Care and Retirement Home Increases: How the N3 Notice Works

An Ontario care home (a retirement home is one kind) increases what a resident pays with a single Landlord and Tenant Board notice, the N3. It can cover the rent, the care-and-meal charges, or the two together. The two halves run on separate rules. The rent half is held to the 12-month rule and the yearly guideline, which is 1.9% for 2027. The care-and-meals half can go up whenever, by any amount. Either way, the tenant must get 90 days' written notice or more.

Key facts

What counts, and what the N3 covers

Under RTA s. 2(1), a "care home" is a residential complex that people occupy, or are meant to occupy, so they can receive care services, whether or not that is its main purpose. Care services mean health care, rehabilitative or therapeutic services, or help with daily living.

The N3 handles two different increases.

The rent (RTA ss. 116, 119, 120). Three conditions:

1. The tenant has had at least 90 days' notice in writing.
2. A year has gone by since the last increase or since move-in.
3. It stays within the guideline, unless an N10 or an LTB order permits a larger increase.

The province confirms that in a care home the guideline caps only the rent portion, not services such as food, nursing or cleaning (ontario.ca).

Care and meal charges (RTA s. 150).

• The new charges are set out in writing on the approved form, at least 90 days ahead.
• Without that notice the increase is void, and you start over with a new notice.
• No 12-month wait and no cap on the amount, as the N3 instructions confirm.

One condition sits in front of both. RTA s. 140 obliges the landlord to hand every new resident the prescribed care home information package. Before the resident has it, the landlord may not give notice of any rent increase or any increase in care or meal charges.

When to use it, and when to use something else

If the unit is rent-controlled and in a care home, and any of these amounts is rising, the N3 is your form.

Other routes apply when:

• The unit is exempt from the limits on rent increases (for instance under RTA s. 7). An N2 covers its rent. The N3 instructions also say no notice is needed to raise care and meal charges for an exempt unit.
• The tenant agrees to a new meal or care service, or to more of a service. Per the N3 instructions, you can skip both the notice and the 90 days. Going from 5 to 10 hours of therapy a week is the example given.
• Tenant and landlord agree on an above-guideline rent increase in return for capital work or a new service. That is an N10.

Timing

• Ninety days per increase. Day of service excluded; mail adds five days (RTA s. 191(3)). The LTB has no power to cut the 90 days or the 12 months (O. Reg. 516/06, s. 56).
• A year between rent increases only. Care and meal charges have no such gap.
• The tenant can leave quickly. Under RTA s. 145, a care home resident can give 30 days' notice to end the tenancy whenever they like, and after that notice can have care services and meals stopped with 10 days' notice.

Example: you hand the N3 to the tenant on Monday, November 2, 2026. The 90 days run out on January 31, 2027, so an increase dated February 1, 2027 works. Mail it on the same day instead and the extra five days push the earliest date to February 5, 2027, so February 1 no longer works; March 1, 2027 would.

Completing the N3

Version 01/04/2022 is current. It is two pages.

1. To. Name each tenant. Where someone gets mail somewhere other than the unit, the instructions want that address too.
2. From. Name each landlord and give a mailing address.
3. The unit. Its full address, unit number and postal code included.
4. The effective date. The heading reads Your New Rent and Charges, followed by "On dd/mm/yyyy". Pick a date that leaves the full 90 days and, where rent is going up, falls at least a year after the previous rent increase.
5. The new rent. The rent line (it reads "Your rent will increase to" an amount per month, week or other period) takes the new rent only. No care or meal charges here.
6. Approval box. Two choices: the new rent either needs no approval, or needs approval by an order under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006. Tick the second when the increase exceeds the guideline and rests on an L5 order. The 2015 instructions mention extra boxes (approved versus applied for), but the current form has only these two; tick one of them.
7. The new care and meal charges. A separate line takes the increased charges for care services and meals, and nothing else.
8. The total. The form asks for the total you should pay for rent and care services and meals on the date of the increase. Add the two figures. Say the current rent is $1,850.00: a 1.9% guideline increase adds $35.15, so the new rent is $1,885.15. Add care and meal charges going to $1,400.00 and the monthly total comes to $3,285.15.
9. The printed legal information on pages 1 and 2. Do not alter it.
10. Signature. Mark whether you are the landlord or a representative, give a name and phone number, and sign and date. Representatives also fill in the representative block.

Serving it

The N3 instructions allow these methods:

• personal delivery to the tenant, or to an adult in the unit;
• the mailbox, or wherever mail is delivered;
• pushed through the mail slot or slid beneath the door;
• courier or mail;
• fax.

Under Rule 3.1, email is also allowed if the tenant has consented in writing. A notice stuck to the door does not count. Where the tenant has a guardian, or an attorney acting as substitute decision-maker under a power of attorney, the instructions say that person should get a copy too.

Mistakes that undo the increase

1. Notice given before the information package. Because s. 140(2) bars the notice, there is no valid notice to support the increase.
2. Fewer than 90 days, for the rent or the charges. The increase is void (ss. 116(4), 150(3)) and a fresh notice is needed.
3. Putting amounts on the wrong line. Care costs on the rent line can disguise a charges increase as rent going up past the guideline. Rent on the charges line can let a rent increase slip past the 12-month rule. Keep each where it belongs.
4. Applying the wrong rules. The 12-month rule and the guideline govern rent, not care and meal charges. Forgetting them for the rent, or imposing them on the charges, are both errors.
5. No copy for the guardian or attorney. The instructions say to send one. Skipping it opens an argument over whether the notice reached anyone able to act on it.
6. Taping it to the door, or emailing with no written consent. Service like that fails, unless you prove the tenant actually got the notice in time (s. 191(2)).

For residents and families

If you live in a care home, or act for someone who does, check three things on an N3. First, the dates: there should be 90 days or more between service and the effective date for each kind of increase, and 12 months or more since the last rent increase. Second, the rent line: it should hold rent only, and the increase should not exceed the guideline (1.9% for 2027) unless an L5 order or an N10 allows more. Third, whether the information package was given before the notice; if not, s. 140(2) bars the notice. Care and meal charges are not capped, but they still need proper notice. If the new amounts are not workable, s. 145 lets you leave on 30 days' notice and then have care and meals stopped with 10 days' notice.

After it is served

There is nothing to file. The new amounts start on the effective date. Where the rent increase is waiting on an L5 order, item 3 of the form explains that the tenant may pay only the guideline amount until the order comes, and may owe the balance afterward.

Common questions

Do retirement homes have to follow the guideline?

On rent, yes: 1.9% for 2027. On care and meal charges, no.

Is there a limit on how often care or meal charges rise?

The 12-month rule does not apply. What still applies, except in exempt units, is 90 days' written notice on an N3 for each increase.

Is an N3 needed for a new service the tenant asked for?

No. If the resident agrees to an added meal or care service, or to more of an existing one, the N3 instructions let you start charging without notice or a 90-day wait.

How much notice must a care home resident give to move out?

Thirty days, under RTA s. 145, not the usual 60.

Official sources

• N3 form (PDF)
• N3 Instructions (PDF)
• Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, ss. 2, 7, 116, 119, 120, 140, 145, 150 and 191
• O. Reg. 516/06 (General), s. 56
• LTB Rules of Procedure, Rule 3.1
• Residential rent increases (ontario.ca)