Ontario's Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) handles sublet and assignment disputes on the A2. For landlords, its main jobs are removing an unauthorized occupant, someone the tenant passed the unit to without the landlord's say-so, and getting out a subtenant whose permitted sublet is over but who will not leave. Its signature feature is speed: a landlord has 60 days from learning about an unauthorized occupant, and after that the occupant is legally the tenant.

Overview
Filed by Either side: Part 3 is the landlord's, Part 2 the tenant's. Most of what follows is about Part 3
Landlord grounds Unauthorized transfer of occupancy; subtenant overstaying; reasonable refusal of a mobile home or land lease site assignment
Time limits Transfer: within 60 days of discovery. Overstaying subtenant: within 60 days of the subtenancy's end. Site assignment: within 15 days of the request
Notice needed first? No; there is no termination notice step
Filing Pay online and email to [email protected]; or mail, courier, ServiceOntario. Not a Portal form
Fee $201 when a landlord files ($53 when a tenant files)
Then A hearing; if eviction is ordered, the order goes to the Court Enforcement Office (Sheriff)

Sublets, assignments and the A2

Under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (RTA), a tenancy can be passed on in two ways, and each needs the landlord's agreement (ss. 95, 97):

Term Meaning
Assignment The tenant hands over the entire tenancy and leaves permanently
Sublet Someone else occupies the unit for a time, and the tenant keeps the right to come back

A tenant who moves out and installs someone else outside those two routes has created an unauthorized occupant. Section 100 then allows the landlord to seek an order terminating the tenancy and removing both the tenant and the occupant.

The three landlord grounds on the A2:

  • Reason 1 (s. 100). Termination of the original tenancy, removal of the occupant, and optional per-day compensation while they stay. The money claim is available only when the occupant is still there on the day of filing (s. 100(3)), and receiving it creates no tenancy unless both sides agree otherwise (s. 103(2)).
  • Reason 2 (s. 101). A subtenant's right to be there ends with the subtenancy (s. 97(5)); either the landlord or the tenant may apply to have them removed.
  • Reason 3 (s. 159). A tenant selling a mobile home may ask the landlord to agree to the buyer taking over the site. A refusal stands only if the Board accepts the landlord's reasons as reasonable, and the landlord has 15 days to apply or is deemed to have said yes.

It is not a vehicle for the departed tenant's unpaid rent or damage, and it has no role where the tenant still lives there alongside other people.

Matching the facts to the form

Most A2 failures come from using it on the wrong facts.

Facts Right route
Tenant gone; an unapproved person now lives there (keys given to a friend or relative, a stranger paying the tenant through an online ad, someone who simply stayed when the tenant left) A2, Reason 1
Tenant still in residence, with a roommate or other added occupant Not an A2. Per Guideline 21, sharing your home without leaving it creates no sublet and needs no consent. Problems such as interference, damage or overcrowding are handled by a termination notice like the N5 and then an L2
Death of a sole tenant Generally the tenancy is deemed over 30 days later (RTA s. 91), though a spouse who lived there may qualify as a tenant (O. Reg. 516/06, s. 3). Consult Guideline 21 first
A sublet the landlord approved has ended and the subtenant will not go A2, Reason 2
The landlord would rather keep the occupant Within the 60 days, sign a new tenancy agreement with them at a rent you agree on, which is lawful (s. 104(1), (3))
A tenant asks permission to assign or sublet No filing; it is a matter of replying. A blanket no to assignment is allowed, but after agreeing in principle the landlord may not arbitrarily or unreasonably turn down a specific assignee, and the same goes for a specific subtenant (ss. 95(5), 97(2)). Consent can cost the tenant only reasonable out-of-pocket expenses

Doing nothing has a consequence. If the 60 days pass with neither a new lease nor an A2, the occupancy is treated as an assignment the landlord consented to, effective from when it started (s. 104(4)). In other words, the occupant becomes the tenant under the old lease.

