Residential leasing in the GTA — tenants and landlords

We handle residential leases across the Greater Toronto Area on both sides of the table — though not on the same transaction. Rentals are a large part of the downtown condominium market and most of the disputes we see start with a document nobody read.

For tenants

In a competitive building the application is the offer. Having credit, employment and references assembled before you view means you can act the same day; not having them is why people lose units they were qualified for.

Two things worth knowing before you sign:

Deposits. A landlord may collect a rent deposit of at most one rental period, and it must be applied to the last month of the tenancy. Damage and security deposits are not permitted in Ontario. A key deposit is limited to the actual replacement cost.
The lease itself. Most private residential tenancies must use the Ontario Standard Lease. Additional terms are allowed, but any term that conflicts with the Residential Tenancies Act is void — including ones you have signed.

For landlords

The tenant you select is the entire outcome. Ontario's process for ending a tenancy is slow and evidentiary, so screening is not a formality — it is the only point at which you have real control.

Price against leased comparables, not against what is currently listed. Asking rents in a building tell you what has not leased.
Document the condition at move-in, in writing and in photographs, signed by both parties. Without it a later claim is one person's word.
Use the standard lease properly. Adding clauses that the Act does not permit does not make them enforceable; it makes the lease weaker and it makes you look unreasonable at the Board.
Respect entry rules while marketing. Showings of an occupied unit need 24 hours' written notice and must fall between 8am and 8pm.

What we do not do

We are not paralegals and we do not represent anyone at the Landlord and Tenant Board. If a tenancy is in dispute, that is a job for a licensed paralegal or a lawyer, and we will say so rather than improvise.

Also

If you are weighing renting against buying, buying sets out what a purchase actually costs to close. If you are leasing a unit you hold as an investment, the district figures on Toronto and the GTA are the resale side of the same asset. Commercial space is a different statute entirely — see commercial leasing.

Tell us which side you are on and your timing.

Six stages, from the brief to the keys.

A lease moves in days rather than weeks, and several of these stages are constrained by statute rather than by preference. Here is the sequence and what is required at each.

Brief

Budget, move date, and what you can document — employment, income, credit. On the landlord side, the target rent read against what has actually leased in the building, not what is currently asking.

Search or list

Showings arranged around the current tenant’s rights if the unit is occupied: 24 hours’ written notice, between 8am and 8pm. Landlords who skip this create a problem that outlives the vacancy.

Application

A rental application with credit report, proof of income and references. A landlord may ask for these; what they may not do is use the information to discriminate on a Human Rights Code ground.

Lease

The Ontario Standard Lease, which is mandatory for most private residential tenancies. Anything added to it must not contradict the Residential Tenancies Act — a clause that does is unenforceable regardless of who signed it.

Deposits

A rent deposit of no more than one rental period, applied to the last month — not a damage deposit, which Ontario does not permit. A key deposit may not exceed the replacement cost of the key.

Move-in

Keys, condition documented in writing by both sides, building forms and elevator booking. Then the tenancy runs under the Act, and the Landlord and Tenant Board is where disputes go.

Leasing

Tell us what you’re looking for.