The N8 is an Ontario termination notice with five possible grounds, each of which ends the tenancy only when a rental period or fixed term runs out. Chronic late rent is the ground landlords rely on most. Since September 21, 2026 a regulation spells out what "persistent" means: rent paid more than 7 days after its due date on three or more occasions inside six months. Notice is long (60 days in most tenancies) and the date has to be a period-end. Even so, the landlord can apply on an L2 as soon as the N8 is served.

Quick summary
Served by Landlords dealing with chronic late rent, or with any of four other grounds: lost social housing eligibility, housing tied to a job that ended, a cancelled condo purchase, or a finished care-home therapy stay
When Any time after the ground exists; termination comes only when a period or term closes
Notice length Monthly, yearly or fixed term: 60 days minimum. Daily or weekly: 28 days minimum. Always ending on a period's or term's final day, with extra days for mail or courier
Service Every tenant, by an approved method. Never on the door
Cost No fee for the notice. The L2 costs $186 on the Tribunals Ontario Portal, $201 otherwise
Next step The landlord's application, an L2: open for filing at once, closed 30 days past the termination date

The five grounds

Four grounds come from s. 58 of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (RTA); the fifth, for care homes, is in s. 144. The form lists all five as numbered reasons.

Reason 1: chronic lateness (para. 1 of s. 58(1)). Rent is persistently not paid on the day it is due. Section 8.1(1) of O. Reg. 516/06 treats as persistent three or more payments, inside any six months, that each came in over a week late. A payment does not count if it was late only because the landlord put it toward something else owed, such as old arrears. That definition is not the only route: under s. 8.1(2) the Board can find persistence in other circumstances too.

Reason 2: social housing eligibility lost (para. 2 of s. 58(1)). In a unit within s. 7(1), paras. 1 to 4, the tenant no longer meets the occupancy qualifications.

Reason 3: the job is over (s. 58(1), para. 3). The landlord supplied the unit because of the tenant's employment, and that employment has ended.

Reason 4: the condo deal fell through (para. 4 of s. 58(1)). A buyer of a proposed condo unit became a tenant, in good faith, under the purchase agreement; that agreement was later terminated.

Reason 5: the therapy period has run out (s. 144). Three conditions: the tenant was in the care-home unit solely for agreed rehabilitation or therapy; that agreed time has ended; and the home lets no other tenant in that program stay beyond the prescribed limit (4 years, per the form).

An N8 cannot be voided. Good behaviour afterward does not undo it, though the tenant may still fight it before the Board.

Choosing the N8, or something else

Reason 1 targets a habit, not a balance owing today. Where there is also a balance, serve an N4 too; Guideline 10 relies on Shearer v. Oz, 2026 ONSC 3753, in which the Divisional Court accepted that unpaid rent is simultaneously late and in arrears.

The N8 is the wrong notice in three situations:

  • Rent-geared-to-income (RGI) help was lost. Section 58(3) takes that out of Reason 2, along with failing to take steps to keep RGI eligibility. If the tenant then fails to pay the new lawful rent, the notice is an N4.
  • A superintendent's job ended. Per its instructions, the N8 is not for this. Where the superintendent is still there more than seven days after the job ended, the landlord can go straight to an L2 with no termination notice.
  • The landlord, family or renovations need the unit. That is N12 or N13 territory, under separate rules.

The dates

Choosing the termination date

Sections 44 and 58(2) of the RTA set these minimums:

Kind of tenancy Notice at least Termination date
Month to month 60 days A period's final day; rent due on the 1st means a month-end
Year to year 60 days The final day of a yearly period
Fixed term 60 days before expiry The term's final day, and per the checklist never sooner
Day to day or week to week 28 days A period's final day; rent due each Monday means a Sunday

Counting

Rule 1.13: leave out the day the notice is given; include the termination date. Mail adds 5 days (s. 191(3)). A courier delivery is treated as given the day after the courier got it, or the next business day when that day is a Saturday, Sunday or holiday (Rule 3.9; Rule 1.1 counts weekends as holidays); the instructions say to allow one business day.

Worked example. Monthly tenancy, rent due on the 1st. The landlord hands the N8 over on March 3, 2027. Sixty days later is May 2, which is not a month-end, so the earliest valid termination date is May 31, 2027. Mailed on March 3 instead, the N8 counts as given March 8; sixty days on is May 7, and May 31, 2027 still works. The L2 would then have to be filed by June 30, 2027.

The L2 window

Filing can start as soon as the notice is given (s. 71; N8 instructions) and ends a month (30 days) past the termination date (s. 69(2)). You will not find that cut-off in the N8 instructions; it comes from the Act, which applies it to all notices except rent arrears notices. If no application is filed in time, the N8 is void (s. 46(1)).

For tenants: the dates that matter to you

Check the termination date first: full notice (60 or 28 days, plus mail or courier time) and a date that closes a rental period or ends your lease term. A wrong date usually cannot be saved. Next, watch the calendar after the termination date: if the landlord has not filed an L2 within 30 days of it, the notice is void. And even if the Board orders an eviction, you will not be required to leave before the termination date on the N8.

Filling in the N8

Use a newly downloaded form from the LTB forms page, and keep the official instructions beside you. The checklist page comes off before service.

