Last updated August 30, 2026 · Legislation and effective dates can change; verify current rules before acting.
Short answer: Bill 60, the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025, received Royal Assent on November 27, 2025 and amends the Residential Tenancies Act. It rolls out in stages through 2026, alongside Bill 97, the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, 2023. On July 1, 2026, Bill 97 gave tenants an explicit right to install a window or portable air conditioner where the landlord provides no cooling, and doubled the maximum RTA fines. On September 21, 2026, the re-enacted s. 59(1) shortens the N4 non-payment notice so termination may be “effective not earlier than the 7th day after the notice is given”, and a landlord who gives at least 120 days’ notice on an own-use N12 may avoid the usual one-month compensation, though a purchaser’s-own-use notice is not covered. The 15-day window to request a review of an LTB order isn’t a Bill 60 change either: the Board moved it there from 30 days on July 1, 2026 under its own Rule of Practice 26, and Bill 60 puts the same 15 days into the Act on September 21 with a new discretionary extension test. The changes cut both ways, and good faith and documentation still govern outcomes.
What is Bill 60 and when does it take effect?
Bill 60 is the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025. It received Royal Assent on November 27, 2025 and amends the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA). It is easy to confuse with Bill 97, the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, 2023, whose own July 1, 2026 changes, including the tenant air-conditioner right and the doubled maximum RTA fines, land before Bill 60’s September 21, 2026 start date and aren’t part of Bill 60 at all. The point most landlords miss is that neither bill switches on all at once, and not everything that lands in 2026 is Bill 60.
What lands when, across both bills:
- July 1, 2026 (Bill 97). Tenants gain an explicit right to install a window or portable air conditioner where the landlord does not provide cooling, and the maximum RTA fines double. The Landlord and Tenant Board also moved its own review deadline from 30 to 15 days that day, under Rule of Practice 26, a Board rule change rather than a legislative one.
- September 21, 2026 (Bill 60). The bigger procedural changes land: the shortened N4 period, the N12 compensation change, and the same 15-day review deadline, now written into the Act itself with a new discretionary extension test.
Between those dates, some rules are live and some are not. If you are serving notices in the summer of 2026, check which regime, and which bill, applies to the specific step you are taking. Acting on the wrong effective date is one of the most common ways a well-intentioned landlord loses a case on a technicality.
How does the N4 change affect non-payment evictions?
This is the change that matters most day to day. The N4 is the notice a landlord serves for non-payment of rent. Under the previous rules, a monthly tenant had roughly 14 days to pay the arrears before the landlord could file with the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB).
Effective September 21, 2026, the re-enacted s. 59(1) lets that termination date be “effective not earlier than the 7th day after the notice is given”, roughly half the previous window. In practice, a landlord can begin the formal process about a week sooner on arrears.
That sounds like a straightforward win for landlords, and on timing it is. But two cautions belong on the record:
- A shorter notice does not shorten the hearing queue. The N4 window is only the first step. The LTB backlog still governs how quickly you actually get a hearing.
- The N4 must still be served correctly. A defective N4 (wrong dates, wrong arrears figure, wrong service method) gets dismissed, and a shorter window gives you less room to correct a mistake.
The tighter timeline rewards landlords who track rent precisely and act early. It punishes sloppy records.
What changed for N12 personal-use evictions?
The N12 is the notice used when a landlord, a purchaser, or a close family member intends to move into the unit. Historically, an N12 came with a requirement to pay the tenant one month’s rent in compensation, and on most N12 grounds it still does.
Effective September 21, 2026, s. 48.1(2) waives that compensation for one branch of the N12 only: a notice given under s. 48, the landlord’s own use. It is not a waiver you earn by notice length alone. All three of its criteria have to hold: the notice is given on or after September 21, 2026; the termination date specified in it is at least 120 days after the notice is given; and that termination date is the day a period of the tenancy ends or, where the tenancy is for a fixed term, the end of the term. Miss the period boundary and the compensation is still owed, however much notice you gave.
