Month-to-month tenancy (automatic renewal)월 단위 임대 (계약 자동 연장)

What is it?

Ontario has two kinds of tenancy: a fixed-term tenancy, with a set start and end date, and a tenancy with no end date. When there is no end date and rent is paid every month, it is often called a month-to-month tenancy (LTB brochure).

Most leases are for a fixed term of one year. If that year ends, there is no new agreement and nobody has ended the tenancy, the law treats it as renewed as a monthly tenancy on the same terms (Residential Tenancies Act, section 38 (1)). This is called a deemed renewal.

So the last day of a one-year lease is not a move-out day. If nobody does anything, you keep living in the same home, on the same terms, next month too.

What stays the same after the renewal?

• The tenant can stay without moving out and without signing a renewal or a new lease.
• All the terms of the old lease still apply (rent, included utilities, parking and so on). If the agreement was on the standard lease, that standard lease is still the agreement.
• Section 38 (1) of the Act and the Ontario government’s standard lease guide say a fixed-term agreement renews as a monthly tenancy. But LTB brochures say that if you paid rent by the week under the old lease, you stay on as a weekly tenant. If you pay weekly, check with the LTB.
• Rent can only go up as the law allows. For the same tenant, at least 12 months must pass since the last increase (or since move-in) (s. 119 (1)), with 90 days’ written notice (s. 116 (1)).
• Most homes cannot go above the yearly rent increase guideline (1.9% for 2027, Ontario government guidance). Some newer units are not covered by the guideline. See "Rent increase guideline" and "Rent control exemption".

Three paths when a one-year lease ends

1. Do nothing: the tenancy continues automatically as monthly (or weekly or daily). The tenant does not have to move.
2. The tenant decides to leave: the tenant gives written notice in advance on the LTB’s Form N9. Even to leave on the last day of the one-year lease, the notice must be given at least 60 days before.
3. Agree to a new fixed term: if both sides want, they can sign another one-year lease. But to raise the rent in the new lease, the Act’s rent increase rules must still be followed (LTB brochure).

What a landlord can and cannot do

• A tenancy can only end in the ways the Act allows (section 37 (1)). "The lease term is over" is not, by itself, a reason to make a tenant leave.
• To end it, the landlord needs a reason the law allows (for example non-payment with an N4, persistent late payment with an N8, or landlord’s own use with an N12) on an LTB form, and if the tenant does not leave, an LTB hearing and order.
• A landlord can ask the tenant to sign a new lease, but if the tenant says no, they can stay month to month. Refusing to sign is not a reason to evict.
• Making a tenant sign, at the start of the tenancy, an agreement to leave on a set date (N11) or a tenant’s notice (N9) is void (section 37 (4) and (5), with some exceptions for student residences).
• Once the tenancy is monthly, a notice like an N12 can end on the last day of any rental month (during a one-year lease it cannot end before the end of the term, section 48 (2)). The notice period and compensation rules stay the same.

If the tenant wants to leave: notice periods

Do not count the day you give the notice; do count the termination date. If you mail it, add 5 days: 65 days (33 days for weekly). To move out at the end of February, give notice by January 1; for the end of March, by February 1 (LTB brochure, section 44 (5)).

Common myths

• "When the year is up, I have to move out." No. If nobody does anything, it continues as a monthly tenancy on the same terms (section 38 (1)).
• "If I don’t sign a new lease, I’ll be kicked out." No. Signing is optional, and saying no does not end the tenancy.
• "Once it’s month to month, the landlord can end it with 30 days’ notice." No. The landlord still needs a reason and a form the law allows.
• "Once it’s month to month, the rent can go up any amount." No. Once every 12 months, with 90 days’ written notice, and for most homes only within the guideline.
• "A monthly tenant only has to give one month’s notice." No. Monthly tenants must also give at least 60 days’ notice.
• "If I leave on the last day of my lease, I don’t need to give notice." No. You must still give notice, or the tenancy continues. If you leave without proper notice, you may owe rent until the unit is re-rented or the earliest date a proper notice could have ended it, whichever comes first.

Example

Buying or selling, and condos

If you buy a home or condo with a tenant, a month-to-month tenant comes with it. Being month to month does not mean weaker protection. For the buyer to move in, the seller must give an N12, and this only works in a building with 3 or fewer residential units or in a condo unit.

If you are buying to rent out, check in writing before you sign: the current rent, the date of the last increase, the last month’s rent deposit, and whether the lease is fixed-term or month to month. For details, talk to a lawyer and to me.