In Ontario, the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) uses the Schedule of Parties to capture anyone who will not fit on the application form. You need it when a unit has three or more tenants, or when two or more people are the landlord. There is also a Schedule of Parties for Multi-Tenant Applications, which tenants use when several of them in one building apply together. A landlord usually sees that one as the party responding.

Quick facts
Used by Whoever is applying, once the main form is out of room for landlords or tenants
Timing Prepared when you file
Deadline Goes in together with the application
Filing method Attached to the application. Standard version: the Tribunals Ontario Portal. Multi-tenant version: the LTB's forms list says Portal, its fees section says mail or courier (see below)
Cost Nothing for the schedule. A joint tenant application has its own fee: $53 covers unit one, each further unit adds $5, and $450 is the most it can reach
Next form None

Why the schedule exists

Who counts as a party? Under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (RTA), s. 187(1), it is the landlord, and any tenant or other person directly affected, a party to an application. The Board mails the application and the Notice of Hearing only to the parties whose names it has. If you want an adult tenant bound by the order, that tenant has to be on the paperwork.

The application forms have limited space. The L1 instructions spell out how to deal with the overflow:

  • Two or more landlords: put one on the application itself; the rest go on the Schedule of Parties.
  • Three or more tenants: put two on the application itself; the rest go on the Schedule of Parties.

The multi-tenant version is tied to s. 186(2). That provision allows several tenants in one residential complex to join in a single application "if each tenant applying in the application signs it". This is why every tenant block on that version carries its own signature line.

When you need it, and when you don't

Reach for the standard schedule if:

  • your L1, L2 or other application targets three or more adult tenants, whether named on the lease or in possession;
  • the property has more than one owner and each one is a landlord;
  • you must also name a subtenant, a superintendent, or an agent of the landlord.

The multi-tenant version belongs to tenants who apply as a group under s. 186(2). The forms page tells such tenants to submit their joint application by mail or courier (but see the filing section below). If you are the landlord answering one, look at each listed tenant and confirm a signature is there. Section 186(2) demands it, and the form repeats the point on every block.

The schedule is not a way to bring someone into an application already on file. For that, amend under Rule 15, or ask the Board to exercise its s. 187(2) power to add a party.

Completing the standard version

The form tells you to type or print in capital letters. A page holds three blocks, and each block asks for:

  1. Role. Seven choices, check one: Tenant, Co-op Member, Landlord, Co-op, Subtenant, Superintendent or Landlord's Agent.
  2. First Name and Last Name. If a company is the landlord, give its exact legal name.
  3. Address details (Street Address, Unit, Municipality, Province, Postal Code). A tenant's address is usually the rental unit; a co-landlord gives the address where documents can reach them.
  4. Phone and fax (Day, Evening, Fax).

Number every sheet in the "Page __ of __" spaces, adding sheets as needed. The "Office Use Only" box for the file number stays empty.

Completing the multi-tenant version

Each block again asks for role, name, address and phone, though without the co-op options. Two things are added:

  • A signature area. Check Tenant or Representative, then sign and write the date as dd/mm/yyyy. The form is explicit that a tenant must sign that part too.
  • Representative details. A representative who signs for a tenant attaches a sheet with their own contact information: name, mailing address, email, phone and fax.

Getting it to the Board

For the standard schedule, use the Tribunals Ontario Portal and upload it along with the application. The multi-tenant version is less clear, because the official sources contradict each other: the list of forms on the LTB forms page marks it for Portal filing, while the fees section of that same page says multi-tenant applications have to be sent by mail or courier. Until the LTB sorts that out, tenants bringing a joint application should check the filing method with the LTB first. Spell every name exactly the way it appears on the lease and on your termination notice.

Errors that lead to adjournments or a weaker order

  1. An adult tenant is missing. Nobody sends the application or Notice of Hearing to a person who is not named. The hearing may be adjourned, or the Member may decline to make any order against the missing person. When service falls short, Rule 5.17 lets the LTB adjourn or dismiss.
  2. The names differ from the notice. Say your N4 lists three tenants but the application lists two. That mismatch becomes one more thing for the Member to untangle.
  3. A co-owner is left off as landlord. When two owners are both landlords, both belong on the application.
  4. The multi-tenant form is used for a landlord's application. That version is designed only for tenants applying jointly.
  5. A tenant on a joint application never signed. Every applying tenant has to sign, under s. 186(2). A responding landlord should point out any block without one.
  6. Pages are unnumbered or the handwriting is hard to read. Capital letters are what the form asks for.

For tenants on the other side

If you are a tenant named on a landlord's schedule, you are a party, and you should get the application and Notice of Hearing just as the first-named tenants do. If you think a co-tenant was left off, or that you were added by mistake, you can say so at the hearing; the Member has power under s. 187(2) to add or remove parties. If you are part of a group of tenants applying together, make sure each of you signs your own block before it goes in.

After filing

When the Board serves the Notice of Hearing, it includes each party you listed. At the hearing the Member may add or drop parties under s. 187(2). Find out about another adult tenant after you file? Bring it up right away rather than saving it for hearing day.

Common questions

At what point does an L1 need a Schedule of Parties?

Once there is a third tenant. Per the L1 instructions, the first two names fit on the application; the schedule takes the rest.

Should occupants who never signed the lease go on it?

The schedule lists parties: landlords, tenants and others directly affected, as RTA s. 187(1) defines them. Whether a given occupant counts as a tenant turns on the facts, so get advice before you file if you are not sure.

What does the multi-tenant version do?

It lists the tenants who join together in one application under RTA s. 186(2), each with a signature block of their own.

Does the schedule cost anything to file?

No. Fees attach to the application. On a joint tenant application the fee starts at $53 for one unit, rises $5 per extra unit, and stops at $450.

If a tenant was missed, can the Board add them?

Yes. Section 187(2) lets the Board add or remove parties as it considers appropriate. Plan for an adjournment so the added person can be served.

Official sources