You own a unit, and someone lives in it. That makes you a landlord.

Yes. If you own the unit and someone lives in it, you are their landlord. It does not matter that SIREG handled everything until now.

• SIREG rented the unit from you, and then rented it to the person living there. In your agreement, SIREG is called “the Tenant”.
• SIREG has stepped back, so the person living in your unit now deals with you.
• Your tenant did not choose this either, and many are worried. A friendly first message from you goes a long way.

Renting a home in Ontario is covered by one law, the Residential Tenancies Act. You cannot opt out of it, even in a lease. The main points:

• Use the Ontario Standard Form of Lease. It is required for most leases. It is the form our lease generator fills in for you.
• Rent can go up once every 12 months, with 90 days’ written notice, and by no more than the province’s yearly limit. Some newer units are exempt from that limit, so check yours.
• Deposits: you can ask for the last month’s rent in advance. You cannot ask for a damage deposit.
• Entering the unit: you must give 24 hours’ written notice (except in an emergency). It is their home.
• Repairs: you must keep the unit safe and in good repair, including heat and running water.
• Never change the locks, shut off utilities or remove belongings to push a tenant out. That is illegal.
• Evictions: only the Landlord and Tenant Board can order one. If rent is unpaid there is a set process: written notice first, then an application to the Board, then a hearing.
• Receipts: if your tenant asks for a rent receipt, give it, for free.

Tenants have duties too: pay rent on time, keep the unit clean and undamaged, and follow the building’s rules.

• Your tenant pays rent to you, or to a manager you have named in writing. Not to the condo corporation, and not to SIREG.
• You pay the unit’s costs whether or not rent arrives: condo fees, property tax, your own insurance, and your mortgage if you have one. Late rent does not pause these.
• Utilities are paid the way the lease says. Some are included in the condo fees, some are the tenant’s.
• Tell your tenant in writing who to pay and how. After SIREG, many tenants are unsure and some have been approached by strangers asking for rent.
• Keep one bank account for the unit and keep every record. You will need them at tax time, since rent is income.
• Condo rules apply to your tenant too. Give them a copy of the building’s rules. Ontario’s Condominium Act also requires you to tell the condo corporation when you rent the unit, within 30 days.

A short version, because this is where many first-time landlords get caught out:

• Rent you collect is income. You report it on your tax return, even when a manager or another company collected it for you.
• You can usually subtract the real costs of earning it, such as condo fees, property tax, insurance and interest on money borrowed for the unit.
• Repairs and improvements are treated differently, and that difference trips up a lot of owners.
• How the unit is held matters. Your own name, a partner, a company or a registered plan can each change how the income and costs are reported.
• Keep every receipt and record. You will need them.

There is more to know than fits here, and it depends on your situation. This is general information, not tax advice.

Yes, I am interested in a tax workshop →

You do not need a lawyer or a paid service to put a lease in place. Our lease generator fills in the official Ontario lease for you, and your tenant’s old lease was with SIREG, so in most cases a new one is needed.

Pick the option that fits you:

• You are a SIREG owner: the generator is inside your portal. Log in and open Find My Tenant. As soon as you are connected with your tenant, press Create lease. Your unit and your tenant’s details are already filled in. Check each step, then save it to your tenant’s record.
• Your tenant has not registered, but you know who they are? Use the free lease generator on EZ PDF Editor. Fill in your tenant’s details yourself and download the lease.
• Renting a unit in another province? EZ PDF Editor has lease generators for other provinces too, starting from the Ontario page.

Create a lease in my portal →

Open the Ontario lease generator →

Signing: you have choices.

• On paper, in person. Download the lease, print it, and sign it together.
• On a screen. From your portal, send the lease to your tenant to sign on their phone or computer. You both sign online and you both get a copy, at no cost.

Every Ontario lease uses the same official form. The Ontario Standard Form of Lease is free, the same for everyone, and required for most leases. Our generator fills in that exact form. If you want to read the form and the rules yourself, the official sources are:

• Guide to Ontario’s standard lease (Government of Ontario)
• Landlord and Tenant Board forms
• Landlord and Tenant Board

Think of a manager as your messenger and helper. They act on your behalf, but you are still the landlord.

What they usually do:

• Talk to your tenant and answer their calls.
• Collect rent, if you allow it.
• Arrange repairs and send you the bills.
• Send notices and show the unit.

