L2 Application: Ending a Tenancy for Reasons Other Than Rent, or Claiming Money

The L2 is a Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) application in Ontario with a wide job description. After any termination notice other than an N4, this is what the landlord files. It also confirms abandonment, deals with a superintendent whose employment is over, and claims money (overholding compensation, utilities, damage) from a tenant still in the unit. Most L2 problems come down to two things: a mismatch between the notice and its deadline, or a missing attachment.

Key facts

What it can do

Think of the form as two tools in one. Use either, or both.

Ending the tenancy (Part 2)

Reason 1: a notice of termination was served. Each notice that feeds into an L2, with the RTA sections behind it:

Reason 2: abandonment, under s. 79. Arrears are essential, because RTA s. 2(3) treats a unit as not abandoned while the tenant is up to date on rent.

Reason 3: an ex-superintendent whose job ended and who is still there a week later.

Claiming money (Part 3)

• Per-day compensation for each day past the termination date (s. 86).
• NSF cheque charges (bank fees plus your administration charge), claimable only together with per-day compensation.
• Under s. 88.2, utilities the tenancy agreement put on the tenant.
• Under s. 89, what it costs to fix or replace undue damage.
• Out-of-pocket losses from substantial interference (s. 88.1).
• Rent underpaid because a rent-geared-to-income tenant misstated income (s. 90).

Damage, utilities, interference and income claims stand on their own with no termination notice. One thing is off limits, and the form says so directly: rent arrears are never collected on an L2. File an L1 for that, or an L9 if you only want the money.

Is the L2 the right form?

• Unpaid rent. That is the N4-and-L1 route.
• Chronic late rent. Serve an N8, then file the L2. Since September 21, 2026, the definition of persistent late payment covers rent paid more than 7 days past its due date on three or more occasions inside any six months (O. Reg. 516/06, s. 8.1). Ignore payments that were only late because you applied them elsewhere, such as to arrears. Other patterns can still be argued. Guideline 10 confirms N4 and N8 proceedings can run side by side.
• The tenant gave you notice, or you both signed an N11. Use an L3.
• An earlier settlement or order was broken. Where its terms allow, use an L4.
• The tenant has already left. An L10 is how you claim money then, and it must be filed inside one year. Apart from abandonment, an L2 is unavailable once the tenant is out of possession, and an L2 money claim is not accepted without your confirmation that the tenant still lives there (Rule 6.6).

Timelines

Notice periods

Leave out the day of service, count the termination date, and add 5 days for mailing.

The 30-day window

RTA s. 69(2) and Rule 6.9 cap the time to file at 30 days beyond the termination date in your notice, whichever notice it is. Because of O. Reg. 516/06, s. 56, the Board cannot give you more time. Once that window closes, only a new notice gets you back to the Board.

Example: termination date on an N8 of Wednesday, March 31, 2027. The 30th day after is Friday, April 30, 2027. That is your last filing day.

No notice needed

Abandonment and superintendent claims skip the notice step. If nothing else was agreed, the superintendent's tenancy stops when the job stops. Then there is a one-week grace period to leave, and no rent can be charged for it.

Attachments

Ideally, upload everything with the application on the Portal: the notice, any declaration or affidavit, and the Certificate of Service. Where that cannot happen, you have 5 calendar days to get them in (Rules 4.4–4.5).

Completing the L2

You need edition 2026/09: eight application pages, Schedule A (N13), Schedule B (N12) and the Payment Information Form.

Part 1 (General Information)

• Address and landlord. The unit's complete address, the landlord's name (or company), and your preferred contact method. If you tick Email, that consent covers every applicant. Use a Schedule of Parties when there are more landlords or tenants than fit.
• Tenant names. Match the notice exactly.
• Possession. One question asks whether the tenant is still in possession of the rental unit. A No answer leaves only abandonment available.

Part 2, titled Applying to End a Tenancy

• First reason. For each notice, shade its box and write the termination date shown on it. That date is what the Board checks against the 30-day limit.
• Reason 2. Lay out your grounds for believing the place is abandoned. Mention returned keys, removed possessions, uncollected mail, and your attempts to contact the tenant. Arrears must exist.
• Reason 3. When employment ended.

