Bill 60 Ontario: What Every Landlord Needs to Know (2026)
If you own a rental property anywhere in Ontario — London, St. Thomas, Strathroy, or elsewhere — Bill 60 is the most important piece of legislation you need to understand right now. Passed in November 2025 as the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, it introduced the most significant changes to Ontario's landlord-tenant rules in over a decade.
Many landlords are still operating under the old rules. That's a problem, because some of Bill 60's changes are things you can act on immediately — and some are traps for the unprepared. This post walks through every major change and what it means for you in practice.
What Is Bill 60 and Why Does It Matter?
Bill 60 was Ontario's legislative response to a widely acknowledged crisis: the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) had become severely backlogged, with eviction hearings taking 6 to 12 months in many cases. This left landlords exposed to prolonged non-payment and gave tenants little incentive to comply with board orders when enforcement felt distant.
The legislation aimed to speed up the process at multiple points — shortening notice periods, trimming appeal windows, restricting the procedural maneuvers tenants could use to delay eviction hearings, and clarifying the rules around personal-use evictions (N12s).
The result: landlords now have meaningfully more tools than they did in 2024, but only if you know how to use them correctly.
The 5 Key Changes Under Bill 60
1. The N4 Notice Period Is Now 7 Days (Not 14)
This is the change that will affect the most landlords. Under the old rules, when a tenant failed to pay rent, you had to give them a 14-day Notice to End Tenancy for Non-Payment of Rent (Form N4) and wait the full two weeks before filing an L1 application with the LTB.
Under Bill 60, that waiting period has been cut in half to 7 days.
In practical terms:
- Tenant misses rent on the 1st → serve N4 on the 2nd
- If not paid by the 9th → you can file an L1 immediately
- This potentially shaves weeks off the overall eviction timeline
This change is already in effect. If you're still waiting 14 days before filing, you're leaving time on the table. For a full breakdown of how to serve an N4 correctly and what happens after, see our complete N4 notice guide.
2. Fixed-Term Leases No Longer Automatically Convert to Month-to-Month
This one catches a lot of landlords off guard. Under the old Residential Tenancies Act, when a one-year fixed-term lease expired and neither party took action, it automatically rolled over into a month-to-month tenancy. The tenant had no obligation to renew, sign anything new, or move out — they simply stayed on indefinitely.
Bill 60 ends this automatic conversion. If you have a fixed-term lease that reaches its end date, you now have meaningful options:
- Negotiate a new fixed-term lease with updated terms (and potentially a higher rent, where permitted)
- Allow the tenancy to continue month-to-month (this is still an option — it's no longer the only option)
- Decline to renew, subject to proper notice requirements and LTB rules on ending tenancies
This gives landlords in the London and area rental market real leverage at lease renewal time — something that simply didn't exist before.
Important note: You cannot evict a tenant purely because their fixed-term lease ended without another valid legal reason (such as personal use, major renovations, or sale of the property). The change affects the automatic conversion, not the underlying right to tenure. The RTA's protections for ongoing tenants remain intact.
3. N12 Personal-Use Evictions: Compensation Waived at 120+ Days' Notice
When a landlord, family member, or buyer wants to move into a unit, the landlord serves an N12 notice (Notice to End Tenancy Because the Landlord, a Purchaser, or a Family Member Requires the Rental Unit). Before Bill 60, the landlord was required to provide one month's compensation — or offer an equivalent unit — regardless of how much notice was given.
Under Bill 60, if you give the tenant 120 days or more notice on an N12, the one-month compensation requirement is waived.
For landlords planning ahead — for example, if you know a family member will need the property in 6 months — this is a significant cost saving. It also creates an incentive to plan these transitions early rather than waiting until the last moment.
The good-faith requirement remains in full force. If you serve an N12 and the person named doesn't actually move in (or moves in only briefly and then rerents the unit), the tenant can file a T5 application for bad-faith eviction and receive up to 12 months' rent as a penalty. That exposure is real, so only use N12 when the stated use is genuine.
4. The Appeal Window Has Shrunk from 30 to 15 Days
When the LTB issues an order, both parties have a window to file a motion to review or appeal. Under the old rules, that window was 30 days. Bill 60 cut it to 15 days.
This primarily benefits landlords in eviction proceedings. Under the old timeline, a tenant who received an eviction order could wait nearly a month before doing anything, creating yet another delay. The shorter window means orders move to enforcement faster.
What this means for you practically:
- Enforcement actions (sheriff requests for eviction) can begin sooner
- Your planning horizon is tighter — if you receive a decision you want to challenge, act immediately, don't wait
- Tenants have less procedural runway to delay the process
5. Tenants Must Pay 50% of Arrears Before Raising Maintenance Defences
This is one of the most impactful — and most misunderstood — changes in Bill 60.
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Under the old rules, a tenant facing an L1 eviction for non-payment of rent could raise section 82 issues (also called "jumping the queue" issues) at the hearing — things like outstanding maintenance deficiencies, alleged harassment, or other landlord obligations. This was frequently used as a tactic to turn an unpaid-rent hearing into a lengthy combined proceeding, often with a rent abatement offsetting the arrears.
