When an LTB Settlement Breaks Down: Re-opening the Application, Step by Step

In Ontario, the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) Request to Re-open an Application puts a case that was settled back in front of the Board. Landlords mostly use it when a tenant breaks a mediated deal or a section 206 payment order and they want the original application heard. Tenants can use it in narrower cases, and a tenant receiving one should know what the landlord must prove.

Snapshot

Two kinds of settled cases you can re-open

1. A settlement reached in mediation. These deals are worked out with an LTB mediator (the Board's term is Dispute Resolution Officer), and Rule 13.7 says they are not orders of the Board. Rule 13.11 lets either party ask for re-opening if:

• the other side did not carry out a term;
• the person asking did not have the capacity to agree; or
• the other side used coercion, or deliberately gave false or misleading information, and that materially affected the deal.

2. A s. 206 repayment consent order. On an L1 or L9, once both sides sign a Payment Agreement, the Board can turn it into this order under the RTA.

• Landlords may re-open where the tenant has not complied with a term (s. 206(4)).
• Landlords or tenants may re-open where the agreement came about through coercion or deliberate misrepresentation (s. 206(5)).

Not covered: Rule 13.13 shuts the door on re-opening a case the Board decided by an ordinary order following a hearing. To challenge one of those, look at an appeal or a review.

Choosing your route: a quick decision guide

1. Missed payment on an L1 consent order with an L4 term in it? You can pick either route. The L4 is filed without notice to the tenant and with no fee, and the tenant is not heard before the order is made. Re-opening instead gets you a hearing on the original application. Section 206(5.1) confirms that re-opening stays available even where the L4 term exists.
2. L9 consent order, or an L1 order without the L4 term? Re-opening is how you deal with the missed payment.
3. A s. 194 settlement that provided for an L4? The L4 is available there as well (s. 78(1)).
4. Just a typo in an order? This is the wrong form. Typos are corrected with a Request to Amend an Order.

Time limits, one at a time

1. Consent order, term not met: the request must be in within 30 days of the tenant's default (s. 206(6)). Item 19 of O. Reg. 516/06, s. 56 prescribes that period, which means it cannot be extended.
2. Consent order, coercion or misrepresentation: s. 206(5) allows 30 days from the date the order issued.
3. Mediated settlement: file within one year after signing, or any longer period the parties agreed to (Rule 13.12). This one can be stretched: file a Request to Extend Deadline together with your request.
4. Service on the other side: deliver the request and Notice of Hearing so they arrive 15 days or more ahead of the hearing date (Rule 5.13; RTA s. 206(7)), then file a Certificate of Service.

Keep the dates of each missed payment separate: your 30 days start from the specific default you rely on.

Example. An instalment due Monday, March 15, 2027 never arrives. Thirty days from that default is Wednesday, April 14, 2027, the landlord's last day to file for that missed payment.

Completing the form, part by part

The version in use is marked v. 01/04/2022.

Part 1: General Information

1. Enter the original application's file number (the case being re-opened).
2. Tick whether you are the landlord or tenant, then fill in how to reach you: name, mailing address, phone numbers.
3. Add the unit's address and contact details for the other party. With more than one other party, use a Schedule of Parties.
4. In Related Applications, note any other LTB file about this unit.

Part 2: Reasons for Re-Opening your Application

1. Say how the case ended: by an agreement mediated at the LTB, or by a s. 206 repayment consent order.
2. Pick one reason: - the other party did not do what the agreement or order required; - the other party pressured you into the agreement, or deliberately misled you in a way that materially affected it; or - the person asking lacked the capacity to enter the mediated agreement.
3. Explain. If a term was broken, spell out exactly which term and how, as s. 206(4) demands for consent orders: when the payment was due, how much was due, and what was paid and on what date. For pressure, misleading information or capacity, describe the events.

Part 3: Signature

Show whether you are the requester, a representative or someone else; add a name and phone number; sign; date it. A representative also lists a licence number and contact information. If it is a mediated settlement you are re-opening, attach a copy (Rule 13.12).

Filing and serving: checklist

• [ ] Submit the request through the Tribunals Ontario Portal, the route the LTB names for this form (and the only one open to licensed lawyers and paralegals).
• [ ] Wait for the LTB to set a hearing and send a Notice of Hearing.
• [ ] Serve the other party with the request plus the Notice of Hearing (s. 206(7)).
• [ ] Prove service by filing a Certificate of Service under Rule 3.8.

For tenants receiving a re-open request

• Expect the request and Notice of Hearing to reach you no less than 15 days ahead of the hearing.
• On a consent order, the Board will not go into the original application unless it is first satisfied that you failed to meet a term (s. 206(8)). Bring proof of what you paid and when.
• You may have your own re-open rights: within 30 days of a consent order for coercion or deliberate misrepresentation, or on the Rule 13.11 grounds for a mediated settlement.

Six errors that end a re-open request

1. Missing the consent-order deadline. The s. 206(6) period is prescribed; no extension can be granted.
2. A vague description of the breach. The merits will not be heard until the Board is satisfied that a term was broken (s. 206(8)). Name the term, the due date and the shortfall.
3. Forgetting the copy of the mediated settlement, which Rule 13.12 requires.
4. Aiming at a regular order. Apart from s. 206 consent orders, Rule 13.13 does not allow re-opening a case closed by an order.
5. Serving late, or never. The minimum under Rule 5.13 is 15 days, and Rule 5.17 allows dismissal where service was not done.
6. Taking later payments without keeping track. Money taken after the breach can muddy which default you rely on and the day its 30 days started. Keep a clean ledger.

The hearing

First question for the Board: is the ground for re-opening proven? Under s. 206(8)–(9), that is either a broken term, or coercion or deliberate misrepresentation that had a material effect.

• Proven: the original case is then heard on its merits, and the Board may make any order it could have made the first time; on an L1, that includes eviction.
• Not proven: the request fails, and the settlement or consent order continues to govern.

Frequently asked questions

L4 or re-open: which suits a missed payment better?

If your L1 consent order permits a s. 78 application, the L4 is quicker: the tenant gets no notice, there is no hearing first and nothing to pay. Re-opening is the better fit for L9 orders, for orders without that term, and when you want the full dispute heard.

The tenant missed another payment later on. Does that give me a new 30 days?

The statute starts the clock at "a failure of the tenant to meet a term" (s. 206(6)), so on a literal reading each later miss carries its own 30 days. How the LTB treats a series of misses is not covered by any published guidance, though, so act quickly after the first failure you rely on, and get advice before depending on a later one. Since the period cannot be extended, a default older than 30 days is not enough on its own.

Can a tenant ask to re-open?

Yes. A tenant, like a landlord, can seek to re-open a s. 206 consent order within 30 days of it on grounds of coercion or deliberate misrepresentation, and either side to a mediated settlement may rely on the Rule 13.11 grounds.

Whose job is service?

The person who filed. Under s. 206(7), that party delivers the request and the Notice of Hearing to everyone else, leaving at least 15 days before the hearing date.

Official sources

• Request to Re-open an Application (PDF)
• Payment Agreement (PDF)
• LTB Rules of Procedure, Rules 5.13 and 13
• Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, ss. 78 and 206
• O. Reg. 516/06, s. 56

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