For most Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) files in Ontario, the case lives online in the Tribunals Ontario Portal, usually called TOP. Landlords file their most common applications there at a lower fee, tenants file several of theirs, and both sides use it to upload evidence, swap documents and messages, and follow the file's progress. Read on for its features, its limits, and the single most common misunderstanding: treating an upload as if it served the other party.
Quick reference
| Topic | The rule |
|---|---|
| How to sign in | Public Secure (Ontario): either a My Ontario Login account or sign-in through your bank |
| Landlord applications accepted | L1, L2, L3, L4, L9, L10 |
| Not on the Portal | The L5 goes to [email protected]; the L6, L7, L8, A1, A2 and A4 go by email, mail, courier or ServiceOntario; review requests go by email |
| L1, L2, L3, L9, L10 fee | $186 online, against $201 by other methods |
| L4 fee | $0 when filed online |
| Cards accepted | Visa (credit and Debit) and Mastercard (credit and Debit) |
| Evidence uploads | Permitted, but an upload is not service on the other party without their written consent |
| Lawyers and paralegals | Portal-only for a set list of filings, from January 1, 2025 |
What you can do on it
Per Tribunals Ontario, a Portal user can:
- start an application and pay for it;
- see the current status of a case;
- put evidence on the file;
- send and receive messages and documents with everyone else in the case;
- picking preferred hearing dates yourself, in some situations; and
- trying to reach a deal through the online dispute resolution (ODR) tool.
The LTB regards the Portal as the live record of a case. Its help page says the Portal information is current, and that staff cannot tell you more about where a file stands than what the Portal already shows.
Getting an account
Access is through Public Secure, which is the province's single sign-on. Pick one of two routes:
- My Ontario Login. An email address plus a password of eight or more characters that mixes upper-case and lower-case letters, a number and a symbol.
- Bank sign-in. The Sign-in partner, Government Sign-In by Verified.Me, accepts your online banking username and password.
Tribunals Ontario warns that Internet Explorer does not work well with the Portal. Use an up-to-date Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge.
Whoever files the application has the file linked to their account automatically, with no PIN needed.
What the Portal accepts, and what it does not
Landlord applications on the Portal:
| Form | Used to |
|---|---|
| L1 | Recover unpaid rent and evict for non-payment |
| L2 | End the tenancy and evict on other grounds, or claim money |
| L3 | Enforce a tenant's own notice, or an agreement, to leave |
| L4 | Act when a tenant breaks a condition in a settlement or order |
| L9 | Recover rent owed by a tenant still in the unit |
| L10 | Recover money owed by a former tenant |
Tenant and co-op applications on the Portal: T1, T2, T5 and T6, along with co-op applications C1 and C2.
Off-Portal filings. Email is the listed route for the A1, A2, A4, L6, L7 and L8, for review requests, and for asking for a hearing recording. Payment comes first, through the Online Payment for Tribunal Applications page; the receipt then travels with the application to [email protected]. Above-guideline increases (the L5) follow their own email process at [email protected], and need the RUI (Rental Unit Information) spreadsheet. Paper is an option for the L5, the L6 to L8 and all three A forms: mail, courier, or a ServiceOntario centre that handles LTB documents. Review requests, by contrast, are listed as email-only. Card numbers must never appear in an email; applications containing them are deleted.
Filing, from start to finish
Before you begin. An L1 or L2 needs the termination notice that was served (an N4, N5, N12 or similar) plus a completed Certificate of Service showing the method and date.
The guided form. Answer the screens in order. Include every tenant by name. Wherever you know an email (for a party or a representative), enter it: that is where the Board will send PINs and documents.
Attach the supporting papers at filing. Under Rule 4.4, the notice, any affidavit and the Certificate of Service belong with the application. Rule 4.5 gives a 5-calendar-day grace period, after which administrative dismissal is possible.
Check everything before "Ready to Submit". The draft is locked once you reach that page. Any error then means starting a fresh application.
Pay. The Portal takes Visa credit, Visa Debit, Mastercard credit and Debit Mastercard. LTB fees are not refundable.
Two Portal-specific rules: the filing date is the date of upload (Rule 4.8), and a typed name is an acceptable signature (Rule 4.3).
Once it is in, LTB staff review the application, its supporting documents and its timing. Missing pieces or a too-early filing may lead to refusal or dismissal; see Rule 6 for the typical timing problems, and the L1 guide for how they play out in rent cases.
