How to rent out your house in Ontario: 8 steps

How to rent out your house in Ontario, step by step

Renting out a house or condo takes the same eight steps whether it's your first rental or your fifth. Most of the work comes before the tenant moves in: the paperwork, the rent and the screening. Get those right and the tenancy itself is mostly repairs, rent and records.

1. Check your mortgage, insurance and condo rules. Tell your lender and your insurer before you rent, and read your condo's declaration and rules on leasing.
2. Set the rent from what similar places actually rent for. Compare leased prices for the same size and type nearby, not only asking rents.
3. Get the home ready and safe. Fix what's broken, clean it, and make sure the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms work on every storey.
4. List it where tenants look. Free rental sites reach tenants searching on their own; the MLS® System and realtor.ca reach tenants working with an agent.
5. Show it and collect applications. Confirm each showing, and ask every applicant for the same things: an application, references, rental history and consent to a credit check.
6. Choose your tenant fairly. Weigh the whole application, within the Ontario Human Rights Code. See the screening rules below.
7. Sign the Ontario Standard Lease and take the deposit. Use the province's form, give the tenant a copy within 21 days, and take only the deposits the law allows.
8. Hand over the keys and keep records. Note the home's condition with dated photos, log every rent payment, and keep the lease, notices and receipts for tax time.

Before you rent: mortgage, insurance and condo rules

Your mortgage. Some mortgages, especially those insured on the basis that you'd live in the home, have conditions about occupancy. Call your lender before you sign a lease, not after.

Your insurance. A homeowner policy assumes you live there. The Insurance Bureau of Canada's advice is to "tell your insurance representative before your living arrangement changes", because "failing to provide full disclosure relating to occupancy may void your home insurance policy" (IBC). Ask about a landlord or rented-dwelling policy, and suggest your tenant gets tenant insurance.

Your condo. Read the declaration and rules for any minimum lease length or leasing limits. Once the lease is signed, the Condominium Act requires you "to notify the condo corporation of the rental and provide a copy of the lease within 10 days of signing" (Condo Authority of Ontario), and to tell them again within 10 days when it ends.

A room, not the whole house? If your tenant shares a kitchen or bathroom with you, the Residential Tenancies Act doesn't cover that arrangement, and the Human Rights Code's housing rules don't apply either (OHRC). In Toronto, renting four or more rooms separately needs a multi-tenant house licence.

How to set the rent

Price it from leased rents, not hopes. Renting in Toronto? Our Toronto guide has the city's vacancy and condo rent figures and its landlord rules. Look up what similar homes nearby actually leased for on realtor.ca or HouseSigma, matched by bedrooms, parking and whether utilities are included. A rent close to the comparable units brings showings in the first week; one well above them sits empty, and an empty month costs more than a slightly lower rent.

The first rent is yours to set. After that, Ontario's rules limit increases for most units: you can raise the rent once every 12 months, with at least 90 days' written notice on the LTB's N1 form, by no more than the yearly guideline. The guideline is 2.1% for 2026 and 1.9% for 2027 (ontario.ca). Units "occupied for the first time for residential purposes after November 15, 2018 are exempt from rent control", but the 12-month and 90-day rules still apply.

So it pays to get the starting rent right: in an older home, you can't fix a low rent with a big increase next year.

Where to list your rental property

Use more than one place. Free sites such as Rentals.ca, Kijiji, Facebook Marketplace and liv.rent reach tenants who search on their own. The MLS® System and realtor.ca reach the other half: tenants working with an agent, who often arrive with a complete application, a credit report and an employment letter.

Owners can't post on the MLS® System themselves, only a brokerage can. A flat fee listing puts your rental there from $69.99 a month, sent on to realtor.ca, while you show it and choose the tenant yourself. See how to list a rental property on MLS® for the details, photos and costs.

If you list on the MLS® System, you also choose what to offer a tenant's agent, paid only if their client signs your lease. Half a month's rent is a common choice.

How to screen tenants the legal way

Screening is where new landlords most often break the law without meaning to. The Ontario Human Rights Commission's rules are short (OHRC):

• You can ask for a rental application, rental history, references, a credit check (with the applicant's consent) and income information.
• Income comes with the rest: you must ask for and "consider together" the rental history, credit references and credit checks; income can only be judged on its own when nothing else is available.
• No income cut-offs: "It is illegal for housing providers to apply a rent-to-income ratio such as a 30% cut-off rule."
• Guarantors are allowed only if you ask the same of every applicant.
• You can't refuse someone because of race, citizenship, place of origin, religion, sex, family status (children), marital status, disability, sexual orientation, age, or because they receive public assistance.
• No rental history (a student, a newcomer) "should not be viewed negatively". Look at the rest of the application.