Time limits

  • Reason 1: 60 days after discovery (s. 100(2)). Discovery, not move-in, starts the count. The form therefore asks for your first-awareness date, and a written note of how you found out is worth making on the spot.
  • Reason 2: 60 days after the subtenancy ends (s. 101(2)).
  • Reason 3: 15 days after the tenant's request (s. 159(2)). Extension is possible under RTA s. 190(1), provided a Request to Extend Time travels with the application (Rule 16.2); approval is not assured.
  • Receipt, not sending, is what matters. Rule 4.8: email counts on arrival; ServiceOntario on hand-in; courier on the next business day after pickup; mail on the fifth non-holiday day after posting. Mailing on day 58 means missing day 60.

Example. A landlord learns on Friday, February 12, 2027 that a stranger is living in the unit and the tenant has moved away. Day 60 is Tuesday, April 13, 2027. An A2 emailed (with payment) on April 13 is in time; one mailed on April 12 is not. Safer still: file in February or March.

Missing day 60 on Reason 1. The occupant is now a deemed assignee (s. 104(4)), and the A2 is off the table. Any later termination needs a regular ground: a notice, then an L1 or L2.

Completing the A2

The form in use is version 01/04/2022. A landlord completes Parts 1, 3 and 4 and skips Part 2 (the tenant's). Write or type in capitals, and work from the official A2 instructions.

Part 1: General Information

  • Applicant Information. Shade "Landlord" and give the landlord's name or company, mailing address, phone and email. Further landlords go on a Schedule of Parties.
  • Rental unit address. Every part of it, unit number and postal code included.
  • Other Parties to the Application. List the tenant every time. Reason 1 also needs the occupant (shade "Current Occupant"); Reason 2 needs the subtenant. Extra names: Schedule of Parties. If the occupant's legal name is a mystery, neither the instructions nor any published LTB guidance says what to write; use whatever name or description you have, and ask the Board before filing.
  • Related Applications. Any unresolved file numbers for this unit.

Part 3: the landlord's reasons

Reason 1 (transfer without consent).

  • Termination and removal: shade it and give your first-awareness date (dd/mm/yyyy), which must be no more than 60 days before filing.
  • Daily compensation: shade it, state the pre-transfer rent and whether it was paid monthly, weekly or otherwise. It runs from discovery; an earlier start date needs a date and an explanation.
  • NSF Cheque Charges: limited to cheques the occupant wrote that bounced. Per cheque: its amount and date, when your bank charged you, what the bank charged, and your own administration fee (maximum $20 a cheque under s. 17 of O. Reg. 516/06). "Total Charge" is bank fee plus admin fee; the cheque's face amount is never included.

Reason 2 (overstaying subtenant). Shade it and give the agreed move-out date.

Reason 3 (mobile home or land lease site). Shade it and explain fully what led you to withhold consent and why that position is reasonable. Beyond 15 days, include a Request to Extend Time.

Tick all that apply; the Board may still order a remedy other than the ones you chose.

Part 4: sign-off

Mark landlord or representative, sign, date. A representative adds name, LSO number and contact details.

Payment page

Pick how you are paying. For an email filing, pay online beforehand and copy the seven-digit receipt number onto the form.

Filing and service

  • Email: $201 paid online by Visa or Mastercard, credit or debit. Inside 24 hours, send application plus receipt to [email protected], subject line showing the receipt number and the unit's address. Late by even a little, and the payment is reversed with nothing on file. Never type card details into an email.
  • Mail or courier: a money order or certified cheque made out to the "Minister of Finance", or a card via the Credit Card Payment Form. Remember the deemed filing dates above.
  • ServiceOntario: at an outlet that takes LTB documents, paying by cash, debit, credit, money order or certified cheque.

No refunds (per the LTB fees page); eligible applicants can use a Fee Waiver Request. Normally the Board itself delivers the application and Notice of Hearing (Rule 5.1). If told to serve them yourself, allow at least 15 days before the hearing, then file a Certificate of Service inside five days (Rules 5.9, 5.15). Evidence is exchanged directly between the parties.

If you are the occupant or the tenant

Being named on an A2 does not mean you must leave. Check the timing first: the landlord had to file within 60 days of discovering you were living there, and if they did not (and did not sign a new lease with you), the law treats you as having taken over the tenancy by assignment. Collect anything showing when the landlord actually knew about you (texts, payments, inspection records); an earlier date than the one on the form could mean the window had closed. Payments the landlord accepted as compensation do not, alone, make you a tenant, but a signed lease or paperwork describing you as one may prove a new tenancy. Until the Board makes an order, the landlord cannot change the locks; only the Sheriff can enforce an eviction. At the hearing, the Board must also consider whether to refuse or delay eviction. A tenant who wants to sublet or assign, and whose request is arbitrarily or unreasonably refused, can apply on the tenant side of the A2.

