The Ontario A2 Application: Removing an Unauthorized Occupant or a Subtenant Who Will Not Leave

Ontario's Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) handles disputes over sublets and assignments through the A2 application. For landlords, its main uses are ending the tenancy of, and evicting, an unauthorized occupant (a person the tenant passed the unit to without your consent) and removing a subtenant who stays on after an authorized sublet ends. What sets the A2 apart is its deadline. Miss the 60 days that run from your discovery of an unauthorized occupant, and that person becomes your tenant in law, with no way to undo it later.

At a glance

Purpose of the A2

The Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (RTA) lets a tenant assign (hand over the entire tenancy and leave permanently) or sublet (allow someone to occupy for a time while keeping the right to come back), and either one needs the landlord's consent (ss. 97, 95). Where a tenant leaves and passes the unit to someone by any other means, s. 100 allows the landlord to apply for an order that ends the tenancy and evicts both the tenant and the transferee. The transferee is the unauthorized occupant.

A landlord can rely on any of three grounds:

• Reason 1, the unauthorized occupant (s. 100). Seek an order terminating the original tenancy and evicting the occupant, together with compensation for every day the occupant remains. Compensation can only be claimed if the occupant is still in possession on the filing date (s. 100(3)). Under s. 103(2), compensation received is not, in itself, the start of a tenancy, unless both of you agree otherwise.
• Reason 2, the overholding subtenant (s. 101). Once a subtenancy ends, the subtenant has no right to remain (s. 97(5)), and either the tenant or the landlord may apply to evict.
• Reason 3, a mobile home or land lease site (s. 159). When a tenant sells the home and seeks your consent for the buyer to take over the site, you can refuse only on grounds the Board finds reasonable. If you do not apply within 15 days, you are deemed to have consented.

The A2 has limits. It does not address rent arrears or damage caused by the original tenant, and it is the wrong tool where the tenant is still living in the unit alongside other people.

Which situations call for an A2

Choosing the form depends entirely on the facts, and choosing wrongly is the leading cause of failed A2s.

• The tenant has left and someone else is living in the unit without your consent. That is Reason 1. Common versions: the tenant passed the apartment to a relative or friend; the tenant advertised it and took rent from a stranger; someone who lived with the tenant stayed behind after the tenant moved out.
• The tenant is still living there and has brought in a roommate or other occupant. That is neither a sublet nor an assignment, so no A2. According to Interpretation Guideline 21, a tenant who lets someone live with them without moving out creates no sublet, and your consent is not needed. If the additional occupants cause trouble (interference, damage, overcrowding), serve a termination notice (the N5, for example) and follow with an L2.
• The original tenant has died. Where the tenant was the only tenant, RTA s. 91 generally treats the tenancy as ending 30 days after death. Under O. Reg. 516/06, s. 3, a surviving spouse living in the unit may be a tenant. Check Guideline 21 first.
• You approved a sublet and the subtenant refuses to go. That is Reason 2.
• You would rather come to terms with the occupant. Inside the 60-day window, a fresh tenancy agreement with the occupant is an option, and whatever rent the two of you settle on is lawful (s. 104(1), (3)). Do neither that nor an A2 in time, and the occupancy is deemed to be an assignment you consented to, effective from the date it began (s. 104(4)). Inaction amounts to taking the person on as your tenant under the old lease.
• A tenant is asking for permission to assign or sublet. Nothing is filed; you simply answer the request. An assignment can be refused outright, but once you have consented in principle you cannot arbitrarily or unreasonably turn down a particular proposed assignee, and the same applies to a proposed subtenant (ss. 95(5), 97(2)). Your charge for giving consent is limited to reasonable out-of-pocket expenses.

