Sometimes a landlord and a tenant simply agree that the tenancy should end, and agree on the day. In Ontario the Landlord and Tenant Board form for writing that down is the N11 Agreement to End the Tenancy. Nobody has to prove a ground for eviction, and no minimum notice applies. The sharp edge is this: if the tenant does not go, the landlord can file an L3 and obtain an eviction order with no hearing at all. Because of that, when and how the form gets signed matters a great deal.

Key facts
Who signs Both landlord and tenant, voluntarily
When Anytime during the tenancy. Never at the moment the lease is entered into, and never as a price of getting the unit
Timing The parties pick the date; no notice minimum. An L3, if one is needed, has a 30-day limit running from that date
Filed? Not by itself. Each party keeps a copy, and it only goes to the Board attached to an L3
Fee The N11 is free. An L3 costs $186 on the Portal, $201 by any other route
What follows If the tenant stays: the L3 Application to End a Tenancy – Tenant Gave Notice or Agreed to Terminate the Tenancy

How the agreement works

The legal hook is in the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (RTA), at s. 37(3): once the parties agree that the tenancy will end, no termination notice is needed. The N11 is simply the Board's template for that agreement. One termination date appears on it, and the tenant promises to be gone by then.

Two outcomes are possible:

  • Out by the date. That day is the last day of the tenancy. Property left behind once the tenant has moved out can be sold, kept or thrown away by the landlord under RTA s. 41, something the form itself points out.
  • Still there after the date. RTA s. 77 then lets the landlord apply, and the Board can end the tenancy "without notice to the tenant". This is called an ex parte order: decided on the file, no hearing. Its effective date can never come before the date in the agreement.

Two things the N11 is not. It is not a licence to re-key the unit or put the tenant out; eviction orders are enforced by the Sheriff at the Court Enforcement Office, and nobody else. And it is not a way around tenant protections by getting the signature at the time of renting.

When an N11 is appropriate

Good uses: a tenant who has negotiated a moving date with you, a "cash for keys" arrangement, or a tenant who asks to be released from a lease early.

Bad uses:

  • Bundled with the lease. Any agreement to end the tenancy that is made when the tenancy agreement is signed, or that is a condition of renting, is void (RTA s. 37(5)). The form warns tenants of this in plain words. The only carve-outs are narrow: certain student residences (s. 37(6) and (7)), and, under O. Reg. 516/06, s. 7, care home units delivering rehabilitative or therapeutic services for at most four years by agreement with a service manager.
  • When the tenant is really the one leaving on their own notice. For a monthly or fixed-term tenancy, that is the tenant's form, the N9 Tenant's Notice to End the Tenancy. Either document can support an L3.
  • When there is no real consent. The LTB has to set aside the order if the tenant shows that no agreement existed (RTA s. 77(8)(a)). Signatures obtained by leaning on someone, or on paper they did not grasp, are exactly what that motion targets.
  • In place of the notice you actually need. If the real reason is your own use, a renovation or a breach, use that notice, the N12 for example, rather than pressing an N11 on the tenant.

Timing rules

  • The date itself. Any date both of you accept, mid-month included. There is no notice minimum.
  • Soonest an L3 can be filed. Right after signing, according to the L3 instructions. The termination date does not have to arrive first.
  • Latest an L3 can be filed. Thirty days after the agreed date (RTA s. 77(3)), with no extension possible (O. Reg. 516/06, s. 56). After that, you need a new agreement or your own notice.
  • Earliest the order can bite. Not before the agreed date (s. 77(5)).
  • Tenant's window to challenge. Ten days from the order's issue date to file a motion to set it aside (s. 77(6)). Filing stays the order automatically until the motion is decided (s. 77(7)).
  • Counting. Calendar days; the first day is excluded and the last included. If the final day falls when the LTB is closed, the deadline shifts to its next open day (Rules of Procedure 1.12–1.14).

Example: the agreed termination date is Friday, January 29, 2027. Thirty days later is Sunday, February 28, when the LTB is closed, so the L3 deadline moves to Monday, March 1, 2027. If an ex parte order then issues on Tuesday, February 9, 2027, the tenant's motion to set it aside must be filed by Friday, February 19, 2027.

Completing the N11

The form in use is dated 01/04/2022. The September 21, 2026 round of form updates left it alone. Two pages; no instruction sheet.

First page

  1. Tenants. The line asks you to include every tenant name: everyone named in the lease who actually lives there, spelled as in the lease. Guests and children are left off. The LTB has published nothing on whether one joint tenant's signature can carry an L3 against the others, so play it safe and have all of them sign.
  2. Landlord. Use the full legal name, or the legal name of the corporation if a company owns the place. If there is more than one landlord, list each.
  3. Rental unit. Write the address in full, with the unit designation (a number, or "Basement" or "Upper"), the municipality and the postal code.
  4. Termination date. A single calendar date in day/month/year form. Loose wording ("end of the month", "once the tenant has somewhere") will not do; the L3 order is built on this exact date.

The remainder of page one is the Board's "Important Information" box, which must stay untouched. It tells the tenant three things: the landlord may apply to evict, abandoned belongings can be disposed of, and nobody can be forced to sign as a condition of renting.

Second page

  1. Tenant signature block. Name (first and last), phone, signature, date. Only one block is printed, so add pages laid out the same way for any other tenants.
  2. Landlord signature block. The same details. An agent or employee signing for a company landlord signs in that role.
  3. Office Use Only. Nothing goes here.

