As Toronto bakes under a heat dome this week, the timing of one new rule in Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) is hard to miss: as of July 1, 2026, tenants can install their own air conditioning, even in units where the landlord doesn’t provide it.
That’s one of several amendments to the RTA coming into force this summer, with more in September. Most come from Bill 60, the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025, passed November 24, 2025, alongside earlier changes from Bill 97, the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, 2023. The province’s goal is to reduce the backlog at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) by speeding up its processes.
For GTA landlords and investors, the practical takeaways are straightforward: shorter timelines on non-payment and own-use evictions, new rules around tenant-installed cooling, and a tighter window to challenge an LTB decision. Here’s what each change does and when it takes effect, ranked by how much it’s likely to affect you.
Tenants Can Install Their Own A/C Starting July 1 (Bill 97)
This takes effect July 1, 2026, and a week like this one is exactly why it matters to most GTA landlords.
If you don’t already provide air conditioning, your tenant is now allowed to install a window or portable A/C unit. You can’t simply say no. The catch is that the installation has to be done safely and securely, and the tenant has to give you written notice before installing, including details about the unit’s energy efficiency and expected usage if you’re the one paying for electricity.
If electricity is included in the rent: landlords are allowed to charge a seasonal rent increase to cover it. But there are guardrails: the charge can’t exceed the actual or reasonably estimated electricity costs, and it has to come off the rent when the unit isn’t in use. The useful part for landlords is that this seasonal increase doesn’t follow the normal rules. You don’t need to wait 12 months between increases, you don’t need to give 90 days’ notice, and you don’t need LTB approval to apply or remove it.
If you own an older building without central air, expect demand for in-unit cooling to climb. Toronto summers aren’t getting milder. The practical move for landlords is to set clear written expectations for safe, secure installation now, rather than fielding requests one window unit at a time.
Related: If you’re weighing whether to manage your own rental or hand it off, our Complete Guide for Toronto Landlords walks through the responsibilities most first-time landlords underestimate.
The Non-Payment Clock Just Got Twice as Fast (Bill 60)
This is the big one for investors, and it lands September 21, 2026.
When a tenant doesn’t pay rent, you serve an N4 notice. Under the old rules, the tenant had 14 days to pay up before you could file an eviction application with the LTB. Under Bill 60, that window drops from 14 days to 7.
Cutting the pay period in half means you can start the formal eviction process roughly a week sooner on arrears files. When you’re carrying a mortgage on a unit that isn’t producing rent, a week matters. Over a drawn-out non-payment case, those saved days add up.
We’ll say the quiet part out loud, though: a faster N4 clock does nothing about the actual bottleneck, which is the wait for an LTB hearing once you’ve filed. Manage your tenant relationships and your screening like the timeline still matters, because it does.
Tenants Will Have to Pay to Be Heard (the 50% Rule)
This one is coming, but the start date hasn’t been announced yet, so treat it as a heads-up rather than a calendar item.
Right now, a tenant facing eviction for non-payment can raise unrelated issues at the hearing, most commonly maintenance and repair complaints. Under the new rule, a tenant who wants those landlord-related issues considered will first have to pay at least 50% of the rent they owe. The intent is to stop non-payment hearings from getting derailed by claims that have nothing to do with the rent.
For landlords, this should mean cleaner, faster hearings. For tenants, it raises a fair concern: a renter with a legitimate maintenance complaint and no cash on hand could lose the ability to raise it. The province has said it will consult further on the details, including the timeline for payment, so the final version may not look exactly like this.
Own-Use Evictions: Skip the Compensation if You Give 120 Days’ Notice (Bill 60)
Also effective September 21, 2026, and relevant to anyone who might want to move into their own property or put a family member in it.
When you evict a tenant for your own use with an N12, the current rule requires you to pay one month’s rent in compensation (or offer a comparable unit) before the termination date. Bill 60 adds an exception: if you give at least 120 days’ notice and the termination date falls on the last day of a rental period or fixed term, that one month’s compensation is no longer required.
So it’s a genuine trade-off. Move fast on a standard 60-day N12 and you owe a month’s rent. Plan ahead, give 120 days, time it to the end of a rental period, and you keep the cash. For a landlord who knows months in advance that they’ll need the unit, that’s real money saved.
Note: this is not a loophole around good faith. The N12 still has to be a real own-use move. Affidavit requirements stand, and the bad-faith penalties under the RTA are serious and expensive if the LTB decides you never actually intended to move in. Don’t let a few hundred or few thousand dollars in saved compensation tempt you into a claim you can’t back up.
Related: Own-use rules and tenant rights collide most often when a property is being sold. Our Ontario Tenant Rights FAQ for when a landlord is selling untangles who’s owed what.
The Window to Challenge an LTB Decision Shrank to 15 Days (Bill 60)
Quick one, effective July 1, 2026, and it cuts both ways.
If you want to ask the LTB to review one of its decisions, you used to have 30 days to file the request. That’s now 15 days. The Board keeps discretion to extend the timeline where appropriate, but you shouldn’t count on it.
For landlords and tenants alike, the lesson is the same: if a decision goes against you and you think it’s wrong, move quickly. Half your old window is gone, and “I didn’t realize the deadline changed” won’t get you far.
Some provisions remain subject to further regulation, so dates and details can still move.