LTB Consent to Service by Email: When Email Counts as Proper Service

Ontario's Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) publishes a single-page Consent to Service by Email that a landlord and a tenant sign together. Once signed, it lets the two of them serve each other certain notices and documents by email. The LTB Rules of Procedure treat email as proper service only where the person on the receiving end agreed in writing, and this form is the easiest way to prove that agreement.

Key points

The legal basis

The Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (RTA) at s. 191(1)(g) permits giving a document "by any other means allowed in the Rules", and that opens the door. Email is one of those means under the LTB's Rules of Procedure, subject to conditions:

• Rule 3.1(h) permits email service if the recipient has given written consent to it.
• Rule 3.5 lets the parties give that written consent at any point.
• Rule 3.6 lets a person take consent back at any point by written notice.
• Rule 3.7 lets the LTB allow email service without consent "on such terms as are just". The form for asking is the Request to use Alternative Service.
• Rule 3.9(e) treats an emailed document as served on the day it went out.

According to the notes on the form, consent has to be written, but this particular form is optional. What it adds is a clear record of exactly which documents each side agreed to get by email.

The four boxes, and the gaps

Each box the parties tick is a category they agree to receive by email:

• Box 1, Notice of Rent Increase: the yearly rent increase notice.
• Box 2, Landlord Notice of Entry: notice that the landlord will come into the unit.
• Box 3, Documents or submissions related to an RTA application: evidence and submissions in an LTB case. The form excludes a notice of hearing, and excludes any copy of an application, a motion or a request for review.
• Box 4, Communication regarding issues related to the tenancy: day-to-day tenancy matters.

Two gaps are worth knowing about:

• Documents that start a case are left out. Box 3 stops short of the papers that open a file. Under Rule 5.1, the Board itself normally delivers the application and the Notice of Hearing. If you are ever directed to serve one yourself, follow Rule 3 and RTA s. 191, or ask for an order permitting alternative service.
• There is no box for termination notices. You will not find the N4, the N5, the N12 or any similar notice on the form. The N4 instructions name mail, courier, fax, sliding it under the door, the mailbox and hand delivery; email is not on that list. In principle the law does allow it. Under Interpretation Guideline 10, a termination notice is sufficiently given by any method in Rule 3.1 or in RTA s. 191(1), and Rule 3.1 takes in email when the tenant gave written consent to it. The trouble is what the consent covers. A copy of this form with only its four boxes ticked does not clearly amount to consent to get termination notices by email. To rely on email for one, the tenant's written consent has to reach it; otherwise pick a method from the instructions. If service is disputed, the LTB can still treat the notice as given if you show its contents actually reached the tenant in time (s. 191(2)). That is a fallback, not a plan.

When to rely on it, and when not to

Signing at the start of a tenancy covers rent increase and entry notices. Signing once an LTB case is open covers evidence and submissions.

It does not help you:

• for a type of document whose box was left blank;
• once the person has withdrawn consent in writing;
• with someone who has already moved out, except where Rule 3.3(c) is met. It requires that the consent dates from during the tenancy, and that you can show the document's contents actually came to the attention of that person.

Filling it in

1. Name of Tenant / Email Address. One readable address per tenant. With several tenants, each one signs and gives an address; use extra copies of the form if you need room.
2. Name of Landlord / Email Address. Since the tenant can serve the landlord at this address too, give one that gets read.
3. Address of Rental Unit. Write it out in full with the unit number.
4. Boxes. Tick only the ones you both accept. A box left blank means no consent for that category.
5. Signatures. The tenant and landlord each print a first and last name, sign, and date it (dd/mm/yyyy).

Both of you should end up with a copy.

Serving by email after you have consent

• Use the exact email address written on the form.
• Per the form, any email serving a document must list a contact person's name and telephone number.
• Save the sent message with its attachments and time stamp. You have 5 days from service to file a Certificate of Service when the LTB requires one (Rule 3.8).

What makes email service fail

1. Consent was never put in writing. A tenant who answers your emails has not consented to service. With nothing in writing, Rule 3.1(h) is not met, and Rule 5.17 lets the LTB adjourn or dismiss because service failed.
2. The document falls outside the boxes. Agreeing to get rent increase notices by email says nothing about LTB evidence, and vice versa.
3. Consent had already been withdrawn. Written revocation ends it (Rule 3.6), and an email can be that written revocation.
4. The application or Notice of Hearing went by email. The form specifically carves these out.
5. The email had no contact name and phone number. The form makes these a condition of email service.
6. A former tenant was emailed with no proof it reached them. For someone who has moved out, Rule 3.3(c) asks for two things: consent signed while they were still a tenant, and evidence they actually saw the contents.
7. One tenant signed and you emailed them all. Every person you serve must have consented.

Tenants: what this means for you

The consent works both ways. If you signed, a landlord can serve the ticked categories on you by email, and those documents count as served on the day they are sent, so check that inbox. You can also serve the landlord by email at the address they gave. You do not have to sign at all, and you can withdraw consent at any time by telling the landlord in writing (Rule 3.6). If a landlord emails you a document no ticked box covers, or emails you after you withdrew consent, that service may not be valid, and you can raise it with the LTB.

Afterwards

File the signed form away. If anyone disputes service, it can go up on the Tribunals Ontario Portal as proof. Note that serving documents through the Portal itself is a separate matter: under Rule 3.1(i) it needs its own form, the Consent to Disclosure through Tribunals Ontario Portal.

Common questions

Is emailing an N4 allowed in Ontario?

Under Rule 3.1, email can serve a document, a termination notice included (Guideline 10), if the tenant agreed in writing to be served that way. Because the form offers no termination-notice box, so its ticked boxes alone do not clearly cover an N4. A method listed in the N4 instructions is the safer choice.

On what day does emailed service take effect?

The day the email is sent (Rule 3.9(e)).

Can consent to email service be taken back?

Yes. Either person can withdraw it at any time with written notice to the other (Rule 3.6).

Is this exact LTB form required?

No. Consent has to be written, but the form itself says the parties are not obliged to use it.

Official sources

• Consent to Service by Email (form)
• LTB Rules of Procedure, Rules 3.1, 3.3, 3.5 to 3.9, 5.1 and 5.17
• Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, s. 191
• Interpretation Guideline 10
• N4 Instructions
• LTB Forms, filing and fees