Bill 60: A Landlord-Friendlier RTA, What's Changing & When

The good news for Ontario landlords: Bill 60, the cheerfully named Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025, became law on November 27, 2025, and Schedule 12 of that Act takes a hard run at the Residential Tenancies Act on a landlord's behalf. The slightly-less-good news: Royal Assent didn't put any of it into force. Schedule 12 only operates as the Lieutenant Governor in Council proclaims its sections, one chunk at a time; as of publication, the proclamation is rolling out in two waves, with a third still pending.

So here's the map. Below, every Bill 60 change a landlord cares about: what it does, why it's friendlier, and exactly when (or if) you can use it.

1. The N4 notice period drops from 14 days to 7 days

Status: In force September 21, 2026 (Schedule 12 s. 4 → RTA s. 59, OIC 618/2026).

Today, when a tenant doesn't pay rent, you serve an N4: Notice to End Tenancy for Non-Payment with a termination date at least 14 days after service (for monthly or yearly tenancies). On September 21, 2026, that gets cut in half: 7 days. A full week shaved off the front end of every arrears file.

In practical terms: the L1 application can land at the LTB seven days earlier, the hearing date moves up accordingly, and a tenant who chronically pays on the 20th has a much smaller window to "find" the rent before they're at a hearing room. Landlords have wanted this change for the better part of a decade. They got it. They just can't use it until late September.

Will it apply retroactively? No. The transition power in s. 241.5 (also in force September 21, 2026) is exactly there to specify how older files are treated. Until then, every N4 you serve uses the 14-day form, full stop. After September 21, switch.

2. N12 own-use evictions: no compensation if you give 120+ days' notice

Status: In force September 21, 2026 (Schedule 12 s. 2 → RTA s. 48.1, OIC 618/2026).

Right now, an N12: Notice for Landlord/Purchaser/Family Own Use requires the landlord to pay one month's rent as compensation, full stop. Starting September 21, 2026, there's a graceful escape hatch: if your termination date is at least 120 days after the notice is given, the compensation requirement disappears.

This is a "patience tax." The legislature is essentially saying: if you give the tenant a four-month runway to find a new home, we don't think you also need to write them a cheque. For a landlord planning a move-in well in advance, say, a daughter graduating in May who needs the basement suite by September, this is straightforward savings. For a last-minute own-use, the one-month rent compensation still applies.

Worth noting: the bad-faith deterrent at the back end (a successful T5 application) is untouched. If you don't actually move in within a reasonable period, a tenant can still come after you for up to 12 months of rent differential and moving costs. Bill 60 makes the front end cheaper, not the back end.

3. The LTB review window shrinks from 30 days to 15 days

Status: In force July 1, 2026 (Schedule 12 s. 11 → RTA s. 209, OIC 616/2026). This is the first Bill 60 RTA change to actually go live.

An LTB order isn't always the end of the road. A losing party can request a review, which under the current rules can be filed within 30 days, on broad-ish grounds. As of July 1, 2026, the deadline drops to 15 days, and the grounds for ordering a re-hearing get pinned to a list set out in regulations made under the new s. 241.1 power (also live July 1). The Board's discretion to extend the deadline shrinks to "exceptional circumstances."

For landlords, this is mostly defensive: when you win the order, the tenant has half as long to ask for a do-over. When you lose, the same clock applies to you, so the days of "let me think about whether to seek review" are over. After July 1, file quickly or don't file at all.

4. Notices must be on the Board-approved form (this one matters more than it sounds)

Status: In force July 1, 2026 (Schedule 12 s. 1 → RTA s. 43, OIC 616/2026).

Quietly tucked into the July 1 wave is a small-but-sharp procedural change to s. 43: a notice of termination must be in the form approved by the Board, unless a different form is prescribed. Before July 1, slightly improvised notices were sometimes salvageable. After July 1, "I retyped the N4 in Word" stops being a debate. The form is the form.

For landlords, the message is: download the current LTB form every time you serve. Don't reuse a saved copy from 2019. Don't let your property manager hand you a "template" they made themselves. The Board's discretion to forgive form irregularities just got narrower.

5. The 50% pay-in rule for tenant counter-issues at arrears hearings

Status: In force July 1, 2026 (Schedule 12 s. 6 → RTA s. 82, OIC 616/2026).

If you've been to enough L1 hearings, you know the move: you arrive ready to talk about $4,800 in unpaid rent, the tenant arrives ready to talk about a leaky tap from June 2023, and suddenly you're spending the afternoon being cross-examined about plumbing instead of arrears. Bill 60 puts a price on that pivot.

Under the new rule, a tenant who wants to raise their own issues at a rent arrears hearing (maintenance, harassment, illegal entry, you name it) must first pay at least 50% of the claimed arrears into the equation. No 50%, no counter-issues. Their grievance can still be filed as a separate T6 or T2 application; it just doesn't get to ride along on your hearing.

