Rental Renovation Licence By-law Review

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Update #2: February 5, 2026

Thank you to all who provided comments and feedback as part of the questionnaire. A “What We Learned” report that summarizes this feedback is now posted to the Documents section on the right-hand side of this page.

An overview quantifying the number of evictions related to renovations or repairs that staff are aware of to date has also been posted to the News Feed section at the bottom of this page.

Update #1: September 15, 2025

A survey has now been posted to gather feedback on your experiences with evictions for renovation and repair in Ottawa and on potential regulations and measures under consideration for this review. This survey will take up to 15 minutes to complete and will remain open until 31 October 2025.

Please also visit the Engagement Opportunities section of this page to learn more about how else you may participate and provide feedback this month.

The City of Ottawa is considering a Rental Renovation Licence By-law, also known as a “Renovictions” By-law.

What are “renovictions”?

The term “renovictions” refers to evictions that occur when a landlord renovates or repairs a rental property and replaces the evicted tenant(s) with those who would pay higher rent after the renovations are completed, failing to meet the legislated requirements to let the tenant move back in. As opposed to legitimate evictions requiring vacancy for renovations or repairs, “renovictions” cause a concern that the eviction is occurring in bad faith and being used to illegally end the tenancy.

Landlord and tenant rights under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006

In the Province of Ontario, the Residential Tenancies Act governs the relationship between landlords and tenants, including how evictions from rental units can occur legally. Such evictions are legal when a landlord wishes to make repairs or renovations to a rental unit and the scope of work may require a building permit and requires vacant possession of the unit.

In these cases, the landlord must issue an N13 form to the tenant, also known as a “Notice to end your Tenancy Because the Landlord Wants to Demolish the Rental Unit, Repair it or Convert it to Another Use.” This process outlines the rights and responsibilities of both landlords and tenants:

  • The landlord must provide the tenant with at least 120 days’ notice
  • After the renovations are complete, the tenant has the option to move back into the renovated unit provided the tenant gave prior notice in writing. This is known as the right of first refusal
  • The landlord cannot increase the rent by more than what could lawfully have been charged if there was no interruption to the tenancy
  • The tenant who wants to reoccupy the renovated unit is entitled to compensation while the unit is being renovated. That compensation is the lesser of either one to three months’ rent (depending on the size of the residential building) or equal to the rent for the time that the renovations are occurring. The landlord must also offer the tenant another rental unit that is acceptable to the tenant
  • The tenant who does not want to reoccupy the renovated unit is entitled to either the compensation of one to three months’ rent (depending on the size of the residential building) or to a comparable rental unit

Addressing and resolving disputes between landlords and tenants about evictions are in the exclusive jurisdiction of the Landlord and Tenant Board. Municipalities like the City of Ottawa cannot stop an eviction from occurring but can work to ensure that both landlords and tenants are aware of their rights.

What the City of Ottawa is reviewing

Staff will be reviewing the creation of a by-law in Ottawa that considers:

  • The scope and impact of unlawful evictions for renovations and repairs in Ottawa and potential mitigations that are within the City’s authority
  • The approaches taken in other jurisdictions to address such unlawful evictions
  • Any existing or planned legislation, programs, and services in other levels of government and how they might work with a by-law

Engagement opportunities

The City of Ottawa is refreshing its 10-Year Housing and Homelessness Plan. Three in-person Open Houses will take place at various locations across the city in the month of September. Our review team will be part of this broader discussion and we encourage you to visit our booth to learn more about our Rental Renovation License By-law Review and to provide us with your feedback and comments. The Open Houses are drop-in style, with no registration required.

  • Wednesday, September 17, 6 to 8pm at Jim Durrell Recreation Centre
  • Thursday, September 18, 6 to 8pm at Tom Brown Arena
  • Thursday, September 25, 4:30 to 6:30pm at CardelRec Recreation Centre

For more information on the 10-Year Housing and Homelessness Plan refresh, please visit 10-Year Housing and Homelessness Plan Refresh | Engage Ottawa.

