(613) 577-3407
Home› Resources› Landlord and Tenant Board Interpretation Guidelines

Which LTB Guideline Fits Your Case? A Step-by-Step Reader for Owners and Renters

The Interpretation Guidelines are short documents published by Ontario's Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) that describe how its decision-makers, called Members, usually understand the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (RTA) when a familiar issue lands in front of them. They are written for the Board, but anyone with a case can use them.

  • If you are a landlord, they show what the Board will look for before it accepts a notice or grants an eviction.
  • If you are a tenant, they show the defences and arguments the Board already recognizes, such as defects in a notice or reasons an eviction might be refused or delayed.

This page explains what weight the guidelines carry, how to use them step by step, where to find each one, and what changed in the four guidelines revised on September 21, 2026.

Key facts

You may be wondering Answer
Who writes them? The Board's Rules and Guidelines Committee, under s. 176 of the RTA
Must the Member follow them? No. Section 176(3) makes them non-binding aids for Members
So why read them? In practice most Members apply them, and every guideline collects the leading decisions on its subject
How many exist? Twenty: numbers 1 to 19 plus 21 (the published list has no Guideline 20)
Which changed on September 21, 2026? 7, 10, 11 and 12
Where are they? LTB Law, rules and decisions

Under s. 176(3), the committee may adopt guidelines that help Members interpret and apply the RTA and its regulations, but those guidelines are expressly non-binding. In practice that means:

  • A Member deciding a case is free to depart from a guideline.
  • Where a guideline and the statute, a regulation or a judge's ruling point different ways, the guideline gives way.
  • Even so, a guideline reflects how most Members approach the issue, and it footnotes the LTB orders and Divisional Court or Court of Appeal decisions that support that approach.

Do not confuse them with the Rules of Procedure, the rulebook for how cases move through the Board, or the Practice Directions, which explain what the Board expects parties to do.

How to use a guideline in your case

  1. Find the guideline for your issue using the grouped list below.
  2. Open the current version from the LTB website, not a saved copy, since four were revised in September 2026.
  3. Read the section on your issue and note the paragraph. Landlords preparing a notice should start with Guideline 10, which lists the defects that make a notice invalid. Tenants facing an eviction should look at Guideline 7 on refusing or delaying evictions.
  4. Read the cases it cites. These are the decisions the Member is likely to know.
  5. Expect the Member's questions. For example, Guideline 7 lists the s. 83 circumstances a Member will ask about.
  6. Bring the paragraph to the hearing. Refer the Member to it, but put the RTA and binding case law first; the guideline only supports your argument.

Where each guideline fits

Running the hearing

Money and orders

  • Guideline 2: Payment into the Board. When money may be deposited in the Board's trust account, and how it is released.
  • Guideline 3: Costs. When the Board makes one side cover the other's filing fee or other costs.
  • Guideline 16: Administrative Fines. The circumstances in which the Board imposes them.
  • Guideline 8: Review of an Order. Explains the 15 days you have and the grounds listed in O. Reg. 178/26.
  • Guideline 15: Amending an Order. Fixing clerical errors in an order.
  • Guideline 13: Other Powers of the Board. General powers, such as attaching conditions to an order.

Rent

Evictions

Repairs, entry and tenant rights

What changed on September 21, 2026

After Bill 60 and Bill 97 changed both the RTA and O. Reg. 516/06, four guidelines were rewritten to match, as announced in Tribunals Ontario's September 21, 2026 operational update. The points below are a summary only; read the full current guideline before relying on it.

Guideline 7: refusing or delaying an eviction

Under s. 83(1), the Board can either turn the eviction down, if doing so would not be unfair, or push back the date it can be enforced. That second option is now narrowed by O. Reg. 516/06, s. 8.4, and the revised guideline tracks it. A delay is available only when:

  • the landlord agrees to it; or
  • for most grounds, the Board is persuaded there are compelling grounds and that neither the landlord nor other tenants would be treated unfairly.

Where the notice was given under s. 48, 49 or 50 (N12 and N13 grounds), the Board asks only whether a delay would be unfair. If no route is met, the guideline is clear that the Board simply has no power to delay.

What this means for each side:

  • Tenants: the guideline's older examples of delays granted for things like a tight rental market, serious illness or a very large family were decided before s. 8.4 took effect, and the guideline says they "may no longer be applicable". Do not count on them.
  • Landlords: the guideline notes that Board eviction orders often become enforceable 11 days after the order, although no RTA provision sets that number. The guideline also explains s. 8.2, a new test used when someone asks to set aside an L3 order.