Part 3, titled Applying to Collect Money

• First reason. Daily compensation running from the termination date.
• Reason 2. NSF charges, which are allowed only if Reason 1 is claimed too. A row for each cheque, the administration charge held to $20 or less per cheque, and the face value of the cheque left out.
• Rent and deposit. Enter today's rent and the deposit amount, along with its collection date and the latest period covered by interest. The Board credits deposit and interest when it terminates the tenancy.
• Reason 3 (utilities). A row per bill, showing who issued it, its date, the period it covers, its total, what the tenant paid and what is outstanding.
• Reason 4 (damage). Give a total and break it down item by item: what was damaged and how you calculated each repair or replacement cost. You can use estimates if the work is still to be done. Normal wear and tear is never undue damage.
• Reason 5 (interference). Claim only money the conduct made you spend, such as a fire department bill after a false alarm. Damage and utilities have their own reasons.
• Reason 6 (income misrepresentation). Show the calculation of the difference between what the tenant paid and what the true income would have set the rent at.

Part 4 (Total Amount Owing)

Add the Part 3 amounts and the fee you are actually paying.

Part 5 (Signature)

The landlord signs, or a legal representative does and adds a Law Society number. For a corporate landlord, an authorized director or officer signs (Interpretation Guideline 10).

Schedule A, for N13s

• Part A. Permits: do you have them, or have you done all you reasonably can to get them?
• Part B. Whether compensation was paid by the termination date, will be paid by then, or the tenant took another unit. If a property standards by-law order made you do the work, there is a box to tick.
• Part C. All N12s and N13s you have given in the last two years, for any unit. If none, tick that box.
• Part D. First refusal. When a tenant, from Sept 21, 2026 on, says in writing that they want to return, the landlord has duties: written estimates of the completion date with updates, notice once the unit can be lived in again, and 60 days to move back where the work wraps up on or after that date. Under s. 57.1(1.1), falling short on any of this is deemed a failure to honour the right.

Schedule B, for N12s

• Part A (compensation). Choose one of four options. Option four, "not required", is only for a landlord's-own-use N12 given from Sept 21, 2026 on, whose termination date is 120 days or more after it was given and falls at the end of a period or term (s. 48.1(2)). A purchaser's-own-use N12 has no such option: the tenant gets a month's compensation, or another unit the tenant finds acceptable.
• Part B. What the declaration has to contain.
• Part C. Past N12s and N13s.

On the Portal

Expect identical questions in the online version. Each supporting document gets attached at the upload stage. Check everything before you reach the "Ready to Submit" page: from then on, the draft is locked. Because Tribunals Ontario has not published the Portal screens step by step, rely on the on-screen prompts.

Filing it

The basics for every L2 are the form and the fee. Add the notice and its Certificate of Service whenever you rely on a notice (O. Reg. 516/06, s. 53). Some grounds need more:

• Second N5 (s. 68). Include the first N5, with its Certificate of Service.
• N6 following a first N5 that the tenant voided. Include that N5, with its Certificate of Service.
• N12. Include Schedule B and, for every person planning to move in, a sworn affidavit or a declaration. In it, the person swears or declares a good-faith need to live in the unit personally; on a landlord's-own-use notice they add that it is for a year or more. The RTA requires the affidavit to be filed together with the application, and if it is not, the LTB has to refuse to accept the application (ss. 71.1, 72). A signed declaration may replace the affidavit (s. 192.1; Rule 1.5) if it confirms its own truth and acknowledges that a false declaration is an offence. Both a Declaration and an Affidavit form are available from the LTB.
• N13. Include Schedule A and, where needed, proof of permits and of compensation.
• N12 or N13. Complete Part C of the schedule in full. Under Rule 6.11, an incomplete Part C means the application is not accepted.

Lawyers and paralegals are required to use the Portal. Serving the tenant is the Board's job on an L2. Your side's job is evidence: photos, invoices, bills, witness statements and the tenancy agreement must reach the tenant and the Board a week or more ahead (Rule 19.1).

Mistakes that sink an L2

1. Late filing. Past day 30 the application is refused (Rule 6.9), with no extension available (O. Reg. 516/06, s. 56). That notice can no longer be used.
2. Jumping the gun on a first N5. An application filed during the 7-day remedy period is not accepted (Rule 6.8; s. 70). And if the tenant fixed the problem during those 7 days, the N5 is void anyway.
3. A flawed notice. Usual suspects: a termination date that is incorrect or too early, details left out, or an N8, N12 or N13 date that does not fall at the end of a rental period. Guideline 10 says a notice that breaks the RTA is void, and no amendment can save it. The eviction claim fails; money claims may survive.
4. Mixed messages. Serving a voidable N5 plus a non-voidable notice over the same conduct can make every one of them defective, if a reasonable tenant would have been confused (Guideline 10).
5. Recycling the first N5's facts. A second N5 needs new conduct, occurring after the first 7 days and inside 6 months of the first N5 being given. Relying only on the old incidents makes it invalid.
6. The N12 affidavit or declaration is missing at filing. Section 71.1(2) requires refusal. A declaration missing the words "good faith", or missing the one-year period, invites a fight over substantial compliance at the hearing.
7. Part C of a schedule is not finished. Not accepted (Rule 6.11). Leaving off an earlier N12 or N13 also exposes you to an offence.
8. Compensation unpaid. For N12s and N13s, s. 83(4) blocks any eviction order until the tenant has the compensation or has been offered a suitable unit. The deadline to pay is the termination date.
9. Arrears or stray NSF charges. Rent arrears go on an L1 or L9. NSF charges need a daily compensation claim beside them.
10. "Abandonment" with rent paid up. No arrears means no abandonment under s. 2(3).
11. An old L2. From November 30, 2026, any version dated before 2026/09 is refused.

