60 Days Notice in Ontario: Rules for Tenants and Landlords

In Ontario, ending a month-to-month or yearly tenancy generally requires 60 days of written notice on the Landlord and Tenant Board’s prescribed form, and the termination date has to fall on the last day of a rental period. That two-part rule catches most tenants and landlords off guard: it’s not just 60 calendar days from when you hand over the notice. Both sides are held to the same 60-day floor, but the forms, compensation rules, and consequences differ depending on who is ending the tenancy and why.¹

When 60 Days Notice Actually Applies

The 60-day rule covers periodic tenancies: arrangements that automatically renew each month or year without a new lease being signed. If you pay rent on the first of every month and there’s no fixed end date on your lease, you’re month-to-month, and 60 days is your number.¹

Fixed-term leases work differently. If you signed a one-year lease and the year isn’t up, you generally can’t leave early with 60 days’ notice. The tenancy runs to the end of the term. A tenant who wants out at the end of a fixed term still has to give at least 60 days’ notice before the last day of that term. Otherwise, the tenancy automatically rolls over into a month-to-month arrangement once the term expires.² That rollover catches a lot of people. If you assumed the lease would simply end on its expiry date without any notice from you, you now have a periodic tenancy and still need to give 60 days’ notice to leave.

Daily and weekly tenancies have shorter notice periods under the Act and aren’t subject to the 60-day rule. For most renters in Ontario, though, monthly is the default.

Calculating the Correct Termination Date

This is where most 60-day notices go wrong. The termination date isn’t simply 60 calendar days from the day you hand over the notice. It also has to be the last day of a rental period.¹ For most tenants paying on the first, that means the last day of the month.

A practical example. You pay rent on the first, and you give notice on June 15. Sixty calendar days lands on August 14. But August 14 isn’t the last day of a rental period. The earliest valid termination date is August 31. Write August 14 on the form and the notice is invalid.

Now tighten the timeline. Give notice on July 5, and 60 days lands around September 3. That’s past the end of August, so August 31 no longer works. The termination date has to be September 30. The 60-day minimum is a floor, not a ceiling, and it always rounds up to the end of the next qualifying rental period.

For landlords serving an N12 for personal use, the same two-part test applies: at least 60 days, and ending on the last day of a rental period or at the end of a fixed-term tenancy, whichever comes first.³

Tenants: How To Give 60 Days Notice

A tenant ending a periodic tenancy uses Form N9, the Tenant’s Notice to End the Tenancy. It’s a standardized document available from the Board’s website, and a homemade letter instead risks being treated as invalid. The form asks for the full names of all tenants on the lease, the complete address including any apartment or suite number, the termination date, and the tenant’s signature.¹

Get every name right. If the lease lists two tenants and only one signs the N9, a landlord can challenge the notice at a hearing. Same with the address: leaving off a unit number in a multi-unit building can create enough ambiguity for the notice to be dismissed.

The February and March Exception

Because February is shorter than 60 days, the Act builds in a break for tenants who pay on the first. You can give notice by January 1 to terminate at the end of February, and by February 1 to terminate at the end of March, even though fewer than 60 days separate the notice from the termination date.¹ Without this rule, winter moves would be nearly impossible for monthly tenants on a standard cycle.

Landlords: 60 Days Notice for Personal Use

A landlord who needs the unit back for their own residence, for a family member, or for a caregiver serves Form N12 with at least 60 days’ notice. The same form applies when the landlord has sold the property and the purchaser, the purchaser’s spouse, or the purchaser’s child or parent genuinely intends to move in.³

The key phrase throughout is “good faith.” The landlord or purchaser must genuinely intend to live in the unit for at least one year. Serving an N12 as a pretext to raise rent or bring in a new tenant is unlawful and exposes the landlord to substantial penalties.

Mandatory Compensation

When a landlord serves an N12, the law requires compensation equal to one month’s rent, or an offer of another rental unit the tenant finds acceptable.² The compensation has to be paid before the termination date. Many tenants don’t know about this entitlement and leave without collecting it.

The Tenant’s Right To Leave Early

A tenant who receives an N12 doesn’t have to wait for the termination date on the notice. The Act allows the tenant to move out earlier by giving the landlord at least 10 days’ notice using Form N9.⁴ The early termination date doesn’t need to line up with the end of a rental period. Useful if you find a new place before the N12 date arrives and want to stop paying rent sooner.

