Does the RTA Cover This Rental? The Ontario A1 Application for Landlords and Tenants

Not every place people live in Ontario is covered by the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (RTA). When it is unclear, the A1 is the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) form that gets you a binding answer: does the Act, or some part of it, reach this unit or this building? Both landlords and tenants may file it. It earns its keep when a lot rides on the answer and you would rather know for certain before choosing a path.

Quick summary

The legal question behind the form

RTA section 9 gives a landlord or tenant the right to apply for an order on "whether this Act or any provision of it applies to a particular rental unit or residential complex". Two other sections shape every A1:

• Section 3(1): the RTA covers rental units in residential complexes no matter what the paperwork says. An agreement or waiver that tries to switch it off does not work.
• Section 202: the Board judges the real substance of the deal and can ignore its outward form. So a document calling the arrangement a "licence", a "room rental" or "not a tenancy" settles nothing.

Questions that typically end up on an A1:

Is the whole Act switched off (s. 5)? Section 5 lists full exemptions. Among them: - short-term respite care in a care home; - certain student residences; - emergency shelter for a short stay; - a hotel, motel, cottage or similar place used for vacation or seasonal stays; - farm-worker housing that depends on the job; - housing that comes with a job, in a building partly used for business; - a unit where the occupant must use a kitchen or bathroom in common with the owner, or with the owner's parent, child or spouse, or a parent or child of the owner's spouse, provided that person lives in the building.

Are only some rules switched off? The rent rules do not reach a building first occupied after November 15, 2018, or certain second units in houses added after 2018 (s. 6.1). Non-profit and social housing is exempt from some sections (s. 7).

Which special part applies? Part IX deals only with care homes. Part X deals only with mobile home parks and land lease communities.

Is an A1 the right move?

Ask yourself three things.

Will the answer change what I have to do next? If yes, file before acting. Example: an owner lives upstairs and a boarder uses the owner's kitchen. Can the owner simply ask the boarder to leave, or are LTB notices required? An A1 tells them.

Is the issue already in front of the Board? If a tenant disputes coverage in their response to your L2, for instance, the Board can deal with it in that case. A separate A1 only means one more hearing.

Is the real question who counts as a tenant? When someone moved in without the landlord's approval, the form is the A2, not the A1.

One warning for landlords: exemptions are not presumed. Section 6.1(6) makes you prove the post-2018 rent exemption, and the Board will want evidence for any exemption you rely on.

One note for tenants: you can file the A1 too, for the same fee. If you have been told the Act "doesn't apply" because of a clause you signed, that clause alone does not decide it. Your living arrangement does.

Timing rules

• Limitation period: none in s. 9.
• Deemed filing date (Rule 4.8): an emailed application is filed the day it arrives; a couriered one, the next business day after it reaches the courier; a mailed one, five days after mailing, skipping holidays.
• Service: the LTB ordinarily serves the application and the Notice of Hearing itself (Rule 5.1). If you are told to serve them, serve no later than 15 days ahead of the hearing (Rule 5.9) and file your Certificate of Service within five days of serving (Rule 5.15).
• Review: after an order dated July 1, 2026 or later, either side has 15 days to ask for a review (Rule 26.5).

Completing the form

Use version 01/04/2022. Type it or use capital letters. The official A1 instructions cover each box.

Part 1: General Information

Applicant Information. Shade the box for who is applying ("Landlord" on a landlord's form). Then name, address, phone numbers and email for the person or company. A second landlord goes on a Schedule of Parties.

Address of the Rental Unit, Building or Residential Complex. All of it: street, unit, municipality, postal code.

Other Parties to the Application. A landlord shades "Tenant" here, because the tenant is always the other party. List everyone whose status is in doubt; more than one name means a Schedule of Parties.

Related Applications. Any open LTB file about this unit or complex, by file number.

Part 2: Reason for Your Application

This box asks you to "describe the premises" and say why the RTA does or does not apply. The Board decides on facts, so give it facts:

1. The exact RTA section you rely on, such as s. 5(i), and the sections you say do and do not apply.
2. Whether the unit has its own kitchen and bathroom, and if not, who uses them alongside the occupant.
3. Who holds title, who lives in the building, and from what date.
4. The amount the occupant pays and what it buys.
5. Any job, program, care or seasonal feature of the deal.
6. For s. 6.1, when the building or addition was first lived in, with proof (an occupancy permit, for example).

Finish the part with the total number of rental units in the complex and the number the Act covers. If it covers several units but not all, name them on an attached sheet.

Part 3: Signature

Shade "Landlord" or "Representative", sign, date. Representatives include their Law Society number and how to reach them.

Payment Information Form

Mark the payment method. Paid online? Put the receipt number here.

Getting it to the LTB

Email. Pay the $53 on the Online Payment for Tribunal Applications page (Visa or Mastercard, credit or debit). You then have 24 hours to send the application plus receipt to [email protected]. Subject line: the receipt number and the address.

Mail or courier. Pay with a money order or certified cheque made out to the "Minister of Finance", or by card on the Credit Card Payment Form.

ServiceOntario. Walk it in to a location that accepts LTB filings.

Note: the A1 instructions, dated August 2023, mention only mail and courier. The LTB's current forms, filing and fees page adds email and ServiceOntario. There are no refunds of the fee (see the LTB fees page), but a Fee Waiver Request can be made.

Where A1 applications go wrong

1. Leaning on the contract. A "this is not a tenancy" clause is void under ss. 3(1) and 4. Substance wins (s. 202).
2. Stretching s. 5(i). The shared kitchen or bathroom must be shared with the owner (or one of the listed relatives), and that person must live in the building. A landlord who does not own the place, a property manager, or a fellow tenant does not count.
3. No proof of first occupancy. You carry the burden on the s. 6.1 rent exemption (s. 6.1(6)). Without evidence it will likely fail.
4. A Part 2 with no content. One line saying the Act does not apply, with no facts and no section, gives the Board nothing to work with.
5. Acting first, asking later. Lock someone out on the theory that the Act does not apply, lose that argument, and the tenant can bring applications about what you did.
6. Fee not paid, or old LTB fines unpaid. The application will sit unprocessed (Rule 6.1).

After you file

There is a hearing. The order that follows says whether the RTA applies and to what extent. If it does, the normal RTA notices and applications govern from there. If it does not, the LTB lacks jurisdiction and the dispute belongs in court.

Common questions

Is a room in an owner-occupied house covered?

If the occupant must share the kitchen or bathroom with the owner, or with the owner's parent, child or spouse, or a parent or child of the owner's spouse, and that person lives there, the answer is no (s. 5(i)). A room with a private kitchen and bathroom, or one in a house where the owner does not live, is probably covered.

Does signing a lease that excludes the RTA work?

It does not. Any term at odds with the Act is void, and the Act applies regardless of what was agreed or waived.

What about buildings occupied after 2018?

They are partly exempt. Units in a building first occupied after November 15, 2018 sit outside the rent increase guideline and related rent rules (s. 6.1). Every other part of the RTA, including the eviction rules, still covers them.

Who pays to file, and how much?

The person applying pays $53. The amount is the same for tenants and landlords.

Official sources

• Form A1 – Application about Whether the Act Applies (PDF)
• A1 Instructions
• LTB Forms, filing and fees
• Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, ss. 3, 5, 6.1, 9
• Interpretation Guideline 21: Landlords, Tenants, Occupants and Residential Tenancies
• LTB Rules of Procedure