The Ontario L2 Application: Evicting After an N5, N6, N7, N8, N12 or N13, or Claiming Money

If you have served any termination notice other than an N4, you follow it with an L2 at the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB). The same form handles a few other jobs: confirming an abandonment, recovering a unit from a superintendent whose employment is over, and claiming money (damage, utilities, overholding compensation and similar) from a tenant who is still living there. Getting an L2 right is mostly a matter of pairing the correct notice with the correct deadline and attaching what each ground demands.

Overview

The two halves of the L2

You can use Part 2, Part 3, or both on a single application.

Part 2: termination

There are three possible reasons.

Reason 1, a notice of termination was given. The notices that lead here are:

Reason 2, abandonment (s. 79). Rent must be owing, because RTA s. 2(3) says a unit is not abandoned where the tenant is not in arrears.

Reason 3, a superintendent's job has ended and the superintendent has stayed more than a week.

Part 3: money

The money reasons are:

• compensation for every day the tenant remains after the termination date (s. 86);
• bank and administration charges for NSF cheques, allowed only when daily compensation is also claimed;
• utilities the tenancy agreement made the tenant responsible for (s. 88.2);
• repair or replacement costs for undue damage (s. 89);
• out-of-pocket costs from substantial interference (s. 88.1);
• for RGI housing, the rent shortfall that resulted when the tenant misstated income (s. 90).

Claims for damage, utilities, interference and income misrepresentation do not depend on a termination notice. One thing the form rules out in plain terms: the L2 cannot be used to collect rent arrears. For arrears, file an L9 or an L1 instead.

Choosing the L2, or another form

On persistent late payment: under O. Reg. 516/06, s. 8.1, as of September 21, 2026, three or more payments in any six-month window that arrive over 7 days past the due date meet the definition. A payment does not count where its lateness came only from your applying it to some other amount, arrears for instance. Other patterns of lateness can still qualify. Interpretation Guideline 10 confirms that an N4 and an N8 may be pursued together.

On former tenants: apart from the abandonment ground, an L2 cannot be filed against a tenant who is out of possession, and under Rule 6.6 the Board will not take an L2 money claim without your confirmation that the tenant still occupies the unit.

The deadlines

Notice periods

The day of service is not counted; the termination date is. A mailed notice needs 5 extra days.

The 30-day outer limit

Whatever the notice, the L2 based on it must be filed no more than 30 days past the notice's termination date (Rule 6.9; RTA s. 69(2)), and the LTB cannot extend that period (O. Reg. 516/06, s. 56). Miss it and the notice is of no further use; you start again with a fresh one. For example, an N7 with a termination date of January 15, 2027 supports an L2 filed no later than February 14, 2027.

Abandonment and superintendents

Neither ground needs a notice. Unless otherwise agreed, a superintendent's tenancy ends with the employment, after which the superintendent has one week to leave, and no rent may be charged for that week.

Supporting documents on the Portal

Upload the notice, its Certificate of Service and any declaration or affidavit together with the application. Where you cannot, Rules 4.4–4.5 give you 5 calendar days to file them.

Completing the L2

Version 2026/09 is current. The package contains the eight-page application, a Payment Information Form, Schedule A (for N13s) and Schedule B (for N12s).

Part 1: General Information

Enter the complete address of the unit, the landlord's name or company name, and the way the LTB should reach you; choosing Email signals consent to email for every applicant. Extra landlords or tenants go on a Schedule of Parties. Tenant names should match those on the notice. Pay attention to the possession question ("Is the tenant still in possession of the rental unit?"): answering No leaves only the abandonment reason open.

Part 2: Applying to End a Tenancy

• Reason 1 (notice): shade a box for each notice you rely on and enter the termination date in the notice, which the LTB uses to test the 30-day limit.
• Reason 2: set out why you believe the tenant abandoned the unit: what happened with the keys, whether belongings were taken, uncollected mail, and your efforts to reach the tenant. Rent must be owing.
• Reason 3 (superintendent): give the date the job ended.