PINs: how the other side gets in
When someone files on the Portal, each other party is notified and receives a one-time PIN, by email if an address was given and by mail if not. A party or representative who did not start the case opens "Link my Account to a File at LTB", then types in the LTB file number and their five-digit PIN. Once linked, they never need the PIN again.
Each PIN belongs to one person and must not be shared. Hiring a lawyer or paralegal partway through? Upload a "Request to Add a Representative or Agent" to the file under Documents, Evidence and Requests. For a missing or lost PIN, the LTB can be reached at [email protected], 416-645-8080, or toll-free at 1-888-332-3234.
Evidence
On Portal-type files (L1, L2, L3, L4, L9, L10), the Board's Practice Direction on Evidence directs uploads: open the case, then Documents, Evidence and Requests, then Submissions. Technical requirements:
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| File size | Up to 500 MB |
| Formats | Documents: DOC, DOCX, PDF, TXT, MSG. Spreadsheets and data: XLS, XLSX, CSV, DAT. Images: GIF, JPEG, JPG, PNG, TIF. Audio and video: MP3, MP4, AVI, MOV |
| Links | Website and social media links are refused; convert the page to a document first |
| Presentation | Readable, pages numbered in order, and a table of contents when there is more than one item |
Shared links from cloud services like Dropbox or iCloud are not accepted as evidence.
Timing. Rule 19.1 sets a 7-day minimum: anything you intend to use goes to the other side and the Board a week or more before the hearing or case management hearing. Reply evidence has a 5-day minimum (Rule 19.2). Rent cases (L1, L9) add one more item: the L1/L9 Information Update, due to the Board and every tenant five days or more ahead (Rule 10.2).
An upload is not service
This is where people lose hearings. Rule 19.1.1 is blunt. A Portal upload does not deliver evidence to the other side, unless that person signed a written consent to Portal service and the consent itself is on the file. Without one, use an approved method as well (personal delivery, mail, courier, or email if they agreed to email), and meet the same deadlines.
To document consent, the Board offers the Consent to Disclosure through Tribunals Ontario Portal form. Its main terms:
- signatures from the landlord and the tenant, one form per tenant;
- written consent is essential, though the Board's own form is not compulsory;
- written notice to the other person ends Portal service at any time; and
- after signing, it is up to each person to watch the Portal for new documents.
Put the signed form on the file under Documents, Evidence and Requests, picking the "Consent to Disclosure through TOP" option. With written consent in place, Rule 3.1 recognizes Portal upload as service, and Rule 3.9 treats the upload date as the service date.
For tenants, the same rule protects you: unless you signed a consent, the landlord's evidence must reach you by an approved method, not just appear on the Portal. If you did sign one, check the Portal regularly, because uploads then count as service.
Messaging, negotiating and withdrawing
Through ODR, the parties negotiate directly. It is not mediation and it is not a hearing, according to Tribunals Ontario; once there is agreement, or deadlock, either side may ask for a Dispute Resolution Officer. Rule 13.5 keeps ODR exchanges confidential, so they cannot be put before the Board. Possible endings include a payment plan, a mediated agreement, a consent order, or a withdrawal done on the Portal by the applicant.
Lawyers and paralegals have no choice
Since the start of 2025 (January 1), anyone licensed by the Law Society of Ontario files Portal-eligible applications on the Portal, and also a specified list of other items: summonses, scheduling and time requests (reschedule, extend, shorten), withdrawal and discontinuance requests, requests to amend an order, re-open requests, L1/L9 Information Updates, evidence, and application amendments. If a licensee sends one of those on paper, by fax, by email or through ServiceOntario, it will not be processed.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Portal really cost less?
For landlords, yes: $186 versus $201 for an L1, L2, L3, L9 or L10, and nothing at all for an L4.
Can an L5 be filed on the Portal?
No. Email it, with its RUI spreadsheet, to [email protected], or use mail, courier or ServiceOntario. Payment is through a secure link the Board emails; the link lapses after three calendar days.
The other party has a PIN. Does my upload count as serving them?
Only where they agreed in writing to Portal service and that consent is on the file. Otherwise, serve them separately before the deadline.
I spotted an error after reaching "Ready to Submit". Can I fix it?
Not from that page; the draft cannot be edited. Start a new application, and review it carefully before you click "Save and Next".
Technology failing on the day of the hearing?
Zoom problems that day go to LTB hearing support: [email protected], 416-212-9064, or toll-free 866-769-7865. Portal and PIN questions go to [email protected].