Landlord and tenant supports

Please note that while we seek and welcome your feedback, including your lived experiences with past or current evictions for renovations or repair, Public Policy Development Services staff are not best positioned to assist you with any questions related to the N13 process or for any general inquiries related to the Residential Tenancies Act.

Please visit the following links, and the important links section of this page, for guidance on where to best direct your inquiries:

Update #2: February 5, 2026

Thank you to all who provided comments and feedback as part of the questionnaire. A “What We Learned” report that summarizes this feedback is now posted to the Documents section on the right-hand side of this page.

An overview quantifying the number of evictions related to renovations or repairs that staff are aware of to date has also been posted to the News Feed section at the bottom of this page.

Update #1: September 15, 2025

A survey has now been posted to gather feedback on your experiences with evictions for renovation and repair in Ottawa and on potential regulations and measures under consideration for this review. This survey will take up to 15 minutes to complete and will remain open until 31 October 2025.

Please also visit the Engagement Opportunities section of this page to learn more about how else you may participate and provide feedback this month.

The City of Ottawa is considering a Rental Renovation Licence By-law, also known as a “Renovictions” By-law.

What are “renovictions”?

The term “renovictions” refers to evictions that occur when a landlord renovates or repairs a rental property and replaces the evicted tenant(s) with those who would pay higher rent after the renovations are completed, failing to meet the legislated requirements to let the tenant move back in. As opposed to legitimate evictions requiring vacancy for renovations or repairs, “renovictions” cause a concern that the eviction is occurring in bad faith and being used to illegally end the tenancy.

Landlord and tenant rights under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006

In the Province of Ontario, the Residential Tenancies Act governs the relationship between landlords and tenants, including how evictions from rental units can occur legally. Such evictions are legal when a landlord wishes to make repairs or renovations to a rental unit and the scope of work may require a building permit and requires vacant possession of the unit.

In these cases, the landlord must issue an N13 form to the tenant, also known as a “Notice to end your Tenancy Because the Landlord Wants to Demolish the Rental Unit, Repair it or Convert it to Another Use.” This process outlines the rights and responsibilities of both landlords and tenants:

  • The landlord must provide the tenant with at least 120 days’ notice
  • After the renovations are complete, the tenant has the option to move back into the renovated unit provided the tenant gave prior notice in writing. This is known as the right of first refusal
  • The landlord cannot increase the rent by more than what could lawfully have been charged if there was no interruption to the tenancy
  • The tenant who wants to reoccupy the renovated unit is entitled to compensation while the unit is being renovated. That compensation is the lesser of either one to three months’ rent (depending on the size of the residential building) or equal to the rent for the time that the renovations are occurring. The landlord must also offer the tenant another rental unit that is acceptable to the tenant
  • The tenant who does not want to reoccupy the renovated unit is entitled to either the compensation of one to three months’ rent (depending on the size of the residential building) or to a comparable rental unit

Addressing and resolving disputes between landlords and tenants about evictions are in the exclusive jurisdiction of the Landlord and Tenant Board. Municipalities like the City of Ottawa cannot stop an eviction from occurring but can work to ensure that both landlords and tenants are aware of their rights.

What the City of Ottawa is reviewing

Staff will be reviewing the creation of a by-law in Ottawa that considers:

  • The scope and impact of unlawful evictions for renovations and repairs in Ottawa and potential mitigations that are within the City’s authority
  • The approaches taken in other jurisdictions to address such unlawful evictions
  • Any existing or planned legislation, programs, and services in other levels of government and how they might work with a by-law

Engagement opportunities

The City of Ottawa is refreshing its 10-Year Housing and Homelessness Plan. Three in-person Open Houses will take place at various locations across the city in the month of September. Our review team will be part of this broader discussion and we encourage you to visit our booth to learn more about our Rental Renovation License By-law Review and to provide us with your feedback and comments. The Open Houses are drop-in style, with no registration required.