Part 3: Applying to Collect Money

• Reason 1 (daily compensation): the amount for each day after the termination date.
• Reason 2: NSF charges, available only alongside Reason 1. Use a row for each cheque. Administration charges cannot exceed $20 per cheque, and the amount of the cheque is never part of the claim.
• Rent and deposit: the current rent, the deposit held, the date you collected it and the most recent interest period. When the tenancy is ended, the LTB applies the deposit and interest as a credit.
• Reason 3 (utilities): a row per bill with the provider, bill date, period, total, amount the tenant paid and balance owing.
• Reason 4 (damage): a total plus an itemised explanation of each item damaged and how you arrived at its repair or replacement cost. Estimates are fine where the work has not yet been done. Ordinary wear and tear does not qualify as undue damage.
• Reason 5 (substantial interference): out-of-pocket costs caused by the conduct and nothing else, for instance a fire department charge for a false alarm. Damage and utilities are claimed elsewhere.
• Reason 6 (RGI income misrepresentation): show your calculation of how much more rent the tenant's actual income would have required.

Part 4: Total Amount Owing

The Part 3 totals plus the application fee you are paying.

Part 5: Signature

Signed by the landlord, or by a legal representative who adds a Law Society number. Per Interpretation Guideline 10, a corporate landlord signs by an authorised officer or director.

Schedule A (N13 applications)

• Part A: whether you hold the necessary building permits or have taken every reasonable step to obtain them.
• Part B: which applies: compensation paid by the termination date, another unit accepted by the tenant, or payment to be made by that date. A separate box is ticked if a property standards by-law order required the work.
• Part C: list each N12 or N13 served in the past two years for any unit, or tick that there were none.
• Part D (right of first refusal): Where a tenant, on or after Sept 21, 2026, notifies you in writing of an intention to return, you must provide written estimates of when the work will be finished, keep them updated, tell the tenant when the unit is ready, and, where the work is completed on or after that date, allow 60 days to move back. Under s. 57.1(1.1), skipping these steps is deemed a failure to honour the right.

Schedule B (N12 applications)

• Part A, compensation: pick one option. Option four, "not required", covers only a landlord's-own-use N12 served on or after Sept 21, 2026 with a termination date 120 or more days out that is also a period's or term's final day (s. 48.1(2)). Purchaser's-own-use N12s never qualify; they need either an acceptable alternative unit or one month's compensation.
• Part B: covers the required declaration.
• Part C: earlier N12s and N13s.

On the Portal

The questions are the same on screen. Supporting documents are attached at the upload stage. Review every entry before you reach "Ready to Submit"; after that page the draft can no longer be edited. Tribunals Ontario does not publish screen-by-screen guidance for the Portal, so work from its prompts.

What to file with it

Every L2 requires the completed form and the fee. An application grounded in a notice also needs the notice and proof of its service, the Certificate of Service (O. Reg. 516/06, s. 53). Then, by ground:

• Second N5 (s. 68): include the earlier N5 with its proof of service.
• N6 served after the tenant voided a first N5: include that voided N5 with its proof of service.
• N12: Schedule B, and from every intended occupant a sworn affidavit or a declaration. The wording differs by ground: a landlord's-own-use occupant swears to needing the unit, in good faith, to live in for a minimum of one year; a purchaser's-own-use occupant swears to needing it in good faith to live in. Sections 71.1 and 72 of the RTA require the affidavit at filing, failing which the LTB must refuse the application. In its place you may use a signed declaration that affirms the contents are true and accepts that making a false one is an offence (Rule 1.5; s. 192.1). The LTB provides Declaration and Affidavit forms.
• N13: Schedule A, with proof of permits and compensation where required.
• Any N12 or N13: a fully completed Part C on the schedule; otherwise the application will not be accepted (Rule 6.11).

Licensed lawyers and paralegals file through the Portal. The LTB, not you, serves the L2 and the Notice of Hearing on the tenant. Your own evidence (the lease, photos, bills, invoices and any witness statements) must reach the tenant and the LTB 7 or more days before the hearing (Rule 19.1).