This is the change that has tenant advocates loudest, and the one that most directly reduces hearing length and complexity. It is also the most politically sensitive change in Schedule 12, and it is now live. Application is still settling at the Board, so confirm the current requirement before your hearing rather than assuming.

6. "Persistent failure to pay rent" finally gets a definition

Status: Not yet proclaimed (Schedule 12 s. 3 → RTA s. 58). Definition will be set by regulation that has not been released as of publication.

Persistent late payment is one of those grounds at the LTB where every adjudicator has known it when they saw it, but nobody could quite write it down. Five late payments? Eight? Over what window? The discretion was wide, the outcomes inconsistent.

Bill 60 changes the architecture: under the new s. 58, "persistent" is to be defined in regulations. That regulation has not been released, and the section can't be proclaimed without it (the regulation is the entire point of the change). When it lands, expect something like "X late payments in a Y-month period."

If you have a chronically late payer, this is the change to watch. The day this regulation drops, your evidence package gets simpler and your odds at the hearing get better.

7. Tighter discretion on setting aside ex parte orders and granting relief from eviction

Status: Not yet proclaimed (Schedule 12 ss. 5 and 7 → RTA ss. 77 and 83). Awaiting OIC and regulations.

Two adjudicators, same set of facts, two different outcomes: anyone who has practiced at the LTB has lived through it. Bill 60 takes a swing at the inconsistency on two related fronts:

• Section 77 (set aside of ex parte orders): The grounds and limits will be set by regulation, not pure adjudicator instinct.
• Section 83 (relief from eviction): Same idea; regulations will prescribe what factors the adjudicator must consider before granting a tenant relief from an eviction order.

Neither has been proclaimed; both depend on regulations that haven't been published. When they go live, the "depends on the room" effect at the LTB should narrow noticeably. For landlords, that means a clearer roadmap on what to argue (and what evidence to bring) when a tenant is asking for a delay or trying to set aside an order they didn't show up to contest.

What stays the same (and isn't going anywhere)

Before any landlord lights a celebratory cigar, a quick reality check on what Bill 60 doesn't change:

• Rent control still applies. Annual rent increases on units first occupied before November 15, 2018 are still capped at the provincial guideline (with AGI applications available for capital expenditures). Bill 60 doesn't touch that.
• Tenancies still continue month-to-month after the lease term ends. No change.
• The N5 / N6 / N7 regimes for behaviour-based termination remain unchanged in their essentials.
• Bad-faith remedies at the back end (T5, T6, T2) are untouched. The evidentiary spotlight on N12 follow-through is the same as it was last year.

The bottom line: a calendar, not a switch

The one trap to avoid is the assumption that Royal Assent did anything operational. It didn't. November 27, 2025 was the day Bill 60 became law; it was also the day none of the RTA changes actually started working. Schedule 12 needed proclamation, and it's now coming through in waves:

• July 1, 2026 (OIC 616/2026): The 15-day review window, the Board-approved form requirement, the 50% pay-in rule for tenant counter-issues at arrears hearings, and the regulation-making power that supports them.
• September 21, 2026 (OIC 618/2026): The 7-day N4, the 120-day N12 compensation exception, and the transition regulation power.
• Still pending (no date announced): The persistent-late-payment definition (s. 58) and the tighter discretion on set-aside (s. 77) and relief from eviction (s. 83). All three depend on regulations that have not yet been published.

Translation: do not draft your N4 with a 7-day termination date today. Use the 14-day form. Pay your N12 compensation. Treat the existing rules as the rules, because they are, at least until July 1.

What landlords should do right now

1. Mark July 1, 2026 in your calendar. From that date forward, every notice you serve must be on the current Board form. Audit your templates now.
2. Mark September 21, 2026 too. If you're planning an own-use move-in, time it 120+ days out from a notice issued after September 21 to skip the one-month compensation. Cleanly done, that's a real month of rent saved.
3. Audit your tenancies for chronic late payers. They're the files most affected by the persistent-failure regulation when it eventually drops.
4. Don't let bad notices linger. The 7-day N4 is a powerful tool, but only on notices given after September 21, 2026. Until then, every flawed N4 is still flawed under the old rules.
5. Talk to a paralegal who lives at the LTB. The transition window (when some files run on the old rules and some on the new) is going to create exactly the kind of procedural confusion that costs landlords hearings. Get advice before you serve, not after.

Bill 60 is a real shift in the landlord's favour. It is also not all operating yet. Both of those things are true, and the calendar above is what determines which rules apply to your file on any given day. If you have a tenant matter brewing (or a chronic problem you've been hoping the law would help you with), call us. We'll tell you which rules apply to your file today, which ones land July 1, which ones land September 21, and which ones we're still watching for.