A purchaser’s own use is not covered. That notice runs through s. 49, and its compensation obligation sits at s. 49.1, which Bill 60 does not amend. If you are selling and the buyer intends to move in, the one month’s rent (or another rental unit the tenant finds acceptable) is still payable, and no amount of notice waives it.
Read the next sentence carefully, because it is where landlords get into trouble. The good-faith requirement does not change. An N12 has to reflect a genuine intention to use the unit as stated. If a tenant believes the eviction was a pretext (to re-rent at a higher price, for example), they can bring a bad-faith claim at the LTB. The penalties for that are worse than they used to be too: Bill 97 doubled the maximum RTA fines on July 1, 2026.
So the N12 change is a genuine convenience for landlords with a real personal-use need and enough lead time. It is a trap for anyone tempted to use it as a workaround.
What else does Bill 60 change at the LTB?
Several procedural and enforcement changes travel with the headline items:
- The 15-day review window moves into the Act. The time to request a review of an LTB order has been 15 days since July 1, 2026, when the Board itself cut it from 30 under its own Rule of Practice 26. Bill 60 doesn’t change that number; on September 21 it writes the same 15 days into the Act, at s. 209(3), and adds a discretionary test letting the Board extend the time where it considers that just and appropriate. Either way, if an order goes against you, calendar the deadline the day you receive it.
- Maximum fines already doubled, under Bill 97. For individuals, the RTA maximum rose from $50,000 to $100,000. For corporations, from $250,000 to $500,000. That increase took effect July 1, 2026 under Bill 97, not Bill 60. These are ceilings, typically reserved for offences such as bad-faith evictions, not routine penalties, but they signal the direction of enforcement.
- Nothing at all about scheduling. Bill 60 is silent on how quickly matters are heard. Schedule 12 amends ss. 43(1), 48.1, 58, 59, 77(8)(b), 82, 83, 94.2, 94.10, 94.12, 209, 241 and 241.1 and adds s. 241.5; no provision anywhere in the bill directs the Board to set hearings sooner, none deals with appointing adjudicators, and none imposes a reporting obligation on wait times.
On that last point, plan around the queue as it is measured rather than as the statute might have addressed it. The Board publishes its own averages, and as of August 30, 2026 they read: L1 and L9 landlord applications scheduled within approximately three months of the date the application is received, against eight to ten months in early 2023; most other application types within five to seven months; urgent matters within five to six weeks; and most orders issued within the Board’s service timeline of 30 days or less following a hearing. Those are substantial gains, and they predate this bill and owe nothing to it. None of them follows from a shorter notice period either: cutting the N4 window to seven days moves the date you may file, not the date you are heard.
Do tenants gain anything in 2026?
The best-known tenant gain in this stretch of 2026 isn’t actually a Bill 60 change, and it is worth knowing so you are not caught off guard. Effective July 1, 2026, under Bill 97, tenants have an explicit right to install a window or portable air conditioner in a unit where the landlord does not provide cooling. There can be reasonable conditions (safe installation, and a seasonal rent increase where electricity is included in the rent), but a blanket refusal is no longer safe ground. If your standard lease or house rules prohibit tenant-installed AC outright, that clause needs a second look regardless of which bill put the right there.
Is the 2026 rent increase guideline part of Bill 60?
No. This is separate, but landlords ask about it in the same breath, so it belongs here. The 2026 rent increase guideline is 2.1%, down from 2.5% in 2025. It applies to most rent-controlled units first occupied on or before November 15, 2018. To raise rent within the guideline, a landlord must give at least 90 days’ written notice using Form N1, and can raise rent for the same tenant no more than once every 12 months. Units first occupied after November 15, 2018 generally sit outside guideline control, but the notice and timing rules still apply.
Why does this make tenant screening more important, not less?
Here is the practitioner’s read. Bill 60 gives landlords faster arrears timelines and, on own-use notices, a route around the N12 compensation. That is real. But it also shortens your margin for error and does nothing to guarantee a quick hearing. It also lands after Bill 97 doubled the maximum RTA fines on July 1, 2026, so the downside of a bad-faith misstep is twice what it was.
The most reliable way to benefit from tighter timelines is to not need them. A tenant who pays reliably never triggers an N4. The eviction process (faster or not) is the expensive, uncertain end of a decision you made at the application stage.
