Last week, the Ontario Government released a new standardized lease agreement for private residential leases which includes; single and semi-detached houses, apartment buildings, rented condos and secondary units.
As of April 30th, 2018, all leases used by a landlord must be the new standardized lease. For any lease that is signed after this date that is not the standard lease, the tenant will have the right to ask the landlord for a standardized lease in writing. The landlord is required to provide one within 21 days of the request. If one is not provided, the tenant can withhold one months rent.
OREA worked closely with the Ministry of Housing and participated in their consultations on the creation of a standardized lease. OREA wanted to ensure that landlords and tenants would be given some flexibility in the terms of the lease. We were pleased to see that an “additional items” section was included in the lease.
The new lease form is written in plain language and is templated to capture basic information such as names and addresses, the total rent and when it is due, and any rules or terms about the rental unit and building. It also outlines the rights and responsibilities of both the tenant and landlord, and explains what can and cannot be included in a lease.
OREA encourages its members to review the new standardized lease that can be found here.
OREA’s Standard Forms Committee will meet in the coming months to discuss what revisions will need to be made to the Association’s clauses and forms to accommodate this change. OREA will continue to provide updates to REALTORS® and local boards about the impact of the new lease agreement.
If you have any questions, please contact OREA’s Government Relations team at governmentrelations@orea.com.
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