The lease and the deposits

Most Ontario rentals must use the province's Standard Lease: it's "required for most residential tenancy agreements signed on or after April 30, 2018" (ontario.ca). Fill in its blanks and add your own terms in the additional-terms section, but a term that goes against the Residential Tenancies Act can't be enforced. Give the tenant a copy within 21 days of signing. If you don't use the form, the tenant can ask for it in writing, and if you don't provide it within 21 days they can withhold a month's rent.

What you can collect up front is limited:

• A rent deposit of no more than one month's rent, which "can only be used as the rent payment for the last month" (LTB). You owe the tenant interest on it every year at the rent increase guideline.
• A refundable key deposit, no more than the cost of replacing the keys.
• No damage, security or pet deposit. These aren't permitted.
• No post-dated cheques required: a tenant can offer them, but you can't make them a condition.

Your duties once the tenant moves in

A landlord "has to keep the rental property in a good state of repair" and can't withhold vital services: heat (from September 1 to June 15), electricity, fuel and hot and cold water (LTB guide). Your city may set more: Toronto requires at least 21°C from October 1 to May 15.

Smoke alarms are required on every storey and outside all sleeping areas, and "it is the landlord's responsibility to ensure their rental properties comply" (ontario.ca). In rental homes, landlords are also responsible for installing, maintaining and testing carbon monoxide alarms (ontario.ca).

Give at least 24 hours' written notice before you enter, except in an emergency. You can't evict anyone yourself: a tenancy ends by agreement, by the tenant's notice, or by an order of the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB).

What changed for Ontario landlords on September 21, 2026

New rules from Bill 60 and Bill 97 took effect on September 21, 2026 (LTB). The ones a small landlord will meet:

• Unpaid rent: the N4 notice period is now 7 days instead of 14 for monthly tenancies.
• Persistent late payment now has a test: rent paid more than seven days late at least three times within six months. Log the date every payment arrives.
• Moving in yourself (N12): with at least 120 days' notice, you no longer have to pay the tenant a month's rent or offer another unit. With less notice, the old compensation still applies, and it always applies when the buyer of the home is the one moving in. You or your family must normally move in within 60 days of the date in the notice.
• Arrears hearings: a tenant who wants to raise other issues must first pay half the arrears, at least 7 days before the hearing.
• New forms: the N5, N6, N8, N12, N13, L1, L2, L9, L10 and T5 changed. Older versions won't be accepted after November 30, 2026, so always download a fresh form from the LTB.

Taxes on rental income

Rental income goes on your tax return, with your expenses, on Form T776, Statement of Real Estate Rentals (CRA). Mortgage interest, property tax, insurance, repairs and the cost of advertising the rental are typical expenses.

Renting out the home you lived in is a change in use: the CRA treats you as having sold it at market value that day. You can elect not to, which keeps it as your principal residence for up to four years while it's rented, but then you can't claim capital cost allowance on it (CRA).

Moving abroad? The tenant or your agent must withhold "non-resident tax of 25% on the gross rental income" unless you file Form NR6 before the first rent is due (CRA). Ask an accountant before your first year as a landlord.

What it costs to rent out your house

The biggest choice is who finds the tenant. A full-service leasing agent finds and screens tenants for you, usually for a month's rent. Doing it yourself costs a listing and some evenings of showings, and you keep the choice of tenant.

Rent it out yourself or hire a property manager?

Doing it yourself suits landlords who live nearby, answer messages quickly and can handle a repair call. You keep the full rent and choose your tenant. A property manager suits owners who live far away or own several units, and usually charges a monthly percentage of the rent plus a fee to find each tenant.

A middle route: list the rental yourself on the MLS® System so tenants' agents bring you complete applications, then manage the tenancy yourself. That's a mere posting: the brokerage posts the listing, and you deal with tenants directly. It's the route most of our landlords take, and leases are most of the deals closed through our listings.

Questions landlords ask

What's included

• Your rental on the MLS® System through PropTx, which feeds 14 Ontario boards, including Toronto (TRREB), Ottawa, London, Niagara and Oakville-Milton
• Your rental on realtor.ca, in its rentals search, sent there from the MLS® System
• Typically picked up by MLS®-fed sites that show leases, such as HouseSigma, Zolo, Condos.ca and Property.ca
• Up to 40 photos, your description, the monthly rent and the full property details
• Showing requests from tenants' agents sent straight to you to confirm, and realtor.ca inquiries forwarded to you
• Rent, photo and detail changes while you're listed, plus the leased update when you've found your tenant

Flat fee MLS® prices

Plus 13% HST on Ontario listings; no tax on Alberta listings. The monthly plan can be cancelled any time.

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