Is your unit actually rent-controlled? The November 2018 line, and how to check it yourself
A landlord can raise rent by any amount on a unit first occupied after November 15, 2018 — but the landlord has to prove the date. Here's how the exemption works, and how the building's permit record answers the question before the LTB does.
A widely shared post this week described a Toronto-area tenant told their rent was going from $2,300 to $10,000 a month. Thousands of people weighed in, and the replies split the same way they always do: half said "that's illegal, the guideline is 1.9%," and half said "not if the building is new."
Both halves are describing real rules. Which one applies depends on a single date — and on paperwork the landlord has to produce, not the tenant.
This is general information, not legal advice. For your own situation, contact the Landlord and Tenant Board or a tenant legal clinic.
The rule
Ontario's rent-increase guideline for 2026 is 2.1%, and for 2027 it's 1.9%. For most tenants, that's the ceiling on a once-a-year increase, with 90 days' written notice on the proper LTB form.
But the guideline does not apply to units first occupied for residential purposes after November 15, 2018. The province's own list of what that covers:
- new buildings — every condo tower and purpose-built rental that opened from late 2018 on;
- additions to existing buildings, if the added space was never lived in before;
- most new basement apartments and other units carved out of previously unfinished space in an existing house.
In an exempt unit there is no cap. The landlord still needs 12 months since the last increase and 90 days' notice, but the number can be anything. That's how a $2,300-to- $10,000 notice can be lawful on paper — and why a tenant's real question isn't "how much can they raise it?" but "is this unit actually exempt?"
The burden is on the landlord
This is the part the viral thread mostly missed. If a tenant disputes the exemption at the LTB, the province is explicit: the landlord must prove the building, addition, or unit was first occupied after November 15, 2018. The records the province tells landlords to keep are:
- building permits, permit applications and plans;
- occupancy permits;
- new-home warranty documents;
- for a basement or attic unit: contractor invoices, before-and-after photos, and proof the space was previously unfinished (or that the owner lived elsewhere in the house when the unit was first rented).
A landlord can also flag the exemption in section 15 of the standard lease. If yours doesn't mention it, that doesn't settle anything — but it's a reasonable first question.
The landlord has to prove the date. The permit record is where the date lives.
How to check before anyone files anything
Most of that evidence is public. Pull the building's permit history and look for three things:
- When was the building built? A new-construction permit issued in 2016 for a tower that opened in 2019 is exempt. A 1970s slab with no construction permits since is not, no matter what the lease says.
- Is there a second-suite or basement-apartment permit, and when? If your unit is a basement in a house, a permit to create it dated 2020 supports the exemption. No permit at all raises a different question — see is that basement apartment legal?
- Was there a residential use before 2018? A building converted from offices to apartments in 2021 is exempt. A rental building that was renovated in 2021 — same units, new kitchens — is not, because it was occupied for residential purposes long before the cutoff.
If you're in a post-2018 condo, the answer is almost always "yes, exempt," and the useful work shifts to the building itself: its orders and violations, its RentSafeTO report card if it's a purpose-built rental, and the landlord's wider record.
What an exempt tenant can still do
- Check the notice. Even with no cap, an increase served with less than 90 days' notice, or inside 12 months of the last one, is void.
- Negotiate. An eye-watering number in a soft market is often an opening bid; our post on whether you can still negotiate rent down covers the current leverage.
- Run the budget honestly. If the increase stands, the question is whether the new rent fits your income at all. Our sister site Metrestick benchmarks housing-cost burden against Statistics Canada data — put the new number into its affordability tools at metrestick.ca before you decide whether to stay, move, or buy.
Check any address
Before you sign a lease — or respond to a notice — pull the permit history and the property snapshot for the address. If you already rent there, monitor the building so new permits, orders, and investigations show up without you having to look. And confirm the current guideline and exemption wording on the province's residential rent increases page, since the figure resets every year.