Under Bill 60, a tenant who wants to raise maintenance-related defences at an eviction hearing must first pay 50% of the outstanding rent arrears into trust with the LTB. If they can't or won't do this, those defences cannot be raised in the eviction proceeding (though the tenant can still file a separate T6 maintenance application).
This doesn't eliminate tenants' rights to pursue maintenance issues — it just separates the tracks. A legitimate maintenance complaint can still be heard on its own. What it prevents is using maintenance as a procedural shield against an otherwise clear-cut non-payment case.
For landlords dealing with long-running arrears situations, this changes the calculus significantly. For the full picture of how evictions work from start to finish, see our step-by-step Ontario eviction guide.
What Bill 60 Doesn't Change
It's worth being clear about what hasn't changed, because there's a lot of misinformation circulating:
- Rent control still applies to most units first occupied before November 15, 2018. The 2026 rent increase guideline is 2.1%.
- Landlords still cannot evict without cause. Month-to-month tenants cannot be removed simply because you want them gone.
- Maintenance obligations remain. Landlords must still keep units in a good state of repair under section 20 of the RTA.
- The LTB still handles all disputes. There is no self-help remedy. If you need possession, you need an LTB order.
- Security deposit rules are unchanged. Ontario doesn't allow damage deposits — only last month's rent.
How to Use Bill 60 Effectively
The landlords who benefit most from Bill 60 are the ones who are organized and proactive:
Act on N4s immediately. Don't wait until rent is 3 weeks late. Serve the N4 as soon as the grace period in your lease passes, and file the L1 the moment the 7-day period expires without payment. Speed is now your ally.
Plan N12 timelines deliberately. If you're thinking about moving in or facilitating a family member or buyer, calculate whether you can give 120+ days notice. Run the math on the compensation savings.
Track fixed-term lease expiry dates. Build a simple spreadsheet or calendar reminder for every lease expiry in your portfolio. Bill 60 gives you a real decision point at renewal — don't let it pass by default.
Keep your evidence organized for hearings. The 50% arrears rule helps landlords at non-payment hearings, but you still need a clean rent ledger, proof of service for your N4, and documentation of any communications. For more on getting LTB-ready, see our Landlord and Tenant Board guide.
At Prospera Properties, we've updated our internal processes to reflect all Bill 60 timelines and now serve N4s and manage lease renewals under the new rules for every property we manage.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Bill 60 come into effect in Ontario?
Bill 60 (Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act) received Royal Assent and came into force in November 2025. The key provisions — including the 7-day N4 period and the fixed-term lease changes — apply immediately to all tenancies in Ontario, including existing ones.
Does the 7-day N4 rule apply to existing leases that started before Bill 60?
Yes. The shorter 7-day notice period under Bill 60 applies to all active Ontario tenancies, regardless of when the lease was signed. You don't need to have a new lease to use the new timeline.
Can a tenant still void an N4 after 7 days by paying the arrears?
Yes. A tenant can still void an N4 at any time before the LTB issues an eviction order by paying all outstanding rent in full. The N4 being voided doesn't happen automatically after 7 days — it's the point at which you can file the L1. The tenant retains the right to pay and stay until an order is issued.
What happens if I served an N4 under the old 14-day rules recently — is it still valid?
An N4 served before Bill 60 came into force using the 14-day timeline is still valid. You don't need to re-serve it. Going forward, use the new 7-day timeline. Make sure you're using the most current version of the N4 form from the LTB website, as the form may have been updated.
Does Bill 60 change the rules for evicting a tenant at the end of a fixed-term lease for "no reason"?
No. Bill 60 removed the automatic conversion to month-to-month, but it did not create a new right to evict at lease end without cause. You still need a valid ground under the RTA (personal use, major renovations, sale, etc.) to end a tenancy. What changed is that the tenancy doesn't automatically continue under identical terms — the parties now have a real renewal negotiation moment.
Does the 50% arrears rule mean tenants can't complain about maintenance anymore?
No. Tenants retain the full right to file a T6 application about maintenance at any time. What Bill 60 changed is that in an eviction hearing for non-payment, a tenant who wants to raise maintenance issues at the same time must first pay 50% of the arrears into trust. Maintenance complaints and eviction proceedings can still run in parallel — they're just no longer automatically combined.
Get Help Managing Your Rental Property Under the New Rules
Bill 60 is genuinely good news for Ontario landlords — but only if you know how to use it. The new timelines mean the difference between a 4-month eviction and a 6-month one. The fixed-term changes give you leverage at renewal that didn't exist before.
If you're a landlord in London, St. Thomas, or Strathroy and want to make sure your leases, processes, and notice timelines are fully updated for 2026, our team at Prospera Properties can help. We handle everything from tenant screening and lease preparation to N4 service and LTB applications — all under the current rules.
Get in touch today to learn how we can take the stress of landlording off your plate, or visit our landlord services page to see what full-service property management looks like.