If you are the tenant

You will get the application and Notice of Hearing from the Board, not the landlord. Look at these things early:

• The filing date. Compare it with the termination date in the notice. More than 30 days later means the application should not have been accepted.
• The notice itself. It is void if details are missing, if the termination date is wrong or too soon, or, for an N8, N12 or N13, if the date is not when a rental period ends.
• A first N5. Did you fix the problem inside the 7-day remedy period? Then that N5 is void.
• An N12. The person moving in must have filed an affidavit or declaration with the application. An eviction order also has to wait for compensation or an acceptable unit, unless the 120-day landlord's-own-use rule applies.
• Evidence. The landlord's documents should reach you at least 7 days ahead of the hearing.

The Member must also consider refusing or delaying eviction under s. 83, so bring whatever is relevant to your situation.

After filing

The Board serves the tenant and schedules a hearing. The landlord then has to prove every dollar claimed, the ground, the notice, and that each tenant was served.

Section 83 of the RTA makes the Board consider refusing or delaying any eviction. Without the landlord's consent, since September 21, 2026, enforcement can be postponed only if there are compelling grounds and the delay is not unfair to the landlord or to other tenants. Under O. Reg. 516/06, s. 8.4, only the "not unfair" half of the test applies when the application is based on an N12 or N13.

When an N12 is for own use, the new occupant is normally expected to be living there within 60 days, measured from the termination date or from the tenant's departure if that was later. If that does not happen, a T5 filed from September 21, 2026 starts with a presumption of bad faith. The landlord may rebut it (O. Reg. 240/26; RTA s. 57(6.1), (7)).

Orders issued from July 1, 2026 give you 15 days to ask for a review. As for enforcement, s. 81 gives you six months to file an eviction order with the Court Enforcement Office.

Recent changes

• September 21, 2026. New L2 form and new instructions; and from November 30, 2026, anything earlier than 2026/09 is refused. Also new that day: the persistent-late definition, the N12 with 120 days' notice and no compensation, reoccupation notices for N13s, a "compelling grounds" requirement before eviction can be delayed, and updates to Guidelines 10 and 12.
• July 1, 2026. Review requests: 15 days now, not 30, on orders issued from that day.

Common questions

After serving my notice, how long do I have to file?

Up to 30 days past the termination date on the notice, and the Board cannot extend it. Filing can usually start the day the notice is given. The exception is a first N5, which has to clear its 7-day remedy period.

Can I combine eviction and a damage claim?

Yes. Per Guideline 10, when you want both termination and compensation arising out of the same events, both have to be claimed on the L2. Itemize the damage, and the tenant should have your invoices and photos 7 days ahead.

Does an N12 need an affidavit?

It needs an affidavit or a signed declaration from whoever will move in, filed at the same time as the application. Without it, the Board must refuse the application.

What does persistent late payment mean now?

Three or more payments, within any six months, that were over 7 days late, leaving aside any that ran late only because you put them toward some other debt. Other patterns may also qualify.

The tenant is gone. Is the L2 still an option?

Only to have the Board confirm abandonment. Money from a former tenant is an L10 claim, due within a year of the move-out.

Official sources

• Form L2 (2026/09) and L2 Instructions
• Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, ss. 2, 44, 48–50, 57, 57.1, 58–73, 79, 81, 83, 86, 88.1–90, 192.1
• O. Reg. 516/06, ss. 8.1, 8.4, 17, 53, 56
• O. Reg. 240/26 (Prescribed Period of Time)
• LTB Rules of Procedure, Rules 1.5, 4.4–4.5, 6.6–6.11, 19
• Interpretation Guideline 10 and Interpretation Guideline 12
• LTB Operational Update, September 21, 2026
• LTB Forms, filing and fees