The clocks

• Reason 1: 60 days from discovery. Section 100(2) requires the application within 60 days of the landlord's discovery of the unauthorized occupancy. The period starts when you find out, not when the occupant arrived; that explains the form's question about when you first became aware, and why you should document precisely how and when you learned of it.
• Reason 2: 60 days, starting when the subtenancy ended (s. 101(2)).
• Reason 3: 15 days, starting with the tenant's request (s. 159(2)). The Board may extend this period (RTA s. 190(1)), but the Request to Extend Time has to accompany the application (Rule 16.2), and an extension is never assured.
• What counts is the filing date, not the sending date. Under Rule 4.8, an email is filed on the day it is received, a ServiceOntario filing on the day it is handed in, a courier filing on the first business day after it goes to the courier, and a mailed filing on the fifth non-holiday day after it is mailed. An application mailed on day 58 is late on a 60-day deadline.
• Worked example. You discover the occupant on Monday, May 3, 2027. Day 60 is Friday, July 2, 2027. An emailed application received on July 2 is on time; one handed to a courier on July 2 is not, because it counts as filed on July 3. A mailed application has to go out several business days earlier still.
• The price of missing Reason 1. After 60 days with neither a new agreement nor an A2, s. 104(4) makes the occupant a deemed assignee. Ending that tenancy then requires an ordinary termination ground, meaning a notice followed by an L1 or L2, rather than an A2.

Completing the A2

Version 01/04/2022 is current. As landlord you fill in Parts 1, 3 and 4, while Part 2 belongs to tenants. Use capital letters, typed or printed, and keep the official A2 instructions beside you.

Part 1 (general information)

• Applicant. Shade "Landlord", then give the landlord's or company's name, mailing address, phone number and email. Co-landlords go on a Schedule of Parties.
• Rental unit address. The complete address, with postal code and unit number.
• Other parties. Name the tenant in every case. On Reason 1, list the tenant and also the current occupant, shading "Current Occupant". On Reason 2, list the tenant and the subtenant. Anyone else goes on a Schedule of Parties. If the occupant's legal name is unknown to you, neither the A2 instructions nor any published LTB guidance says what to put; enter whatever name or description you have and check with the LTB before you file.
• Related Applications. Give the file numbers of any open applications concerning the unit.

Part 3 (the landlord's reasons)

Reason 1: transfer to another person without your consent.

• Ending the original tenancy and evicting the occupant. Shade the box and enter the date (dd/mm/yyyy) you first became aware of the unauthorized occupant. That date has to fall within the 60 days before you file.
• Daily compensation while they remain. Shade the box, give the rent the tenant paid before the transfer, and indicate whether it was monthly, weekly or another period. It is calculated from your date of discovery; for any earlier start date, state the date and your reasons.
• NSF Cheque Charges. Limited to cheques from the unauthorized occupant that were returned. For each one, enter the cheque's amount and date, the date your bank charged you, the bank's charge, and your administration charge, which O. Reg. 516/06, s. 17 caps at $20 per cheque. "Total Charge" is the bank charge added to the administration charge; leave the face value of the cheque out of it.

Reason 2: subtenancy over, subtenant still there. Shade it and enter the date the subtenant was due to leave.

Reason 3: land lease or mobile home site. Shade it and set out, in detail, why you refused to consent to the site assignment and why those reasons are reasonable. If more than 15 days have gone by, attach a Request to Extend Time.

Shade all the boxes that fit. The Board is free to grant a remedy other than the one you chose.

Part 4: Signature

Shade "Landlord" or "Representative", then sign and date. A representative adds their name, Law Society number and contact information.

Payment Information Form

Shade your method of payment. Email filers pay before sending, on the LTB's online payment page for tribunal applications, and copy the 7-digit receipt number onto the form.

Getting it to the Board

• Email: pay the $201 online by Visa or Mastercard (credit or debit). Then, inside 24 hours, send the application and your payment receipt by email to LTBpayments@ontario.ca, with the receipt number and unit address in the subject line. If the LTB does not receive the application within 24 hours of payment, you are refunded and nothing has been filed. Card numbers must never go in an email.
• Mail or courier: pay by credit card on the Credit Card Payment Form, or with a money order or certified cheque payable to the "Minister of Finance", and build in the deemed filing dates described above.
• ServiceOntario: file in person at a location that takes LTB documents, where cash, debit, credit, money orders and certified cheques are all accepted.

The LTB fees page confirms fees are non-refundable, and a Fee Waiver Request is available to those who qualify. Ordinarily the LTB serves the application and Notice of Hearing on the parties (Rule 5.1). If the LTB directs you to serve, you have until 15 days before the hearing to do it, and five days after that to file the Certificate of Service (Rules 5.9, 5.15). Your evidence goes directly to the other parties.

