Rent Increases

Landlords must follow strict rules if they want to increase your rent. Your landlord cannot:

  • Increase your rent more than 3%, once every 12 months,
  • Increase your rent within the first year of your lease, or
  • Increase your rent without giving you at least 6 months written notice.

If you do not know what 3% of your current rent is, the Tenant and Landlord Relations Office (TLRO) has a free rent increase calculator.

Written Notice

Your landlord cannot raise your rent just by talking to you about it. They must send you a written notice that must be separate from any other notice. It must include:

  • Your name,
  • Your address,
  • Your current rent,
  • The proposed rent increase,
  • The date the increase is set to begin, and
  • Your landlord’s signature and the date.

Rent Increase Options

If your landlord sends you a notice of rent increase, you have 3 options. You can:

  1. Accept the increase.
  2. Refuse the increase and plan to end your lease the day before the increase is set to begin. You must give your landlord at least 1 months’ written notice before that day (unless your lease is week-to-week, then 1 weeks’ notice). For example, if you received a notice that your rent will increase on September 1, you can plan to end your tenancy on August 31 if your landlord receives your notice by August 1.
  3. Ask the TLRO to review the rent increase by submitting an Application for Assistance. You must apply within 60 days of receiving the notice of rent increase. If possible, attach your notice of rent increase to your application.

The TLRO can cancel a rent increase if they find that it is illegal.

If you have a fixed-term lease and your landlord wants to raise your rent, the Tenant and Landlord Relations Office (TLRO) says they can only do so if your lease explicitly says they can. Check your lease! If you have the Provincial Government’s Standard Form of Lease, see Section 4 – Rent.

Even if your lease gives your landlord the right to increase your rent, they must still follow the same rent increase rules set out above.

Your landlord cannot raise your rent because you made a complaint about them. This is called a retaliatory rent increase. For a rent increase to be considered retaliatory, you must:

  1. Have received the notice of rent increase within 6 months of your complaint, and
  2. Believe your landlord raised your rent because you made a complaint about them.

To challenge a retaliatory rent increase, you can follow the TLRO Complaints Process and submit an Application for Assistance within 15 days of receiving the notice. If possible, attach your notice of rent increase to your application.

If your landlord wants to raise your rent, they cannot raise it more than 3% of your current rent. However, there is an exception to this rule.

If your landlord paid “capital expenditures”, or “costs”, to renovate your unit, they can apply to the Tenant and Landlord Relations Office (TLRO) and ask for permission to increase your rent up to 9%. Your landlord must provide supporting evidence when they apply.

If you receive a notice of rent increase that is more than 3%, you can ask your landlord if they have permission from the TLRO, or, follow the TLRO’s Complaints Process and submit an Application for Assistance within 60 days.