Standard Lease Series

in Ontario

Everything about Ontario's mandatory lease form

Forms hubstandard-lease

8guides

1tool or form

109min of reading

Start here

The pillar guide: read it first and the rest of the hub falls into place.

Pillar guide

ONArticle

Ontario Standard Lease 2026: The Complete Guide for Landlords

Everything Ontario landlords need to know about the Standard Lease in 2026. Learn what's required, what you can add, common mistakes to avoid, and how to create a legally compliant lease under the new Bill 60 rules.

What Is the Ontario Standard Lease?
2026 Updates: What's Changed and Why It Matters
Common Mistakes That Void Your Lease Terms
How to Create a Bulletproof Ontario Lease
What Happens If Things Go Wrong
Practical Takeaways

+3 more chapters in the guide

17 min read · 9 chapters

All articles

Legal insurance
ONArticle
What You Can and Can't Add to the Ontario Standard Lease
A complete breakdown of legal vs illegal lease clauses in Ontario. Learn which additional terms hold up at the LTB, which get thrown out, and copy-paste templates for Section 15 of your Standard Lease.
16 min readJanuary 16, 2026
Legal insurance
ONArticle
Is My Lease Legal? Common Ontario Lease Mistakes That Void Your Terms
Think your Ontario lease is solid? Many landlords discover too late that their lease contains errors that get thrown out at the LTB. Learn how to audit your existing lease, identify red flags, and fix problems before they cost you thousands.
15 min readJanuary 17, 2026
Legal insurance
ONArticle
Fixed-Term Leases in Ontario: Why They All Convert to Month-to-Month
Think your tenant's lease "expires" when the term ends? Think again. In Ontario, fixed-term leases automatically convert to month-to-month tenancies—and landlords can't force tenants to leave or sign a new lease. Learn how this works and what your options really are.
14 min readJanuary 26, 2026
Legal insurance
ONArticle
The AGI Process in Ontario: When Landlords Can Raise Rent Above the Guideline
Ontario's rent guideline isn't always the ceiling. Through an Above-Guideline Increase, landlords can recover extraordinary tax hikes, major capital work, and security costs — but only on three statutory grounds, under strict caps, with a hearing at the end and an expiry date built in. Here's the full process: grounds, math, timelines, and whether an AGI is worth it.
11 min readJuly 9, 2026
Legal insurance
ONArticle
Adding a Co-Tenant to an Existing Lease in Ontario: The Right Way
"Can my partner move in?" is a simple question with a layered answer. Occupant, authorized occupant, or co-tenant — each status carries different rights, and only one adds a second person fully responsible for the rent. Here's how to add a co-tenant properly: the paperwork that works, the joint-and-several prize, the accidental-tenancy trap, and the exits nobody plans for.
12 min readJuly 9, 2026
Legal insurance
ONArticle
Ontario Standard Lease vs Custom Leases: Why It's Not Actually a Choice
Searching "Standard Lease vs custom lease Ontario" implies a decision that mostly doesn't exist: since April 2018, Form 2229E is mandatory for nearly every new residential tenancy. What's really worth knowing is the territory around that rule — where lawful customization lives (Section 15), which rentals are genuinely exempt, and the 51-day enforcement timeline that can cost a non-compliant landlord a month's rent and their fixed term.
12 min readJuly 10, 2026
Legal insurance
ONArticle
Lease Renewal Strategies in Ontario: What to Do When the Term Ends
In Ontario, a lease that ends doesn't end anything — it converts. So "renewal" is really a strategy question: stay month-to-month or sign a new fixed term? The answer is different for landlords (retention economics, flexibility), tenants (no-fault eviction protection, leverage you didn't know you had), and property managers (renewal calendars that prevent surprise vacancies). Here's the playbook for all three seats.
12 min readJuly 10, 2026