Where A2 applications fail

1. Filing on day 61 or later. On Reason 1 this ends the case in practical terms: the occupancy has already turned into a deemed assignment, so there is no longer an unauthorized occupant to remove. Count from the day you learn of it and preserve the evidence, whether an email, an inspection record or notes of a conversation.
2. Filing when the tenant is still in the unit. Someone living with the tenant is not a subtenant or an unauthorized transferee. The application will be dismissed and the time lost. The termination notices are the proper route.
3. Omitting the occupant or the tenant as a party. An order under s. 100 evicts both the tenant and the transferee. A person not named may not be bound, and the Sheriff will only enforce against those named in the order.
4. Taking "rent" and signing paperwork. Accepting compensation by itself creates no tenancy (s. 103(2)). A signed lease, receipts issued in the occupant's name and called rent, or a written welcome can each suggest that you agreed to a new tenancy within s. 104(1).
5. Seeking compensation after the occupant has gone. Section 100(3) only allows it if the unauthorized occupant is in possession on the filing date.
6. A "date first aware" the evidence does not support. If you actually knew sooner, for instance because the occupant had been paying you for months, the Board may conclude the 60 days had already expired.
7. A late Reason 3 with no Request to Extend Time. Failing a timely application, s. 159(4) deems you to have consented to assigning the site.
8. Money owed to the LTB. Rule 6.1 allows refusal or discontinuance of the application until the applicant pays outstanding LTB fines or fees.
9. Failing to appear. An applicant who does not attend risks having the application dismissed, and skipping a case management hearing with no exceptional reason can lead to dismissal as abandoned (Rules 9.4, 21.4). Have with you the lease, proof of how and when you learned of the occupancy, and your communications with the tenant.

After filing

A hearing is scheduled. Reasons 1 and 2 ask for eviction, so s. 83 obliges the member to consider refusing or postponing it. Since Bill 60, a postponement you oppose requires compelling reasons and a finding that it is not unfair to you or the other tenants. An eviction order is enforced by filing it with the Sheriff at the Court Enforcement Office, the only official who can physically remove people. Orders dated from July 1, 2026 can be reviewed on any party's request made inside 15 days, so if the result goes against you, that window is short.

Recent changes

• July 1, 2026: review requests for orders dated from then on are due in 15 days, down from 30 (Rule 26.5).
• September 21, 2026 (Bill 60): a delay of eviction that the landlord does not consent to now has to meet both the "not unfair" test and the "compelling reasons" test. The A2 was not one of the forms replaced on September 21, 2026, so version 01/04/2022 remains current.
• RTA ss. 95–104, home of the A2 grounds and the 60-day limit, were left untouched by Bill 60.

Frequently asked questions

Who counts as an unauthorized occupant in Ontario?

Someone who occupies a unit because the tenant handed it to them without the landlord's consent, outside an approved assignment or sublet. Typically the original tenant has moved out. Unless the occupant becomes a tenant, the RTA gives them no rights against the landlord.

What is the deadline to evict an unauthorized occupant?

The A2 has to be filed within 60 days of your discovering the unauthorized occupancy. Let that period pass without filing or signing a tenancy agreement with the person, and the occupancy is deemed an assignment you consented to, and the person is your tenant.

Can I skip the Board and change the locks, or phone the police?

Taking matters into your own hands carries real risk. The original tenancy continues until the Board ends it, and the occupant may argue they are a tenant, whether by deemed assignment or by a new agreement. If that argument succeeds, changing the locks is an unlawful lockout. The safe path is to get an A2 order and have the Sheriff enforce it.

Is a notice required before an A2?

No. No notice of termination is needed. File the application directly, on time, naming both the tenant and the occupant.

May I collect money from the occupant while the A2 is pending?

If the occupant is still in the unit when you file, the A2 lets you claim compensation for use and occupation, and accepting compensation does not on its own create a tenancy. Avoid any document that recognizes the person as your tenant, unless you mean to.

A tenant wants to sublet. Must I say yes?

Refusing a particular proposed subtenant cannot be arbitrary or unreasonable, and the only charge you can make for consent is reasonable out-of-pocket expenses. A tenant who is unreasonably refused can file an A2 on the tenant side.

Official sources

• Form A2 – Application about a Sublet or an Assignment (PDF)
• A2 Instructions
• LTB Forms, filing and fees
• Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, ss. 95–104 and 159
• O. Reg. 516/06 (General)
• Interpretation Guideline 21: Landlords, Tenants, Occupants and Residential Tenancies
• LTB Rules of Procedure
• LTB Operational Update, July 1, 2026