How L2 applications fail

1. Missing the 30-day limit. Rule 6.9 bars an application filed later than 30 days past the termination date, and O. Reg. 516/06, s. 56 prevents any extension. That notice cannot be used again.
2. Filing on a first N5 inside the 7-day remedy period. Rule 6.8 and s. 70 require refusal. Separately, an N5 becomes void if the tenant corrected the conduct within the 7 days.
3. A defective notice. Typical defects: a termination date that is wrong or too short, missing particulars, or, for an N8, N12 or N13, a date that is not the last day of a rental period. Interpretation Guideline 10 treats a non-compliant notice as void, with no power to amend it. The eviction claim fails; any money claims may still proceed.
4. Notices that confuse. If one set of conduct produces both a voidable N5 and a notice that cannot be voided, all of them may be defective. Interpretation Guideline 10 asks whether a reasonable tenant would be left confused.
5. A second N5 recycling the first N5's events. A valid second N5 needs new conduct occurring within a window: later than 7 days, but sooner than 6 months, after service of the first. A notice resting only on the old incidents fails.
6. Filing an N12 application without the affidavit or declaration. Section 71.1(2) requires refusal. A declaration that omits "good faith" or the one-year period sets up an argument at the hearing about substantial compliance.
7. Part C left incomplete on Schedule A or B. Not accepted (Rule 6.11), and omitting a previous N12 or N13 also carries a risk of committing an offence.
8. Compensation not paid. Section 83(4) bars an eviction order on an N12 or N13 until the required compensation is paid or an acceptable unit is offered. Payment is due by the termination date.
9. Rent arrears on the L2. They belong on an L1 or L9. NSF charges without a daily compensation claim are likewise not allowed.
10. Abandonment without arrears. While rent is paid, a unit is not abandoned (s. 2(3)).
11. An outdated L2 on or after November 30, 2026. From that date, versions older than 2026/09 are refused.

Several of these defects (a void notice, a late filing, a missing N12 declaration) cannot be cured later. A review or appeal will not revive a notice that never complied with the RTA, so the time to get them right is before filing.

After the L2 is filed

The LTB serves the tenant and sets a hearing date. At the hearing you will need to prove the ground, the notice, service on each tenant, and each amount you claim.

The LTB must consider whether to refuse or delay eviction before ordering it (RTA s. 83). From September 21, 2026, a postponement you have not agreed to requires both compelling grounds and a finding that it is not unfair to you or the other tenants. For N12 and N13 files, O. Reg. 516/06, s. 8.4 applies only the "not unfair" part.

Following an own-use N12, the occupant is normally expected in the unit within 60 days of whichever is later, the termination date or the tenant's move-out. Where that does not happen and a T5 is filed from September 21, 2026 on, bad faith is presumed, although the landlord can rebut the presumption (RTA s. 57(6.1), (7); O. Reg. 240/26).

Review requests on orders issued from July 1, 2026 are due within 15 days. To enforce, file the eviction order with the Court Enforcement Office inside six months (s. 81).

Recent changes

September 21, 2026. A revised L2 and revised instructions came out, and versions dated before 2026/09 stop being accepted on November 30, 2026. The same date introduced the new persistent-late definition, the 120-day N12 without compensation, the N13 reoccupation notices, the "compelling grounds" standard for delaying eviction, and revised Interpretation Guidelines 10 and 12.

July 1, 2026. For orders issued from this date, the review deadline dropped from 30 days to 15.

Questions about the L2

What is the deadline to file after serving a notice?

Thirty days after the termination date shown in the notice, with no possibility of extension. You can usually file the moment the notice is given, except on a first N5, where the 7-day remedy period has to run first.

Can I ask for eviction and damages in one L2?

Yes. In fact, under Interpretation Guideline 10, where the same events support both termination and compensation, you must bring both claims on the L2. Itemise each loss and disclose photos and invoices 7 days ahead of the hearing.

Does an N12 eviction need an affidavit?

It does. Whoever is moving in must supply a sworn affidavit or a signed declaration, and it has to be filed with the application. If it is missing, the LTB must refuse the application.

How is persistent late payment defined now?

Three or more payments in any six months that were each over 7 days late, not counting a payment whose lateness came only from your applying it to a different debt. Other patterns may still qualify.

The tenant has left. Can I still use an L2?

Only to have the LTB confirm abandonment. To recover money a former tenant owes, file an L10 within one year of the move-out.

Official sources

• Form L2 (2026/09) and L2 Instructions
• Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, ss. 2, 44, 48–50, 57, 57.1, 58–73, 79, 81, 83, 86, 88.1–90, 192.1
• O. Reg. 516/06, ss. 8.1, 8.4, 17, 53, 56
• O. Reg. 240/26 (Prescribed Period of Time)
• LTB Rules of Procedure, Rules 1.5, 4.4–4.5, 6.6–6.11, 19
• Interpretation Guideline 10 and Interpretation Guideline 12
• LTB Operational Update, September 21, 2026
• LTB Forms, filing and fees