Nine ways an A2 fails

  1. Filing past day 60. For Reason 1, that ends it: by then the law has converted the occupant into an assignee, leaving nobody unauthorized to remove. Start counting at discovery and preserve the evidence of it (emails, inspection notes, notes of a conversation).
  2. The tenant never left. Someone sharing the unit with the tenant is not a subtenant and not an unauthorized transferee. The A2 will be dismissed and time lost; a termination notice was the right path.
  3. Missing parties. A s. 100 order removes the tenant and the transferee. Omit one, and they may not be bound; the Sheriff acts only against named people.
  4. Paperwork that looks like a new tenancy. Under s. 103(2), compensation by itself never makes someone a tenant. A signed lease, though, receipts calling the money rent in the occupant's name, or a written welcome can be evidence of a new tenancy agreement under s. 104(1).
  5. Claiming compensation after the occupant left. Section 100(3) allows it only where the occupant is in possession on the filing date.
  6. A "first aware" date the evidence contradicts. Months of taking payments from the occupant, for example, may persuade the Board the 60 days expired long ago.
  7. A late Reason 3 without a Request to Extend Time. Fail to apply in time and s. 159(4) deems the site assignment approved.
  8. Money owed to the LTB. An applicant with unpaid LTB fines or fees can have the application refused or discontinued until they are paid (Rule 6.1).
  9. Not showing up. Applicants who do not attend risk dismissal; skipping a case management hearing, absent exceptional circumstances, can get the file treated as abandoned (Rules 9.4, 21.4). Come with the lease, evidence of discovery, and your messages with the tenant.

At the hearing and after

The Board sets a hearing. Because Reasons 1 and 2 seek eviction, the member has to consider refusing or delaying it under s. 83. After Bill 60, postponing eviction against the landlord's wishes requires two findings: no unfairness to the landlord or other tenants, and compelling reasons. A successful landlord takes the order to the Court Enforcement Office; only the Sheriff physically removes anyone. Review requests on orders dated July 1, 2026 or later must be made within 15 days.

Recent changes

  • July 1, 2026: for orders issued on or after this date, the time to request a review dropped from 30 days to 15 (Rule 26.5).
  • September 21, 2026 (Bill 60): a delay the landlord opposes now requires both "not unfair" and "compelling reasons". The A2 itself was left alone that day, so version 01/04/2022 remains in use.
  • RTA ss. 95–104 (the A2's grounds and its 60-day rule) came through Bill 60 unchanged.

Frequently asked questions

What makes someone an unauthorized occupant?

They live in the unit because the tenant gave them occupancy without the landlord's approval, outside any consented assignment or sublet, and usually after the tenant moved away. Until they become a tenant, the RTA gives them no rights against the landlord.

What is the deadline to remove one?

Sixty days from discovery. If that window closes with no A2 and no new lease, the occupancy is deemed a consented assignment, and the person is now the tenant.

Can the landlord simply change the locks or call the police?

Both are risky. Until the Board ends it, the original tenancy is alive, and the occupant may turn out to be a tenant by deemed assignment or new agreement, in which case a lock change is an unlawful lockout. Use an A2 order and let the Sheriff enforce it.

Is a notice required before filing?

No. The A2 needs no termination notice. The landlord files directly, on time, naming the tenant and the occupant.

May the landlord take money from the occupant before the hearing?

Compensation for use and occupation can be claimed on the A2 when the occupant is in the unit at filing. Taking it does not by itself make them a tenant; just avoid signing anything that treats them as one unless you mean to.

A tenant wants to sublet. Must the landlord agree?

Not always: an arbitrary or unreasonable refusal of a specific proposed subtenant is not allowed, and the only charge permitted for consent is reasonable out-of-pocket expenses. If the request is unreasonably refused, the tenant can apply on the tenant side of the A2.

Official sources