Ending a lease in Ontario: notice, assignment and subletting

Plans change. Whether your lease is ending or you need to leave early, Ontario has clear rules for how to do it.

Giving notice on a monthly tenancy

If you rent month-to-month, including after a fixed-term lease has ended, you generally must give your landlord at least 60 days' written notice, and the termination date must be the last day of a rental period. The Landlord and Tenant Board's Form N9 is the usual way to do it.

For example, if rent is due on the 1st, your notice should end your tenancy on the last day of a month, at least 60 days after you give notice.

At the end of a fixed-term lease

You can end your tenancy at the end of a fixed term by giving at least 60 days' written notice before the end date. If neither of you does anything, the tenancy continues month-to-month.

Leaving before a fixed term ends

You can't simply end a fixed-term lease early on your own. But you have options:

1. Agree with your landlord

You and your landlord can agree to end the tenancy on a date you both accept. Put it in writing, usually on Form N11.

2. Assign the lease

Assigning means someone else takes over your lease for the rest of the term, and you're out. You need to ask your landlord for consent in writing.

• The landlord can refuse to allow assignment in general.
• If the landlord refuses your request or doesn't respond within 7 days, you can give notice to end your tenancy, within 30 days of your request.
• If the landlord agrees in principle, they can't unreasonably refuse a specific person you propose.

3. Sublet

Subletting means someone else lives there for part of the term, and you plan to come back. You stay responsible to the landlord. The landlord can't unreasonably refuse consent to a sublet.

Getting your deposit back

Your last month's rent deposit pays your final month. A key deposit should be refunded when you return keys and fobs.

Move-out tips

• Clean thoroughly and repair anything you damaged.
• Take dated photos and video of every room on the way out.
• Return all keys and fobs, and get a receipt.
• Give the landlord your forwarding address.

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General information, not legal advice. For your situation, contact the Landlord and Tenant Board or a community legal clinic.