That is where genuine due diligence earns its keep. A proper, legally compliant tenant background check (verifying identity, employment and income, previous tenancy history, and public records within the bounds of the Ontario Human Rights Code and PIPEDA) reduces the odds you ever meet the LTB. It is not about screening people out for prohibited reasons. It is about confirming that the facts an applicant states are the facts. When timelines tighten and penalties rise, getting the first decision right matters more than moving quickly on the last one.
For the day-to-day headaches that land after move-in, our companion piece Tenant Troubles? How Private Solutions Investigators Assist Landlords covers what a landlord is actually allowed to look into. For the up-front process, see our evergreen guide, How to Screen a Tenant Legally in Ontario.
Ontario legal context
Residential tenancies in Ontario are governed by the Residential Tenancies Act and administered by the Landlord and Tenant Board. Notices such as the N1, N4, and N12 are prescribed forms with strict content and service requirements, and screening practices are constrained by the Ontario Human Rights Code and by federal privacy law (PIPEDA). Bill 60 amends the RTA on a staged schedule through 2026, and effective dates and details can shift with regulation. A licensed investigator can gather and document facts lawfully; decisions about notices, compensation, and eviction should be made with a licensed Ontario lawyer or paralegal who can apply the current rules to your situation. The hearing and order timelines cited above are from Tribunals Ontario, Landlord and Tenant Board, Application and hearing process. Accessed August 30, 2026.
Not legal advice
This article is general information about investigative practice in Ontario, not legal advice. Laws change and every situation is different. For advice about your specific circumstances, consult a licensed Ontario lawyer or contact a licensed investigator directly.
Frequently asked questions
When does the 7-day N4 notice period take effect in Ontario?
The shortened N4 non-payment notice period takes effect September 21, 2026 under Bill 60. The re-enacted s. 59(1) lets termination be “effective not earlier than the 7th day after the notice is given”, roughly half the previous window for monthly tenancies, so a landlord can begin the formal LTB process about a week sooner on arrears. The good-faith and procedural rules for serving an N4 still apply.
Does the 120-day N12 waiver apply when a purchaser is moving in?
No. The 120-day waiver in s. 48.1(2) applies only to a notice given under s. 48, the landlord’s own use. A purchaser’s own use runs through s. 49, and its compensation obligation sits at s. 49.1, which Bill 60 does not amend, so that notice still costs one month’s rent or another rental unit the tenant finds acceptable. Where the notice really is an own-use notice, the waiver needs all three of its criteria: the notice is given on or after September 21, 2026; the termination date is at least 120 days after the notice is given; and that date is the day a period of the tenancy ends or, where the tenancy is for a fixed term, the end of the term. The good-faith requirement does not go away either.
What is the 2026 Ontario rent increase guideline?
The 2026 rent increase guideline is 2.1%, down from 2.5% in 2025. It applies to most rent-controlled units first occupied on or before November 15, 2018. A landlord must give at least 90 days’ written notice using Form N1, and can raise rent no more than once every 12 months for the same tenant.
How much did RTA fines increase, and under which bill?
The maximum fines under the Residential Tenancies Act doubled on July 1, 2026, under Bill 97, the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, 2023, not Bill 60. For individuals, the maximum rose from $50,000 to $100,000. For corporations, it rose from $250,000 to $500,000. These are ceilings for offences such as bad-faith evictions, not automatic penalties.
Does Bill 60 fix the LTB backlog?
No, and it does not try to. Bill 60 contains no provision about hearing schedules, adjudicator appointments or the backlog. Schedule 12 shortens individual procedural steps; the queue those steps feed into is an operational matter the bill does not address. For what the queue actually looks like, use the Board’s own published figures. As of August 30, 2026, Tribunals Ontario reports L1 and L9 landlord applications being scheduled within approximately three months of the date the application is received, against eight to ten months in early 2023; most other application types within five to seven months; urgent matters within five to six weeks; and most orders issued within its service timeline of 30 days or less after a hearing. Those gains predate Bill 60. A shorter notice period moves the date you may file, not the date you are heard.