Residential Tenancies Act: The Standard Lease

The new year usually brings about changes, and this year is no different. As we finally close the door on a horrible 2020, we have to start looking forward to what the new year will bring. And in this case, it's bringing us the gift of a new standard lease.

No need to worry. You still have plenty of time to make the change. You're not mandated to use the new standard lease until March 1, 2021. Until then, you can use the old lease or choose to phase the new one in early.

Why Do We Need a New Standard Lease?

Back in March of 2020, the Ontario Government announced Bill 184. Titled the Protecting Tenants and Strengthening Community Housing Act, 2020, this new piece of legislation attempted to balance landlord and tenant rights. The old standard lease needed to be changed to be compliant with Bill 184's requirements.

In this article, I will focus on the changes to the Standard Lease. Changes to the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (and other landlord-tenant laws) included in Bill 184 will be covered in another article (check the links below).

What's Changed?

Below are the changes from the old lease compared to the new lease forms.

Standard Form of Lease

Note Section (Preamble)

The only change here is the effective date of March 1, 2021.

Old Form

New Form

6. Services and Utilities

The portion requiring the landlord to provide new tenants with the electricity consumption form no longer appears, as Bill 184 removed that requirement.

Old Form

New Form

Appendix: General Information

The website and TTY service phone number have changed.

Old Form

New Form

D. Ending the Tenancy

When the landlord can end the tenancy

This section appears to have been re-written for clarity.
New text appeared stating that situations leading to a landlord applying to end a tenancy are subject to the ACT.

A new section listing additional grounds for ending a tenancy to cover for the (landlord's personal use or renovation) appears.

Old Form

New Form

I. Rent Increases and Decreases

Guideline Rent Increases

This section has been re-written for clarity.
Rent control exemptions included for new construction buildings and renovations made after November 15, 2018.

Old Form

New Form

Q. Guests

A new passage included addresses short term rental of the unit to a third party (AirBnb or other such services)

Old Form

New Form

Guide to the Standard Lease

Link included to the standard lease in many languages, as well as descriptive text for language.

You can download the new Ontario Standard Lease form at the link below.
Click here for the lease
Please note, this file requires Adobe Acrobat Reader 10 or above, it will not open in a browser. You can find the proper reader here.

Download the complete guide to the Standard Lease here.
Click here for the guide

Should either of these direct links no longer work (the government likes to rename files and move them for some reason), you can access the Standard Lease information page below.
Ontario.ca

I wish you all good luck in 2021 and stay healthy!