When 60 Days Isn’t the Right Number

Not every termination in Ontario uses the 60-day rule. Two situations to know about:

Demolition, conversion, or major repairs. If a landlord needs to demolish the unit, convert it to a non-residential use, or carry out repairs so extensive the unit must be vacant, the required notice jumps to 120 days on Form N13. The termination date still has to fall on the last day of a rental period or at the end of a fixed term.² The Board won’t grant an eviction order on an N13 unless the landlord shows that all necessary permits and approvals are in place. Landlords who plan to renovate and then return the unit to the rental market also have to offer the existing tenant the right to move back in at the same rent once the work is done.

Mutual agreement. If the landlord and tenant both agree on a move-out date, they can sign Form N11, the Agreement to End the Tenancy, and the 60-day minimum doesn’t apply. The termination date can be any date both parties accept.⁵ Both parties must sign and date it. A landlord cannot require a prospective tenant to sign an N11 as a condition of renting the unit; if a landlord hands you a blank N11 on move-in day as part of the lease package, that agreement isn’t enforceable. Limited exceptions exist for post-secondary student housing and certain care home arrangements. One detail tenants often miss: by signing an N11, you agree to remove all personal belongings by the termination date, and anything left behind can be disposed of by the landlord.

How To Deliver the Notice

A properly completed notice is worthless if it isn’t delivered using a method the law recognizes. The Residential Tenancies Act allows several: handing it directly to the person, leaving it in their mailbox, leaving it where mail is ordinarily delivered if there’s no mailbox, or sending it by regular mail.² If the recipient is a tenant, handing the notice to another adult in the unit also counts. If the recipient is a landlord, handing it to an employee with authority over the building is enough.

Mail adds a wrinkle. A notice sent by mail is legally deemed to have been given on the fifth day after mailing, not the day it went into the postbox.² So if you need 60 days between the day the notice is “given” and the termination date, mailing effectively means sending it at least 65 days out. Hand delivery removes that buffer, which is why most housing advocates recommend it.

After delivering the notice, fill out a Certificate of Service. It’s a standard Board form recording how and when you provided the document. If the other side later claims they never got the notice, the certificate is your evidence at a hearing. Keep a copy of the original notice with it so you have a complete paper trail.

Bad Faith Notices and What They Cost

A landlord who serves an N12 claiming they need the unit for personal use but never actually moves in has given a bad faith notice. The Act gives the former tenant the right to file a T5 application with the Landlord and Tenant Board, generally within one year of vacating.⁶

If the Board finds the notice was given in bad faith, it can order the landlord to pay compensation, and the amounts can be substantial. The Board looks at the difference between what the tenant was paying and what comparable housing costs, plus moving expenses and other losses. Landlords should keep records showing they genuinely occupied the unit; tenants who suspect bad faith should monitor whether the unit is actually being used as claimed.

If the Tenant Doesn’t Move Out

A valid notice of termination doesn’t automatically end the tenancy. If the tenant stays past the termination date, the landlord cannot change the locks or shut off utilities. The landlord has to file an application with the Landlord and Tenant Board for an eviction order.⁷ For an N12 notice, that application is Form L3.⁸

At the hearing, the landlord has to show the notice was properly completed, correctly dated, and served using an approved method. If the notice was incomplete, incorrectly dated, or improperly served, the Board can dismiss the application entirely, and the landlord would need to start over with a fresh notice. The dates and forms aren’t a formality: they’re the whole case.

1
Tribunals Ontario. Tenant’s Notice to End the Tenancy
2
Ontario.ca. Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17
3
Tribunals Ontario. Eviction for Personal Use, Demolition, Repairs and Conversion – Interpretation Guideline 12
4
Tribunals Ontario. Notice to End your Tenancy Because the Landlord, a Purchaser or a Family Member Requires the Rental Unit
5
Tribunals Ontario. Agreement to End the Tenancy
6
Tribunals Ontario. Instructions – Form T5 Landlord gave a Notice of Termination in Bad Faith
7
Tribunals Ontario. How a Landlord Can End a Tenancy
8
Tribunals Ontario. Instructions – Form L3 Application to End a Tenancy and Evict a Tenant