Keep the original and hand the tenant a signed copy. Should an L3 become necessary, you will file a copy along with a declaration or affidavit that confirms it.

Signing it properly

No service is involved; an N11 is a signed agreement. Good practice:

  • Wait until the tenancy has begun, and treat it as its own discussion, separate from any lease signing or renewal.
  • Copies all round. The form says each side should keep one.
  • Keep a record. Note the date, the people present, any money promised, and the email trail. That is your answer if the tenant later moves to set aside an L3 order.
  • If the tenant goes on time, you are done.
  • If the tenant stays, file an L3. The Tribunals Ontario Portal costs $186; ServiceOntario, mail or courier costs $201. Per the L3 instructions, four items go in together: the filled-in L3, the N11 (a copy), the fee, and a declaration (signed) or affidavit (sworn) confirming the agreement. Miss any one and the application is refused. The declaration should say when the tenancy agreement was entered into, give the termination date, say who signed the N11 and when, confirm it was not signed at the start of the tenancy, and confirm nothing signed later has replaced it.

Mistakes that make it worthless

  1. It was part of the lease paperwork, or required to rent. Void under s. 37(5), so the L3 has no foundation. Unless a narrow exception fits (certain student housing or care homes), having tenants sign an N11 at move-in achieves nothing.
  2. The L3 went in past day 30. Section 77(3) blocks it, and no extension exists. Dismissal is the warned result.
  3. The affidavit or declaration, or the N11 copy, was left out. The L3 instructions say such an application is refused. An affidavit verifying the agreement is required by s. 77(2); under Rule 1.5 a signed declaration is acceptable too.
  4. The date is uncertain. Wording like "on or about" or "once the tenant finds somewhere", or two inconsistent dates, gives the Board nothing it can enforce. One date, dd/mm/yyyy.
  5. A tenant never signed. Expect a co-tenant who lives in the unit but did not sign to say they never agreed.
  6. The tenant was pressured. Proof that no genuine agreement existed obliges the Board to cancel the order (s. 77(8)(a)). Threats, pressure and misleading statements about rights are what usually lead there.
  7. The form was edited. Lines struck through, changes to the "Important Information" box or extra conditions all help a tenant argue they did not understand. Leave the N11 as printed and record side deals, such as a moving allowance, in a separate signed paper.
  8. Acting as if it were an eviction order. While the tenant remains in possession, and before the Sheriff enforces an order, the N11 gives no authority to re-key or clear out belongings.

For tenants who signed an N11

You can agree to leave on any date, but only if you genuinely agree. If signing was demanded with your lease, or as the price of getting the unit, the agreement is void, apart from the narrow exceptions. If you stay past the date, the landlord can get an order without a hearing, but you get 10 days from its issue date to bring a Form S2 motion asking that it be set aside. Filing that motion puts the order on hold. The test since September 21, 2026: the order is set aside only if that would not be unfair, all circumstances considered, and anything that changed for you after you signed is off the table. Belongings you leave behind after moving out may be disposed of by the landlord.

What happens next

A tenant who has left by the agreed date has ended the tenancy, and that is that. Otherwise:

  1. L3. Send it in with the N11 and the affidavit or declaration, no more than 30 days after the agreed date.
  2. Order on paper. In the usual case the Board decides the L3 without a hearing; the termination it orders cannot predate the agreed date. If the Board refers the file to a hearing instead, Interpretation Guideline 7 says RTA s. 83 applies and every circumstance can be weighed.
  3. Motion by the tenant. Ten days after the order, a tenant can file Form S2 and the order is stayed. Once the motion is heard, the order is cancelled, or the stay ends, either at once or on a set later date (s. 77(8)).
  4. Enforcement. With the order in effect and no stay, the landlord files it with the Sheriff at the Court Enforcement Office. Only the Sheriff can evict.

Recent changes

From September 21, 2026, tenants face a harder test on a motion to set aside an ex parte order that was based on an N11 or on their own notice. The rule is a new s. 8.2 in O. Reg. 516/06, made under RTA s. 77(8)(b):

  • The Board will set the order aside only where, looking at all the circumstances, it is satisfied that setting it aside would not be unfair.
  • Developments in the tenant's life after the agreement was signed may not be considered. A job lost afterward, or trouble finding a new home, are examples.

Guideline 7 now reflects this. The N11 form stayed the same.

Common questions

Does an N11 need 60 days' notice?

No. Agreements to end a tenancy have no notice minimum, and the date can be any day of the month. What is fixed is the L3 deadline: 30 days after the chosen date.

Can the N11 be signed at lease signing?

As a rule, no. Section 37(5) of the RTA voids an agreement made at that point or demanded as a condition of renting. The exceptions, listed on the form, cover only some post-secondary student housing and some care homes that offer rehabilitative or therapeutic services.

Can a tenant back out of a signed N11?

There is no cooling-off period in the RTA. But if the tenant stays and an L3 order is made, a motion within 10 days can challenge it. From September 21, 2026, success requires a finding that setting it aside would not be unfair, and post-signing changes in the tenant's life do not count.

Does an L3 go to a hearing?

Rarely. The order can be made without notifying the tenant. A tenant's set-aside motion brings on a hearing, as does a Board decision to hear the application.

What if the tenant also owes rent?

An N11 still works if the tenant really agrees to go, but it only ends the tenancy. The rent is a separate claim. While the tenant still lives there, use an L1; once they have left, an L10.

Official sources