As of April 30, 2018, landlords of residential rental property
in Ontario will be obligated to use a new government-issued
standard lease template (the "Standard
Lease") for all new residential leases. Requirements
relating to the Standard Lease are contained in new Section 12.1 of
the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (the
"RTA") and related regulations.
The Standard Lease applies to most residential tenancies in
Ontario, including leases of condominiums, single-family homes and
units in apartment buildings. The Standard Lease does not apply to
commercial properties, residential sub-tenancies, as well as
tenancies involving student residences, retirement homes, land
lease communities and other property types that are exempt from the
RTA. However, the Ontario government announced that it is also
working on standard form leases for some of the foregoing exempt
classes of residential tenancies. There is no estimated publication
date for these additional standard lease
