or went unanswered for seven days. Notice may then be given inside 30 days from the request (s. 95(4)), using the shorter of 30 days or the usual period, ending on whatever day suits (s. 96(2)).
• ☐ You live in a care home. Section 145(1) allows ending the tenancy whenever you like on 30 days' notice or more, and s. 145(2) lets you stop meals and care services with 10 days' notice.
• ☐ You never received the standard lease. If you made a written demand for a required standard form of lease and 21 days passed without one (or it came but was never signed), s. 47.0.1 lets you end even a fixed term with 60 days' notice, timed to finish at the end of a rental period.
• ☐ You are leaving because of domestic or sexual violence. Use the N15 instead; it has its own 28-day period and tight confidentiality protections.
• ☐ You and the landlord agree on a date the N9 timing cannot reach. In that case an N11 Agreement to End the Tenancy is the right document (s. 37(3)).

A note on lease signing. Requiring a tenant to sign an N9 up front, at move-in or as a term of getting the unit, is not allowed, and the resulting notice is void (s. 37(4)). Two exceptions exist: student housing that a college or university provides or arranges by agreement (s. 37(6)), and some care home units offering rehabilitative or therapeutic services, as the N9 explains.

Choosing a valid end date

Step 1: identify the tenancy type and the period (s. 44).

Step 2: count calendar days. Under s. 89(3) of the Legislation Act, 2006, the delivery day is left out and the termination date is counted in, and that holds even though the RTA says "at least".

Step 3: add delivery time.

• Mail: treated as given on the fifth day after it is mailed (s. 191(3)).
• Courier: served one day after hand-off to the courier, pushed to the next business day when that lands on a weekend or holiday (Rule 3.9; Rule 1.1 treats Saturdays and Sundays as holidays).

Step 4: check for the short-month rule (s. 44(5)). For a termination date at the end of February, notice given by January 1 counts as 60 days. For the end of March, notice given by February 1 counts.

Worked example. A monthly tenant pays rent on the 1st and wants out at the end of April 2026.

• Handed to the landlord on March 1: that leaves exactly 60 days (March 2 to April 30), so April 30 works.
• Handed over on March 3: only 58 days, so April 30 is too soon. The first valid date is May 31.
• Put in the mail on March 1: it counts as given on March 6, which is also too late for April 30.

What happens after the date passes.

• Thirty days on from the termination date, the notice dies (becomes void) unless by then the tenant has gone or the landlord has applied to evict (s. 46(1)).
• Section 77(3) gives the landlord that same 30-day window to file the L3.

Completing the N9

Today's form is dated 01/04/2022 (version number) and has three pages. Only pages 1 and 3 have blanks; the middle page is information from the Board.

1. To (Landlord's name): the landlord's proper legal name, or the business name if a company owns the unit.
2. From (Tenant's name): every tenant's name, as the form directs.
3. Address of the Rental Unit: write it out in full, with the unit number and the postal code.
4. Termination date: your last day as a tenant, in dd/mm/yyyy format. More N9s go wrong here than anywhere else, so test it against the table above.
5. Statement: a printed promise to move out on or before the termination date; nothing to fill in.
6. Signature (page 3): tick Tenant or Representative, then sign, print first and last name, add a phone number and the date. Under s. 43(1)(c), an agent such as a representative may sign for the tenant.
7. Office use only: nothing to enter here.

Giving it to the landlord

The N9 goes to the landlord. Nothing is sent to the LTB. Section 191(1) permits:

• handing it to the landlord, or to an employee of the landlord who has authority over the complex;
• putting it in the landlord's mailbox; or
• sending it by mail to the landlord's home or place of business.

Under Rule 3.1, courier is also fine, and so is email where the landlord gave written consent to it. A notice delivered some other way still counts if it actually reached the landlord in time (s. 191(2)). Whoever you are, keep a note of when and how it was delivered.

For tenants filing this

• ☐ Use the N9 itself, not a letter or text message (s. 43(1)).
• ☐ Pick a date that allows the whole 60 or 28 days and is the final day of a period or the term.
• ☐ On a fixed term, do not pick a date before it ends unless s. 47.0.1 applies; ask about assigning, or agree on an N11, instead.
• ☐ Add delivery days if you mail or courier it.
• ☐ Have every tenant sign.
• ☐ Keep a copy and proof of the delivery date.
• ☐ Remember that leaving early or with improper notice leaves rent owing until the first date a correct notice could have ended things (s. 88(1)).

