Payment Agreement at the LTB: A Step-by-Step Guide for Landlords and Tenants

When a landlord has filed an L1 or L9 rent arrears application in Ontario, the Payment Agreement is the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) form both sides sign to settle it with an instalment plan instead of a hearing. The landlord gets an enforceable order; the tenant keeps the home and pays down the debt over time. For any instalment plan the Board turns into an order under section 206 of the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), this specific form has been compulsory since July 1, 2026.

The form in brief

What it does for each side

Under s. 206 of the RTA, the Board can make an order with payment terms with no hearing at all, provided four conditions are met (s. 206(1)): a written deal settles the case, that deal is on the Board-approved form, every party has signed, and the LTB receives it before the hearing commences. The approved-form condition took effect on July 1, 2026; an LTB operational update confirms the form is no longer optional.

Under s. 206(2), the order that results may require the tenant to pay:

• the arrears of rent;
• any NSF charges, both the bank's and the landlord's administration charge;
• the landlord's application fee;
• new rent that comes due during the repayment period.

What it cannot do is end the tenancy (s. 206(3)).

For landlords: the L4 link. On an L1 only, the order may say that if the tenant breaches it, the landlord may apply under s. 78 (s. 206(3.1)). The form used for that is the L4. The tenant gets no notice of it, there is no Portal fee, and the Board may grant eviction without first hearing from the tenant.

For tenants: what that means for you. If you initial the L4 clause and later miss a payment, an eviction order could be made without a hearing. Your remedy at that stage is a motion to set the order aside, brought within 10 days.

Is this the right form? A quick check

Use it if all of these are true:

• [ ] The case is an L1 or an L9, standing alone.
• [ ] The goal is a payment plan, not a move-out.
• [ ] The hearing has not started yet.

Do not use it if:

• The rent claim is joined with another application (say, an L1 and an L2 filed together). The form rules this out.
• Someone wants the tenancy to end. For that, look at an N11 Agreement to End the Tenancy, or settle it through mediation.
• You want to add damages or other debts. Only NSF charges and the filing fee can sit beside the rent.
• You are already in the hearing. Section 206 no longer applies once the hearing commences; instead, both sides may jointly ask the Member to make a Rule 14 consent order.

The clocks that matter

1. Before the hearing: send it in quickly. The form warns that one arriving close to the hearing may not be processed in time, so the hearing goes ahead. Attend unless an order or a cancellation notice has reached you.
2. Missed payment, landlord wants an L4 (L1 only): the landlord has 30 days after the tenant fails to make a full, on-time payment (s. 78(5)), and that window cannot be lengthened by the Board.
3. Missed payment, landlord wants to re-open (L1 or L9): again 30 days after the default (s. 206(6)). Because O. Reg. 516/06, s. 56 prescribes it, no extension is possible.
4. Agreement obtained by pressure or lies: if someone was coerced, or was deliberately misled, either side may ask to re-open; the request must come within 30 days of the date the consent order issued (s. 206(5)).

Example. Instalments are due on the 20th of each month. The tenant misses the one due Wednesday, January 20, 2027. The 30 days run to Friday, February 19, 2027, the last day for either the L4 or a re-open request.

Filling it in, one step at a time

The version in use is 2026/07. Read its two-page "Important information" sheet before you begin.

1. Top of the form. Enter the File Number, choose a language, and note any accommodation needs.
2. Parties and address. Copy the names and unit address from the application unchanged. "Landlord" and "tenant" on the form cover everyone you name.
3. Section 1: what the tenant will pay. Rent owing to a set date, which should be the last day of the rent period you are in when you sign, then, if you choose, NSF bank charges and an administration charge (no more than $20 per cheque), then, if you choose, the application fee, and finally the total.
4. Section 2: when and how much. One line per instalment, with an amount and a due date. You can have as many payments as you like; for more than 12, attach a sheet. Check that they total the Section 1 figure to the cent.
5. Section 3: ongoing rent (L1 only). Write in the usual monthly rent and its due day; the tenant keeps paying it alongside the instalments until the debt is cleared. The current rent and the rent period also go here.
6. Section 4: if a payment is missed. The right to re-open, for both L1 and L9, is already printed on the form. The optional L4 clause (L1 only) is switched on solely by the tenant's initials in its box.
7. Signatures. Each tenant and each landlord (or their representative) prints a name, signs and dates.

Worked numbers. Arrears of $2,400, one bounced cheque ($45 bank charge plus a $20 administration charge) and a $186 Portal fee make a Section 1 total of $2,651. Four instalments of $662.75 balance it exactly.

Sending it to the Board

With all signatures in place, send it to the LTB using the Tribunals Ontario Portal; the form also allows email or mail. A Board decision follows on whether to make the consent order. If one is made, there is no hearing. If not, the hearing stays on the calendar.

Eight ways the plan fails

1. A homemade agreement. Section 206(1)(a.1) has insisted on the LTB-approved form from July 1, 2026, so a self-drafted plan will not be turned into an order.
2. No tenant initials beside the L4 clause. Re-opening becomes the only route.
3. A combined application. If the L1 or L9 is joined with another type, the form cannot be used.
4. Terms the form will not accept, like a date to leave, a damages claim or unrelated debts.
5. One signature short, or sent in once the hearing was under way. Section 206(1) is not met in either case.
6. Figures that disagree. Instalments that miss the Section 1 total, or an L1 with no ongoing rent, may cost you the order or leave the landlord unprotected.
7. Skipping the hearing without an order. It can proceed in your absence.
8. Letting the 30 days run out after a missed instalment, for either the L4 or the re-open request.

After it is filed

• Order issued: the tenant pays according to the schedule, and the hearing is off.
• Payment missed: within 30 days, an L4 (initialled L1s only) or a Request to Re-open an Application.
• No order issued: both sides attend the hearing, and the landlord comes with a fresh L1/L9 Information Update in hand.

Recent changes

A Bill 97 amendment added RTA s. 206(1)(a.1), so from July 1, 2026 a s. 206 repayment plan has to be on the LTB Payment Agreement form; the LTB's operational update says the same. The reissued form is labelled 2026/07.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Board's form required, or can the parties write their own plan?

You must use the Board's form if you want a s. 206 order without a hearing. This became the rule on July 1, 2026.

Could the agreement include a date for the tenant to move out?

No. Section 206(3) and the form itself rule that out. To end a tenancy you need a different agreement, or an order the Board makes after hearing the case.

I'm the tenant and I missed an instalment. What can happen now?

If the case is an L1 and you initialled the L4 clause, the landlord has 30 days to file an L4 and may get an eviction order without a hearing. If not, the landlord can ask, within 30 days, to re-open the application.

Once everyone signs, is the hearing cancelled?

Not by itself. Only a consent order issued ahead of time takes the hearing off the schedule, so keep the date until one arrives.

Official sources

• Payment Agreement form (PDF)
• LTB Operational Update: Changes in effect July 1, 2026
• Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, ss. 78 and 206
• O. Reg. 516/06, s. 56
• LTB Rules of Procedure
• 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.