Ontario Rent Increase Notice Period: The 90-Day Rule Explained

The Rule: 90 Clear Days

For a standard rent increase, RTA Section 116 requires a landlord to provide the tenant with at least 90 clear days' notice before the increase takes effect. "Clear days" means the day the notice is served and the effective date itself are both excluded from the count. This applies to both rent-controlled (Form N1) and exempt (Form N2) units. Section 36.1 allows a separate electricity-cost increase when a tenant installs and uses a window or portable air conditioner on or after July 1, 2026, the landlord is obligated under the tenancy agreement to supply electricity, and the agreement does not expressly allow the air conditioner without a rent increase. Section 36.1 expressly exempts that increase from the 90-day notice rule.

The difference between 90 clear days and "90 days" trips up landlords regularly. If you count from the service date, you'll be one day short. If you include the effective date, you'll be one day short again. Getting either wrong voids the entire notice.

How to Count Backwards From the Effective Date

Start with your target effective date and work backwards. The effective date must fall on the first day of a rental period — usually the 1st of the month for monthly tenancies.

Example: January 1, 2027 effective date

1. Exclude January 1, 2027 (the effective date)
2. Count back 90 clear days: the 90th day before January 1, excluding January 1 itself, is October 3, 2026
3. The tenant must receive the notice on or before October 3, 2026

If you're delivering by hand, mailbox, or consent-backed email, you must complete service by October 3, 2026.

Example: April 1, 2027 effective date

1. Exclude April 1, 2027
2. Count back 90 clear days → January 1, 2027
3. The tenant must receive the notice by January 1, 2027

How the Service Method Shifts Your Deadline

The method you use to deliver the notice changes when you must act, because different methods have different deemed-receipt dates under LTB Rules of Procedure:

The regular mail deadline catches the most landlords. Posting a notice on October 1, 2026 for a January 1, 2027 effective date means the deemed receipt date is October 6 — three days too late. The notice is void, and you'd have to serve a new one for the next eligible effective date.

What If You Miss the Deadline?

A notice served too late doesn't become valid by adjusting the old form. The only option is to execute a brand-new Form N1 (or N2) with a later effective date that gives the full 90 clear days, then serve it fresh.

This has a knock-on effect: pushing the effective date forward might cross a calendar year boundary, changing the applicable guideline rate. A notice intended for December 1, 2026 (at 2.1%) that gets delayed to February 1, 2027 would need to use the 2027 rate of 1.9% instead.

The Effective Date Must Align With the Rental Period

The effective date isn't arbitrary — it must fall on either the first day of a rental period or the day a fixed-term lease expires. For most monthly tenancies, this means the 1st of the month. A notice with an effective date of January 15 for a tenant who pays on the 1st is defective.

If your tenant's rental period starts on the 15th of each month, the effective date would be the 15th of the target month, and you'd count 90 clear days back from there.

Proof of Service

After delivering the notice, fill out a Certificate of Service (Form P1) immediately. Record the date, time, method, and address. Attach your proof: the Canada Post receipt for mail delivery, courier tracking confirmation, or the email showing the sent timestamp and the tenant's written consent agreement.

If the tenant later challenges the increase at the LTB, your Form P1 and supporting documentation are the evidence that service was completed on time.

The Ontario Rent Increase Guide includes a notice timeline planner that builds backwards from any effective date, accounting for the service method, and a proof of service log for recording each delivery.

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