Breaking a lease in Ontario: your legal options

What a fixed-term lease means

A fixed-term lease runs for a set period, usually one year. The Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) puts it this way: “in the case of a one-year fixed term tenancy, the landlord has to provide a rental unit for the full year and the tenant has to pay rent for the full year” (LTB).

Your ordinary notice (Form N9) must be given at least 60 days before the last day of the term, and it takes effect on that day (RTA s. 44). When the term ends, you don’t have to move out or sign a new lease: you become a monthly tenant (RTA s. 38). A monthly tenant can leave with 60 days’ notice, ending on the last day of a rental period. Our guide to giving notice in Ontario shows how to fill in the N9 and count the days.

Your legal ways out

The LTB lists the cases where you can leave before a fixed term ends: “you and your landlord agree · you assign the tenancy (and the unit) to someone else · the LTB issues an order ending the tenancy agreement early · you are a victim of sexual or domestic violence”, or your landlord didn’t use the standard lease after you asked for it in writing (LTB).

1. 1

   Agree with your landlord

   Both sign an agreement to end the tenancy (Form N11); the landlord doesn't have to agree

   RTA s. 37 (3)

2. 2

   Ask to assign your lease

   Landlord refuses assigning at all, or doesn't answer within 7 days: give notice within 30 days of your request (at least 30 days' notice; 28 for a daily or weekly tenancy)

   RTA ss. 95 (4), 96

3. 3

   Sexual or domestic violence (Form N15)

   At least 28 days' notice, at any time, even during a fixed term

   RTA s. 47.1

4. 4

   No standard lease

   Ask in writing; after 21 days without it (or if you don't sign the one you get), give 60 days' notice

   RTA s. 47.0.1

5. 5

   An LTB order after a hearing

   The Board can end the tenancy early, for example when a landlord doesn’t maintain the unit or harasses you

   LTB tenant application

6. !

   If you leave anyway, without one of these

   You may owe rent until the unit is re-rented or proper notice would have ended the tenancy, whichever is earlier

   RTA s. 88 (3), LTB

General information, not legal advice. For your own case, contact the Landlord and Tenant Board or a community legal clinic.

The LTB can end a tenancy early after a hearing, for example when a landlord doesn’t maintain the unit, harasses you or unreasonably refuses to let you assign or sublet. You apply with a tenant application, and you have to show that ending the tenancy is reasonable (LTB).

Ending it by agreement (Form N11)

You and your landlord can agree to end the tenancy early. Your landlord doesn’t have to agree: “A landlord cannot force you to agree to end a tenancy” (LTB).

• Put it in writing. The LTB’s form for this is the Agreement to End the Tenancy (Form N11), signed by both of you.
• Once it’s signed, your landlord can apply for an eviction order right away. The earliest eviction date the Board can set is the date in the agreement (Form N11).
• In most cases, an agreement to end a tenancy that you signed when you first rented, or as a condition of renting, is void (RTA s. 37).

Assigning your lease

Assigning means someone else takes over your lease on the same terms, and you leave. You need your landlord’s consent (RTA s. 95). Ask in writing, and keep a copy with the date.

Your landlord can answer in one of three ways. What you can do next depends on the answer:

The law says: “A tenant may give the landlord a notice of termination under section 96 within 30 days after the date a request is made if … the landlord refuses consent” or “does not respond within seven days after the request is made” (RTA s. 95 (4)). The notice must give at least “the lesser of the notice period otherwise required under this Act and 30 days” (RTA s. 96). You give this notice on Form N9, and the end date doesn’t have to be the last day of a rental period or of the fixed term (LTB Form N9).

If the person you proposed was refused, the LTB can, on an A2 application, authorize the assignment, end the tenancy or order a rent abatement (LTB, Form A2 instructions). The application fee is listed on the LTB’s forms and fees page.

Your landlord can charge only its “reasonable out-of-pocket expenses” for consenting to an assignment, such as a credit check (RTA s. 95 (7); LTB). After an assignment, the new tenant is responsible from that point; you stay responsible for anything from before it (RTA s. 95 (8)).