Guideline 10: getting notices and applications right

For landlords this works as a validity checklist; for tenants it is a list of possible defects to look for. Topics include:

  • [ ] the termination date is exact (an error here cannot be fixed by amendment and will likely invalidate the notice)
  • [ ] all tenants and all landlords are named
  • [ ] the notice is signed
  • [ ] reasons and details are given
  • [ ] s. 212 (substantial compliance)
  • [ ] more than one notice, on different grounds
  • [ ] voidable notices: the N4 and a first N5
  • [ ] the earliest and latest dates to file
  • [ ] whether the application is complete
  • [ ] when eviction orders expire

Its N4 examples have moved to 7 days' notice. Following the Divisional Court, it treats rent that has not been paid as late rent and as arrears at the same time, which lets a landlord rely on an N4 and an N8 side by side. No summary of the edits has been released, even though Tribunals Ontario marks the guideline as revised that day, so work from the current version rather than any older copy.

Guideline 11: rent arrears

The revised version:

  1. Applies a 7-day notice period to any N4 given from September 21, 2026.
  2. Explains a new step for tenants. For L1, L9 and L10 applications filed from that date, a tenant hoping to raise s. 82 issues first has to pay half the claimed arrears, 7 or more days before the hearing. That money is paid to the landlord directly (never to the Board), and it is owed even when the tenant says the amount is wrong.
  3. Covers the July 1, 2026 rules on seasonal rent increases for air conditioners a tenant installs, where electricity is included in the rent.
  4. Walks through the arrears calculation for each of those three applications.

Guideline 12: own use, demolition, repairs and conversion

Here the subject is evictions on an N12 or N13 and tenant T5 claims of bad faith. The September 21, 2026 changes it describes:

  • N12 with 120 days' notice. Serve a landlord's-own-use N12 (s. 48) from September 21, 2026 with a date at least 120 days out, landing on the final day of a period or term, and s. 48.1 removes the duty to pay compensation or offer another unit. Purchaser's-own-use N12s do not get this benefit.
  • The 60-day move-in presumption. The intended occupant has 60 days from the N12 termination date to move in, or 60 days from the day the tenant actually moved out if that came later. Miss it, and a T5 filed from September 21, 2026 starts with bad faith presumed under RTA s. 57(7); O. Reg. 240/26 is the regulation the guideline relies on.
  • Moving back after an N13. Once a tenant says (from September 21, 2026) that they intend to come back, the landlord owes them written word of the expected completion date, any revision, and the day the unit is ready. A unit ready from that date on must be held open 60 days or longer for the tenant's return.

The guideline also repeats the rules that did not change. An N12 date must be 60 days or more after the notice and an N13 date 120 days or more, each ending a rental period or term, and only someone on the s. 48(1) list may be the intended occupant.

Common questions

Does a guideline have the force of law?

No. Section 176(3) of the RTA makes them advisory only. They are widely followed, yet the statute, its regulations and the courts outrank them.

May I quote a guideline to the Member?

Yes, landlords and tenants do this regularly. Name the guideline, mention the cases behind it, and bring the exact paragraph.

Is there a Guideline 20?

Not on the current list. The published guidelines run 1 through 19 and then skip to 21.

Are the Guideline 7 delay examples still good for tenants?

Treat them with caution. They predate s. 8.4 of O. Reg. 516/06, and the guideline itself says they might not apply today.

Which guideline deals with asking for a review?

Guideline 8. For orders issued from July 1, 2026 it reflects the 15-day limit and the grounds in O. Reg. 178/26. For the form itself, see Request to Review an Order.

Official sources

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

Landlord or tenant, get this right the first time

A licensed paralegal can prepare, serve or answer this form and represent you at the Board.

Free consultation Services

Related forms and guides

N4 form

N4 — Notice to End your Tenancy Early for Non-payment of Rent

Behind on rent, or owed rent? The N4 explained in steps: the 7-day date, the rent table, proper service, and what a tenant can still do to cancel it.
N12 form

N12 — Notice to End your Tenancy Because the Landlord, a Purchaser or a Family Member Requires the Rental Unit

A landlord, close family, a caregiver or a buyer wants to move in. Steps for serving an N12 under the 2026 rules, and what tenants can expect and check.
N13 form

N13 — Notice to End your Tenancy Because the Landlord Wants to Demolish the Rental Unit, Repair it or Convert it to Another Use

Demolition, a change of use, or a permit-level renovation? N13 steps for both sides: the 120-day date, permits, what is owed, and returning after the work.
L1 form

L1 — Application to evict a tenant for non-payment of rent and to collect rent the tenant owes

The L1 follows an expired N4 and asks the LTB for eviction plus the rent owed. Filing steps, the rent table, and the choices a tenant still has.

Request to Review an Order

Missed the hearing for a good reason, or the order has a serious mistake? A review request must reach the LTB within 15 days for orders from July 1, 2026.