Asking the LTB for Permission to Serve Documents Another Way

In Ontario, a party who cannot get documents to the other side by the usual routes can use the Landlord and Tenant Board's Request to use Alternative Service to ask permission for a different route. Landlords reach for it most often when chasing a former tenant on an L10 with no known home address, or when the other side answers email but never signed off on email service. Tenants can use it too, whenever the normal methods fail.

The form in brief

What this request does for each side

The normal service methods come from section 191 of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (RTA) and LTB Rule 3:

• handing the papers to the person;
• leaving them in their mailbox or wherever their mail arrives;
• mail or courier;
• fax, within limits;
• email or the Tribunals Ontario Portal, if the person consented in writing.

Someone who has moved out is harder to reach. Under s. 191(1.0.1) and Rule 3.3, a tenant or former tenant no longer living in the unit can be served only by a shorter list.

Rule 3.4 opens a door. You may ask the Board to allow a different method, "including service by email or service on the party's representative", either in advance with this form or in person at the hearing. Rule 3.7 is a separate power letting the Board allow email service without the other side's consent.

If a Member says yes, they fill in two blanks, the approved method and the deadline for service, and you are bound by both.

• Landlords: this is usually what keeps an L10 against a tenant who has vanished on track.
• Tenants: the same request is open to you when a landlord or other party cannot be reached the normal way.

Is it the right step for you?

It usually fits when:

• [ ] an L10 targets a former tenant whose home address you lack, though you know an email, a social media account they use, or their workplace;
• [ ] the other side seems to be avoiding service;
• [ ] a representative for the other side would accept the papers, yet the Rules give you no way to serve them without permission.

It does not fit when:

• regular service has not been attempted (the form asks you to show it was);
• written consent to email already exists, since Rule 3.1(h) handles that;
• the real problem is a defective termination notice, which alternative service cannot fix.

Timelines to plan around

1. Asking, on an L10: to reach a tenant or former tenant who is out of possession another way, file the request so the Board has it 40-plus days before the hearing date (Rule 3.4; the form says so too).
2. Serving, on an L10: application and Notice of Hearing go out a minimum of 30 days ahead (Rule 5.8).
3. Proving it, on an L10: Certificate of Service reaches the Board a minimum of 20 days ahead (Rule 5.16).
4. Other applications you must serve: generally 15 days ahead (Rule 5.9), and the certificate follows within 5 days (Rule 5.15).
5. The Member's date: a "Deadline for Service" in the approval overrides your own planning.

Worked example. An L10 hearing is booked for Wednesday, April 21, 2027. Count back 40 days and you reach Friday, March 12, 2027, the date the request should be in by. Thirty days back is Monday, March 22, 2027, the last day to serve. Twenty days back is Thursday, April 1, 2027, for the certificate. Build in a cushion before each.

Completing the request, step by step

1. File details: File Number and Language Preference.
2. About you: under Name and Address of the Requestor, your name, any company name, address, phone numbers and email.
3. The unit: under Address of the Rental Unit, the unit the application concerns.
4. Question 1, past attempts: this answer decides most requests. Give each attempt's date, time, address, method and result, such as a registered letter returned unclaimed on a given day, or two evening visits by a process server where a new occupant said the tenant had left. Attach returned envelopes, tracking pages, skip-trace results or the server's notes.
5. Question 2, the proposed route: say why it will actually reach the person. For email, show the address is live: recent messages from it, regular use during the tenancy, a reply it sent to a demand letter. Add screenshots.
6. Signing: tick Landlord or Landlord Representative; add the name, an LSO number if signed by a licensee, phone, signature and date.

Leave the "For Board Use Only" section empty.

Sending the request to the Board

• Landlords: the LTB forms page sends landlord forms to the Tribunals Ontario Portal.
• Tenants: that page's tenant table adds mail or courier and ServiceOntario alongside the Portal.
• Everyone: Rule 4.1 broadly permits email, ServiceOntario, courier or mail filing as well.
• Licensed representatives: stick to the Portal.

There is no fee listed for it.

Why requests get turned down (or go to waste)

1. Barely trying regular service. The form treats earlier attempts as a precondition, so "the tenant left, address unknown" with no proof of searching is likely to fail.
2. Missing the L10 cut-off. Filing inside 40 days of the hearing does not satisfy Rule 3.4, which risks an adjournment or a Rule 5.17 dismissal for failing to serve.
3. Nothing showing the route works. An old email with no recent activity is weak, and the form expressly asks why you expect the person to get the papers.
4. Changing the plan. Serving some other way than the Member approved, or after their deadline, throws the approval away.
5. No proof filed. Alternative service still needs a Certificate of Service; on an L10 it is due a minimum of 20 days ahead of the hearing.

After the Member decides

If approved, tick these off:

• [ ] serve only by the approved route;
• [ ] beat the deadline for service;
• [ ] keep sent emails, receipts and screenshots;
• [ ] file your Certificate of Service in time.

If refused, keep trying regular service, or bring the issue up at the hearing (Rule 3.4).

Your questions answered

Could a former tenant be served through a text or a social media message?

Only after the Board approves that route. Use Question 2 to explain why messages sent there will be seen, and attach proof the person uses the account.

On an L10, what is the latest I can send this request?

The Board must have it 40 days or more before the hearing (Rule 3.4).

Can I just raise alternative service when the hearing starts?

Generally yes under Rule 3.4, but not for the 40-day L10 case. Asking early also protects your hearing date.

May documents go to the other party's lawyer or paralegal?

Serving a representative is one of the alternatives Rule 3.4 mentions. Unless the Rules already allow it, get the Board's permission first.

Official sources

• Request to use Alternative Service (form)
• LTB Rules of Procedure, Rules 3 and 5
• Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, s. 191
• 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.