  • Wednesday, September 17, 6 to 8pm at Jim Durrell Recreation Centre
  • Thursday, September 18, 6 to 8pm at Tom Brown Arena
  • Thursday, September 25, 4:30 to 6:30pm at CardelRec Recreation Centre

For more information on the 10-Year Housing and Homelessness Plan refresh, please visit 10-Year Housing and Homelessness Plan Refresh | Engage Ottawa.

Landlord and tenant supports

Please note that while we seek and welcome your feedback, including your lived experiences with past or current evictions for renovations or repair, Public Policy Development Services staff are not best positioned to assist you with any questions related to the N13 process or for any general inquiries related to the Residential Tenancies Act.

Please visit the following links, and the important links section of this page, for guidance on where to best direct your inquiries:

  • Quantifying evictions for renovations

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    In Ontario, the Residential Tenancies Act governs the relationship between landlords and tenants, including the process for evictions related to renovations or repairs. As a first step in this process, landlords issue tenants an N13 eviction notice, also known as a “Notice to end your Tenancy Because the Landlord Wants to Demolish the Rental Unit, Repair it or Convert it to Another Use.”

    N13 eviction notices are used for three reasons:

    1. Demolition of a property
    2. Renovations or repairs of a property that require vacant access
    3. Conversion of a property to a non-residential use

    To obtain an order ending the tenancy, the landlord must file the N13 notice with the Landlord and Tenant Board along with an eviction application, and the Board would then schedule a hearing to determine whether the application is valid and whether to issue an eviction order.

    Documented evictions for renovations or repairs

    Staff have obtained the total number of N13 eviction notices filed at the Landlord and Tenant Board through Access to Information requests to Tribunals Ontario. This data includes all N13 eviction notices filed between January 2010 and June 2025 for addresses within the city of Ottawa. These are represented by the blue line in Figure 1.

    As the scope of this review is focused specifically on evictions related to renovations or repairs, staff also obtained the total number of N13 eviction notices that were filed for this reason, as represented by the red line in Figure 1. There has been an annual average of 30 N13 eviction notices filed for renovations or repairs since 2022. Tribunals Ontario advised that their record management system did not track the reason for filing an N13 eviction notice prior to 2022 and therefore this data was not available.

    Figure 1. The total number of N13s and N13s related to evictions for renovations or repairs between January 2010 and June 2025 for addresses within the city of Ottawa.

    The data also included the reason for why each case was closed. Table 1 lists those reasons and their frequency for each case that involved an eviction for renovations or repairs.

    Table 1. File closure reason for N13s related to evictions for renovations or repairs between January 2022 and June 2025 for addresses within the city of Ottawa.

    Reason for File Closure

    Amount

    Withdrawn

    (landlord or representative withdrew the application)

    42

    Order by hearing contested

    (the parties attended the hearing)

    25

    Order by hearing abandoned

    (landlord or representative did not attend the hearing)

    11

    Order by hearing uncontested

    (tenant or representative did not attend the hearing)

    9

    No reason provided

    6

    Order amendment

    (clerical amendment to an order)

    5

    Order by hearing mediated

    (the parties reached mediated terms included in an order)

    3

    Consent order by DRO

    (order issued on consent from the parties)

    2

    Mediated

    2

    Cancelled by coordinator

    2

    Review denied

    1

    Staff searched each case in the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLii) database. The Landlord and Tenant Board has made only a small number of their decisions available, and it was not possible to determine an overall trend in how the Board ruled or to determine the outcome of most contested hearings. In addition, the City has no information as to why the other reasons for file closure may have occurred.

    Undocumented evictions for renovations or repairs

    Based on consultations with landlord, tenant, housing and community legal groups, staff are aware of approximately 50 undocumented evictions for renovations or repairs since 2020. These are instances where the N13 eviction notice is never issued to the tenant in the required form, or is issued and never filed with the Landlord and Tenant Board. It is challenging to quantify and validate these instances because they are not formally documented, and so the full extent of undocumented evictions for renovations remains unknown.

Page last updated: 05 Feb 2026, 08:56 AM