Ontario Rent Increase Calculator

This tool works out the ordinary guideline increase on a rent you supply, and checks two timing rules against the dates you supply: the 12-month minimum interval between increases for the same tenant, and the minimum 90 days' written notice before the increase takes effect. It is aimed at tenants checking a notice they have received, small landlords preparing one, and advocates who need the arithmetic and the dates set out plainly before turning to the legal questions.

It is an arithmetic and date tool. It does not decide whether a unit is exempt, whether a notice is valid, which form is correct, or whether any above-guideline amount may be charged.

The guideline is selected by the calendar year in which the increase takes effect, not the year the notice is given or the year the tenancy began. The project carries only years it has verified against Ontario's published guideline: 2.1% for 2026 and 1.9% for 2027. For an effective date outside those years the tool shows a warning rather than inventing a rate, and any percentage you supply manually is carried with a warning that confirming it is your responsibility.

The increase is the current lawful rent multiplied by the applicable guideline, and the new rent is the lawful rent plus that increase. Figures are rounded to the nearest cent for display. That rounding is this tool's presentation convention, not an express statutory rule, and a notice may show a figure rounded differently.

The two timing rules are computed separately and then combined. The 12-month rule produces the earliest effective date measured from the last increase, or from the start of the tenancy where there has been no prior increase. The notice rule produces the earliest effective date measured as 90 days after the date the notice was given. The earliest workable date is the later of the two; neither rule excuses the other.

The exemption commonly described as applying to newer units turns on statutory first-occupancy facts: whether the unit was first occupied for residential purposes after 15 November 2018 within the meaning of the Act. It does not turn on when the building was constructed, when a permit issued, when the property was purchased, or when the current lease was signed. Those dates are often close to the operative fact, and often not.

Because of that, selecting "uncertain" produces exactly what it should: the tool reports that it cannot determine or verify exemption, and declines to apply or to waive the guideline cap. It will never convert an uncertain status into an exemption. A guideline-exempt unit is not unregulated either - the 12-month interval and the 90-day notice requirement still apply.

Form N1 is the ordinary notice of rent increase for a guideline-controlled unit. Form N2 is used where the unit is partially exempt from the Act's rent-increase rules, such as certain units listed in s. 6. Which one is right depends on the unit's status, and this tool does not certify that a notice is valid, complete, or properly given - whichever form is used.

Two other forms come up often enough to name, purely so you know to look them up: Form N3, a notice of increase for a care-home or services-and-meals situation, and Form N10, an agreement to increase the rent above the guideline in exchange for a specified capital expenditure or added service. Both sit outside this calculator and have their own requirements. Read the current instructions on the Tribunals Ontario site before using either.

Current forms and instructions: N1 notice and instructions and N2 notice and instructions.

A landlord may apply to the Board for an increase above the guideline in defined categories only: an extraordinary increase in municipal taxes and charges, eligible capital expenditures, and operating costs for security services. An application is a request. Until the Board makes an order, no above-guideline amount may be charged, and this tool will not model one unless you enter a percentage that has actually been ordered.

The frequently quoted limit of 3% above the guideline in a year is a real constraint but not a universal one. There are exceptions, and where more is justified the excess can be carried into later years, so an order can produce above-guideline increases over more than one year. Treat any single-number summary of the cap with suspicion and read the order.

Official material: LTB information about applications for a rent increase above the guideline and LTB Interpretation Guideline 14. Interpretation guidelines are guidance, not law, and are revised from time to time.

• Using the guideline for the year the notice was given rather than the year the increase takes effect.
• Applying the percentage to the rent currently being paid rather than to the lawful rent under the agreement and valid prior increases.
• Treating the 12-month rule and the 90-day notice rule as one requirement. They are separate, and the effective date must satisfy both.
• Serving the wrong form, or assuming an N1 is always correct regardless of the unit's status.
• Reading "the building was built after 2018" as conclusive proof of exemption. The statutory test is about first occupancy for residential purposes, not construction.
• Charging a requested above-guideline percentage before the Board has ordered it.
• Assuming every above-guideline order is capped at 3% in the year, when exceptions and multi-year treatment exist.
• Stacking missed years, for example taking two years of guideline in one increase because none was taken last year.

• Confirm the lawful rent from the tenancy agreement and every valid increase since.
• Confirm the guideline for the effective year against Ontario's published guideline page rather than from memory.
• Check both timing rules against the actual notice date and the date the notice was received or deemed given.
• Confirm the unit's status on evidence of first occupancy, not on the age of the building.
• Confirm the form and its current version on the Tribunals Ontario site before serving anything.
• Where an above-guideline application is in play, read the order itself, not the application.
• Take advice from a lawyer, licensed paralegal or a tenant duty counsel service before serving, disputing, or paying based on this calculation.

Legal information reviewed: 21 August 2026. Checked against the official sources listed on this page. Rates, fees and rules change; confirm anything you rely on.

• Tenants: compare the figure on the notice against the guideline-only figure here, and check the effective date against both timing rules before deciding whether to raise a concern.
• Landlords: work back from the intended effective date to the latest date notice can be given, and build in time for the method of service you intend to use.
• Either party: keep a dated copy of the notice and proof of how it was given. Timing disputes turn on that record.
• If the figures do not reconcile, raise it in writing before the effective date rather than after the increase has been paid.
• Read the companion guide for the legal and procedural context, including how the rules interact and where to verify each step.

Checked on 21 August 2026 against Ontario's published residential rent increase guideline page, the consolidated Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 on e-Laws (ss. 116, 119, 120 and 126), the current N1 and N2 notices and instructions, and the LTB's above-guideline material including Interpretation Guideline 14. Guideline percentages are set annually and forms are revised periodically; confirm both before relying on this page.

At this review the purpose statement, methodology table, fixed-rules table, three worked examples, exemption and above-guideline sections, mistakes and verification checklists were added or rewritten. The calculation engine is unchanged: guideline by effective year, increase as lawful rent × guideline, and the two timing rules computed separately and combined as the later of the two.