CHAPTER 4: ALL ABOUT THE LEASE

The lease is a legal document that summarizes the relationship between yourself, as a tenant, and the landlord. It outlines the terms and conditions of your rental agreement, including how much your rent is, whether or not pets are allowed, rules around smoking, and key dates (such as your occupancy date and lease end date).

Leases are typically for twelve (12) months, after which tenants are automatically considered to be on a month-to-month arrangement. This means that you do not need to commit for another twelve (12) months. However, should you decide to move out, you will need to provide your landlord with sixty (60) days notice, effective the first day of the coming month. For example, if you give notice on April 15^th, you can move out June 30^th.

Some key details to include in your lease are:

• Tenant and Landlord full legal names and addresses
• The full address of the rental unit
• The amount of rent to be paid and the frequency of payments (weekly, biweekly, monthly, etc.)
• The date the rent is due
• What is included in the rental arrangement and what is not included (heating, air conditioning, electricity, water, etc.). You should also specify who is responsible for the costs associated with obtaining these services.
• Any rules regarding smoking and pets

For most tenancy agreements first entered into on or after April 30, 2018, the landlord must use the Residential Tenancy Agreement (Standard Form of Lease) form, available on the LTB website. If the landlord does not provide the tenant with the standard lease form, the tenant can demand that the landlord do so.

The landlord must give the tenant a copy of any written lease within 21 days after the tenant signs it.

The lease should not contain any terms that are inconsistent with the Act. If the lease does contain a term that is inconsistent with the Act, that term will not be enforced by the LTB.

Landlords must also provide new tenants with information about the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants and about the role of the LTB. The landlord must give this information to the tenant on or before the start of the tenancy. The LTB has a brochure called “Information for New Tenants” that landlords should use for this purpose. It is available on the LTB website at http://www.sjto.gov.on.ca/ltb/