The Ontario Standard Lease and Rental Application, Explained
By Solutions Property Management — Fri Jul 03 2026
Ontario requires the standard lease for most rentals, and using it wrong hands your tenant an easy out. Here is what the standard lease and a proper rental application should cover, and the clauses that actually hold up.
A lot of landlords treat the paperwork as a formality. Then something goes wrong, they end up at the Landlord and Tenant Board, and the case turns on whether the lease was done properly. The two documents that decide how smoothly a tenancy runs are the rental application and the lease itself. Here is how to get both right in Ontario.
The rental application comes first
The application is where you gather the information you need to make a good decision, and where a lot of bad tenancies could have been avoided. A solid application asks for:
- Full legal name and contact information
- Employment and income details
- Current and previous addresses, with landlord references
- Consent to run a credit and background check
You are allowed to screen, and you should. What you cannot do is discriminate on protected grounds under the Human Rights Code, such as family status, disability, or where someone is from. Screen on the things that actually predict whether rent gets paid and the unit gets cared for: income stability, references, and payment history.
One rule worth knowing: you can ask for first and last month's rent as a deposit, and that last month's deposit can only be applied to the final month. Damage deposits are not permitted in Ontario.
The standard lease is not optional
For most residential tenancies that started after April 2018, Ontario requires the government's **standard lease** (the Residential Tenancy Agreement, form 2229E). This is not a suggestion. Using it protects you as much as the tenant.
Here is the leverage most owners do not realize they are handing away: if you do not use the standard lease when it is required, the tenant can demand a copy in writing. If you do not provide it within 21 days, the tenant may be able to withhold one month's rent, and in some cases end a fixed-term tenancy early. A missing standard lease turns into a genuine financial and stability risk for you.
What the standard lease covers
The form walks through the essentials in plain language:
- Names of the landlord and all tenants
- The rental unit and what is included (parking, utilities, appliances)
- Rent amount, due date, and how it is paid
- Rules about rent deposits
- Maintenance responsibilities
- Contact details for the landlord
It also has space for additional terms, which is where landlords get into trouble.
Additional clauses: what holds up and what does not
You can add your own terms in the additional-terms section, but they cannot contradict the Residential Tenancies Act. If they do, they are simply void. The classic examples:
- **"No pets"** is void once the tenant moves in. It does not hold up.
- **"No guests" or "no subletting ever"** overreach and generally will not stand.
- **Automatic penalties or fees** not allowed under the Act are unenforceable.
Terms that do work are the reasonable, specific ones: who is responsible for lawn care and snow, quiet-hours expectations, how maintenance requests are submitted, rules for shared spaces. Clear, fair, and consistent with the law.
Put it together
The workflow that keeps landlords out of trouble is boring and effective:
1. Collect a complete application and screen properly. 2. Verify income and call the references, especially past landlords. 3. Sign the current standard lease, filled out fully, and give the tenant their copy. 4. Do a documented move-in inspection with photos on day one.
Do those four things and you have removed most of the ways a tenancy goes sideways before it even starts.
If drafting leases, screening applicants, and staying current on the standard lease requirements is not how you want to spend your weekends, that is exactly what we handle for owners. We place tenants on a properly executed lease and keep the paperwork airtight, so the document works for you if you ever need it to.