The parties and the address

  • To: list the tenants living there, and any subtenant or assignee.
  • From: the landlord, or all of the landlords.
  • Address of Rental Unit: the street address with unit or suite, municipality and postal code.

Termination date

Write one date as dd/mm/yyyy. It needs enough days (60 or 28, plus time for service) and must close a rental period, or the lease term.

Reasons box

Mark every reason, 1 through 5, that fits your facts.

The details box

Specifics and dates. The instructions describe what each reason calls for:

Reason What to write
1. Persistent late payment The rent due date; each date payment actually came in; the amounts paid late; the rental period each one covered
2. Social housing eligibility lost When, and why, the tenant stopped qualifying
3. Job-linked housing What the job was, when it ended, and other key facts
4. Condo purchase cancelled Date the purchase agreement was made, date it was terminated, and why
5. Care-home therapy period over The services, the terms of the agreement, and the end of the agreed period

For Reason 1, set it out month by month: due date, date received, amount. Payments that were late only on paper, because you credited them to old arrears, do not belong in the list.

Signature and Representative Information

Tick Landlord or Representative, then give a name and phone number, sign and date. Representatives also fill in their name, LSO number (if they have one), company, mailing address, email and phone.

Delivering it

The N8 instructions permit:

  • handing it to the tenant, or to any adult in the unit;
  • dropping it in the mailbox, or the spot mail normally goes;
  • pushing it beneath the door or into the mail slot;
  • fax, courier, or mail (Xpresspost included).

Email requires the tenant's written consent (Rule 3.1). It may not be posted on the door.

Each tenant gets one. Keep a copy and complete a Certificate of Service; the two go to the Board when the L2 is filed, or no more than 5 calendar days later (Rules 4.4, 4.5).

Why N8s fail

Guideline 10 rules out amending an N8 once served. Trivial errors that cause no significant prejudice may survive under s. 212 of the RTA; a bad termination date almost never does.

  1. The date is not a period end. With rent due on the 1st, only a month-end works. Simply counting to day 60 and stopping there is the classic N8 mistake.
  2. Too short. Under 60 days (28 for daily or weekly), or no allowance for mail (5 days) or courier (1 business day). Guideline 10 confirms the Board has no power to add days.
  3. Ending a lease early. Nothing before the lease's final day is valid.
  4. Reason 1 with no history. Without due dates, payment dates and amounts, the tenant cannot know the case to meet. "Always late" will not do.
  5. Counting payments that were only late on paper. These do not count under s. 8.1 of O. Reg. 516/06. If what remains is under three, you are asking the Board to use its discretion.
  6. Reason 2 because RGI ended. Section 58(3) rules that out. If the new rent goes unpaid, serve an N4.
  7. An N8 for a superintendent. Skip the notice; an L2 can be filed directly if the superintendent is still there seven days after the job ended.
  8. Reason 5 where others in the program can stay longer. The ground requires that no tenant receiving those services may live there past the prescribed period.
  9. Missing the 30-day filing limit. Once a month has gone by after the termination date, a late L2 has to be dismissed (s. 69(2)). Because the date is two months off when the N8 goes out, it is easy to lose track.
  10. The basics. Every tenant in possession named and served, a complete address, an approved service method, a signature.
  11. An old version. The N8 was revised September 21, 2026 to match the new late-payment test. Earlier versions are refused from November 30, 2026.

After the N8

Next comes the landlord's L2, filed online through the Tribunals Ontario Portal with the N8 and Certificate of Service attached, anywhere between the day of service and 30 days past the termination date. It costs $186 on the Portal ($201 by other means).

The burden at the hearing is on the landlord. On Reason 1, bring the lease showing when rent is due and a clean ledger of payments. Any eviction order will leave the tenant in place at least until the N8's termination date (see the form's section on the landlord applying to the LTB).

The Board must consider refusing or delaying the eviction (RTA s. 83). Unless the landlord consents, a delay now needs compelling grounds and must not be unfair to the landlord or other tenants (s. 8.4 of O. Reg. 516/06). Orders dated July 1, 2026 or later can be reviewed only on a request made inside 15 days.

Recent changes

All from September 21, 2026 unless noted:

  • New s. 58(1.1) of the RTA authorized a regulatory definition of persistent lateness, and s. 8.1 of O. Reg. 516/06 supplies it (three over-a-week-late payments within six months, ignoring any made late by the landlord's own allocation). Other fact patterns can still count.
  • The N8 form was updated, with the old one refused starting November 30, 2026.
  • A tougher test applies to delaying an eviction the landlord has not agreed to.
  • July 1, 2026: 15 days, down from 30, to request a review of an order issued from that date.

Common questions

How many late payments make it "persistent"?

Since September 21, 2026, the regulation treats three or more over-a-week-late payments in a six-month span as persistent, so long as no payment was late solely because the landlord applied it to other amounts owing. Other facts can also persuade the Board.

If the tenant pays on time from now on, does the N8 go away?

No, there is no voiding an N8. A tenant's improved record can, however, be raised at the hearing, when the Board considers refusing or delaying eviction under s. 83.

Can an N4 and an N8 be served together?

Yes. Per Guideline 10, which follows the Divisional Court, rent left unpaid is late and also owing, so either or both grounds may be used.

What date goes on the N8 for a one-year lease?

The day the lease ends, with the N8 served 60 days or more ahead. After a rollover to monthly, pick a month-end that is at least 60 days off.

Official sources