These assignment rules don’t apply in some housing, such as subsidized, public or non-profit housing, a superintendent’s unit, or housing from a school where you work or study (LTB).

Subletting

Subletting means someone else lives in your unit for a while, and you plan to move back before your tenancy ends (LTB). It’s not a way to leave for good:

• You still need your landlord’s consent, which it can’t withhold arbitrarily or unreasonably (RTA s. 97).
• You stay responsible to your landlord for the tenancy while the subtenant lives there (RTA s. 97 (4)).
• You can’t charge the subtenant more than your own rent, or a fee for subletting (RTA s. 134 (3)).

If you think your landlord refused a subtenant arbitrarily or unreasonably, you can apply to the LTB with Form A2 (RTA s. 98).

Leaving because of violence or abuse (Form N15)

If you or a child living with you has experienced sexual or domestic violence or abuse, you can end your tenancy with at least 28 days’ notice, at any time, even during a fixed term (RTA s. 47.1). The end date doesn’t have to be the last day of a rental period.

• Use Form N15, with either the LTB’s Tenant’s Statement or a copy of a court order, such as a restraining order or peace bond, issued in the last 90 days.
• The statement doesn’t have to describe what happened or name the person (RTA s. 47.3).
• Your landlord must keep the notice confidential (RTA s. 47.4).

If you’re in danger, call 911. A community legal clinic can help with the forms.

If you never got a standard lease

If your lease was signed on or after April 30, 2018 and your landlord didn’t use Ontario’s standard lease, ask for it in writing (LTB). Then you can give 60 days’ notice, ending on the last day of a rental period, even during a fixed term, if (RTA s. 47.0.1):

• 21 days pass after your request and you still don’t have the standard lease, or
• your landlord gives you the standard lease and you don’t sign it. In that case, you must give your notice within 30 days of receiving it.

What you may owe if you leave early

If you move out without proper notice and without an agreement, the LTB explains: “you may be responsible for paying the rent until the earlier of these two dates: The date the unit is rented to another tenant · The earliest termination date that could have been put in a notice to end a tenancy, if you had given proper notice” (LTB).

The Act sets out the same rules:

• If your landlord rents the unit to a new tenant, you’re not liable for more than the rent up to “the date the new tenant is entitled to occupy the rental unit” (RTA s. 88 (3)).
• The Board considers “whether or not the landlord has taken reasonable steps to minimize losses” (RTA s. 88 (4)). Every landlord or tenant who claims money for a broken agreement has that duty (RTA s. 16).
• A lease clause that makes the rest of the rent, or a set sum, due at once if you miss rent or break another term is void (RTA s. 15).
• A last month’s rent deposit must be applied to the last rent period of your tenancy (RTA s. 106 (10)).
• A landlord has one year after you move out to apply to the LTB for rent you owe (RTA s. 87).

How much you’d owe in your case depends on the facts, and the LTB decides it. The Act doesn’t set a “lease-break fee”, and official sources don’t say whether one written into a lease can be charged. For advice on your situation, contact a community legal clinic or the LTB.

Be sure before you sign or give notice

Once you sign an N11 or give an N9, your landlord can apply to the Board, without notice to you, for an order ending your tenancy (RTA s. 77 (1)). If an order is issued that way, you can ask the Board to set it aside within 10 days (RTA s. 77 (6)). Since September 21, 2026, a regulation limits what the Board looks at:

Because the Board can’t consider changes in your circumstances in that case, be sure of your move date before you sign an N11 or give an N9.

Planning the move

Once you have an end date, book the move for it:

• See what a local move costs in your city on our moving cost pages, and what movers charge on top of the hourly rate in our guide to moving fees.
• Month-end and weekends usually cost more: the cheapest time to move.
• If your landlord gave you an N12, different notice rules apply: if your landlord gave you an N12.

Where to get help

• Landlord and Tenant Board: forms, fees and contact details at Tribunals Ontario. Download a form on the day you use it, so you have the current version.
• Community legal clinics: free legal help for tenants who qualify. Find a clinic near you (Legal Aid Ontario).