What they do not do:

• They do not become the owner or the legal landlord.
• They do not pay your condo fees, taxes, insurance or mortgage, unless you have agreed that in writing. You still pay those, even with a manager.
• They cannot take decisions that are yours: the rent, large repairs, or ending a tenancy.

Before you sign with one, read the agreement for: the fee, how long it lasts, how to end it, and how much they can spend without asking you.

You can still act yourself. Even with a manager you can send notices, ask for rent and apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board. Tell the manager so you are not working against each other.

You choose: a company such as Bayland or Larlyn, any other manager, or manage it yourself. Nobody can force you to pick one.

• Connect with your tenant on this website and say hello.
• Ask for a copy of their old lease, and for proof of any rent they paid to SIREG.
• Decide who will collect rent: you, or a manager you name in writing. Tell your tenant.
• Set up a bank account for the unit.
• Make a new lease together (see above) and keep a copy.
• Tell the condo corporation about the lease, within 30 days.
• Ask your tenant to get tenant insurance, and check your own unit insurance.
• Keep every receipt, message and record in one place.

• Agreeing things by phone or in person only. Put it in writing.
• Taking cash without giving a receipt.
• Entering the unit without 24 hours’ written notice.
• Raising the rent without the proper notice.
• Ignoring repair requests. Small problems get expensive.
• Trying to remove a tenant yourself. Only the Landlord and Tenant Board can order an eviction.
• Mixing the unit’s money with your own.

“Property management” can mean two quite different arrangements. Always find out which one you have.

1. A manager who acts for you (an agent).

• You are the landlord and the tenant’s lease is with you.
• The manager talks to your tenant, collects rent for you, arranges repairs and sends notices, for a fee.
• The rent belongs to you. A good manager pays it to you after taking their fee, on the dates your agreement sets.

2. A company that rents your unit from you and then rents it on (a master lease).

• You sign one agreement with the company. The company then signs a separate lease with the person living in the unit.
• In that arrangement the company is the tenant’s landlord, not you, and you are the company’s landlord. You deal only with the company.
• You are then relying on the company to pay you, whether or not the person in the unit pays them. If the company stops paying, you are left with the unit, the bills and a resident you have never met.
• This is the kind of agreement SIREG had with owners, which is why many owners did not know who their tenants were.

Every condo building is run by a condominium corporation, and the corporation is run by a board of directors. The directors are owners like you, elected by the owners at a meeting. A board needs at least three people, and directors serve for a set term.

What the board does:

• Sets the yearly budget and the condo fees every owner pays, and collects them.
• Looks after the common areas (hallways, roof, elevators, grounds) and the building’s insurance.
• Saves money in the reserve fund for big repairs, and gets the building’s reserve studies done.
• Makes and enforces the building’s rules, and deals with owners and tenants who break them.
• Hires, directs and can end the contract of the condo’s management company. That is a different company from any manager of your own rental.
• Calls the yearly owners’ meeting, keeps the records and reports to owners.

Directors must act honestly and in the corporation’s best interest, and the law requires new directors to complete training. They make decisions together, as a group, usually by majority vote at board meetings.

What the board does not do: it does not manage your unit, collect your rent or fix things inside your unit. That is you, or the manager you hire.

Each owner has a vote, so the board answers to the owners. Going to the owners’ meetings is how you have your say.

Your own property manager (for your rental): yes, but follow the contract.

• It is your agreement, so you can end it the way the agreement says: usually written notice, sometimes with a notice period or a fee.
• Read the “ending the agreement” part before you sign, not after.
• When you end it, tell your tenant in writing who they pay from now on, and ask the manager for the lease, the records and any money they hold for you.

The condo’s management company: that is the board’s decision, not yours alone. The board hires and ends the building’s manager. You can raise it at an owners’ meeting or by standing for the board.

The condo board: yes, the owners can remove directors.

• Owners holding at least 15% of the units can sign a requisition asking for an owners’ meeting. The board must then call it.
• At that meeting, owners holding more than half of the units can vote to remove one or more directors, and can elect new ones.
• If the whole board has resigned, an owner can call an emergency meeting to fill the empty seats, using the mandatory form from the Condominium Authority of Ontario.
• The Condominium Authority of Ontario (the CAO) publishes the forms and plain-language steps. This is also the process the coalition helps owners with.