For landlords receiving this

1. Review it right away. Is it the actual N9? Right unit? All tenants signed? Enough days, ending on a period-end or term-end? Then file the original safely with a record of the day it arrived.
2. Raise a bad date immediately. A short or wrongly dated N9 puts an L3 at risk. Ask for a corrected N9, or settle on a date in an N11.
3. Showings. With notice given, s. 26(3) lets you come in to show the place to would-be tenants from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. without a written entry notice, as long as you tell the tenant first or reasonably try to.
4. Rent paid after the notice. Under s. 45, accepting money (rent or compensation) once an N9 is in hand neither waives it nor starts a fresh tenancy, unless the two of you agree otherwise. Any deal to keep the tenancy going belongs in writing.
5. Early or improper departures. The tenant owes rent through the first date a correct notice would have allowed (s. 88(1)), but that ends when a replacement tenant can move in (s. 88(3)). You must also make reasonable efforts to find someone and keep your loss down (ss. 16, 88(4)).
6. A tenant who stays. Get the L3 in before the deadline; you can file before the termination date arrives.
7. Things left behind. Where the move-out followed the N9, s. 41(1)(a) allows you to keep, sell or get rid of whatever was left.

Why an N9 can fail

1. The date comes too soon. Short of 60 (or 28) days, or ahead of a fixed term's expiry with no exception available: either way, ss. 44 and 47 are not met.
2. The date is mid-period. When s. 44 demands a period-end date, picking, say, the 15th is a defect no matter how many days were given.
3. It was signed with the lease. Section 37(4) makes it void, except in the student and care home situations.
4. Not every tenant signed. With only one signature from several tenants, the landlord may have trouble proving that all of them gave notice. Get every signature.
5. An informal message was used. The approved form is mandatory under s. 43(1); a landlord who leans on a text or a letter, rather than an N9 or N11, is gambling.
6. The landlord sat on it. A tenant who stays put past day 30 after the termination date, with no L3 filed, leaves the landlord out of time (s. 77(3)) holding a void notice (s. 46(1)).

After the N9

• The tenant leaves on or before the date: the tenancy ends and nobody files anything.
• The tenant stays: the landlord applies on the Tribunals Ontario Portal using an L3, plus an affidavit (a sworn statement) verifying the notice (s. 77(2)). Under s. 77(5), the Board may order eviction with no hearing, effective on the N9 termination date at the earliest.
• The tenant objects to that order: filing an S2 inside 10 days pauses (stays) it (s. 77(6)–(7)). Since September 21, 2026, setting the order aside requires that this would not be unfair, and changes in the tenant's life after giving the N9 are not taken into account (O. Reg. 516/06, s. 8.2).

Common questions

What notice does an Ontario tenant have to give?

Sixty days or more when rent is monthly or yearly or the lease is a fixed term, with the date at a period-end or term-end. Twenty-eight days when rent is daily or weekly. Shorter notice is possible after an N12 or N13, in a care home, and after a refused assignment.

Does an N9 let me leave a one-year lease early?

Usually not, since the termination date may not precede the lease's expiry (s. 47.0.1 being the exception). Options instead: request an assignment and give notice if it is refused or ignored for seven days, or sign an N11 with an agreed date.

Can a tenant take back an N9?

The RTA gives a tenant no process for withdrawing an N9 unilaterally. If landlord and tenant agree the tenancy will carry on, they should put that in writing so there is no dispute later.

Official sources

• Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, ss. 16, 26, 37, 41, 43–47.0.1, 48–50, 77, 88, 95–96, 145, 191
• N9 – Tenant's Notice to End the Tenancy (PDF)
• O. Reg. 516/06, s. 8.2
• Legislation Act, 2006, s. 89
• LTB Rules of Procedure, Rules 1.1, 3.1, 3.9
• LTB Forms, filing and fees
• LTB Operational Update, September 21, 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.