The Ontario Residential Tenancy Agreement (Standard Form Lease) has undergone some amendments and the updated new form must be used beginning March 1, 2021. The amendments were needed to reflect changes made by Bill 184 – Protecting Tenants and Strengthening Community Housing Act, 2020 and Bill 204- Helping Tenants and Small Businesses Act, 2020.
The Standard Form Lease applies to most residential tenancies in Ontario, including single and semi-detached houses, apartment buildings, condominiums and secondary units (i.e. basement apartments). It is very important for landlords to make sure they use this mandatory document and not rely on other forms (i.e. their own hand-written agreement or realtor forms).
During the three month transition period from December 2020 to February 2021, the new form can be used for written tenancy agreements entered into on or after December 3, 2020. However, the use of the form will become mandatory as of March 1, 2021.
Some of the updates include:
