A T3 is how an Ontario tenant asks the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) to lower the rent, on one of two footings: the landlord took away or scaled back a service or facility, or the building's municipal property taxes dropped. You respond as the landlord. Because O. Reg. 516/06 prescribes how any reduction is calculated, the result usually depends on what your cost and tax records show.
At a glance
| Who can apply | Current tenants on either ground; former tenants only on the service or facility ground |
| Timing | Within a year of the service or facility being reduced or withdrawn; tax claims look at the two calendar years before filing |
| Prior notice | None owed to the landlord |
| Filing and service | Mail, courier, email or ServiceOntario, never the Portal. The LTB serves you, except in written hearings, where the tenant does |
| Tenant's fee | $53 |
| After the order | Request to Review an Order (15 days) |
The two grounds
Services and facilities (RTA s. 130)
A tenant can seek lower rent when a service or facility supplied for the unit or the complex has been reduced or withdrawn. Typical examples are an included parking space, a storage locker, the laundry room, a pool or bundled cable. A former tenant may apply too, if the cut affected them while they lived there. Under s. 130(3), the Board can lower the rent, order unlawfully collected rent refunded, or, for a temporary cut, lower the rent for a fixed period. Any order runs from the first day of the cut (s. 130(4)).
Lower municipal taxes (RTA s. 133)
A tenant can also ask for a reduction because the complex's municipal taxes and charges went down. This is separate from the automatic reduction that applies by law when taxes fall by more than 2.49% (RTA s. 131; regulation s. 41), where the municipality must send notices in larger buildings.
Matters outside the T3
Disrepair claims use the T6 and illegal charges the T1, so neither can ground a T3. Care home tenants cannot use the T3 for reductions in care services or meals.
Choosing between the T3 and related applications
Where the tenant's real grievance is that a service was withdrawn to pressure them, that is conduct, which is handled through the T2 application. Where either side wants to change the s. 131 reduction that happens automatically, the route is an A4 under s. 132, not a T3.
Time limits
Services. Section 130(5) bars any application made more than a year after the reduction or discontinuance. The form itself only asks about cuts within the past 12 months. For instance, if a storage locker was taken away on March 1, 2026, a T3 filed on March 15, 2027 comes too late for that cut.
Taxes. Under s. 45(1) of the regulation, the comparison is between two calendar years: the most recent complete one before the T3 was filed (base year) and its predecessor (reference year). If the decrease flows from a tax appeal, the tenant has a year from the appeal decision to apply (s. 45(2), para. 3). A tax-based reduction begins with the opening day of the first rental period to start on or after filing (s. 45(6)).
What the tenant fills in
The current form is dated 01/04/2022.
- Part 1, General Information: the unit address, the tenants' names and contact details, the landlord's name and address, and any related files.
- Part 2, Reason 1 (services or facilities cut within the past year): a table identifying each item, the date, and whether it was scaled back or eliminated, followed by a year of rent history and the rent payment frequency.
- Part 2, Reason 2 (lower municipal taxes): the base and reference years with the complex's total property taxes for each, and evidence of those taxes for both years attached.
- Part 3, Signature: followed by the accommodation and French-language request and then the payment page.
How the tenant files
The Tribunals Ontario Portal does not take the T3. It goes to the Board's Toronto office at 15 Grosvenor Street by mail or courier, to a ServiceOntario location handling LTB filings, or to ltbpayments@ontario.ca by email, in which case the tenant gets a payment link valid for three calendar days. The fee is $53. A multi-unit tenant application costs $53 plus $5 for each additional unit, up to $450, and goes in by mail or courier.
When a tax-reduction application is heard in writing, the applicant serves each respondent with the application and the notice of written hearing within 20 days of the LTB issuing that notice (Rule 5.6).
Responding as the landlord
Check the date of the cut. Anything removed or reduced more than a year before the application was filed is out of time (s. 130(5)).
Prove what the service cost you. The formula depends on whether removing it was reasonable:
- Reasonable discontinuance: the reduction is a reasonable charge based on your cost of providing the service. If that cost cannot be worked out, it is based on the service's value, including the tenant's replacement cost (regulation s. 39(2)).
- Unreasonable discontinuance: the Board also takes the effect on the tenant into account, and the reduction may not be less than the figure for a reasonable discontinuance (s. 39(3)–(4)).
Temporary interruptions. Section 39(7) rules out a reduction for a temporary cut whose duration was reasonable in light of its effect on the tenant. Your work orders and dates are the proof of how long it lasted.
Services charged separately. Where a service was added under an agreement with its own charge, s. 39(5) sets the reduction at that separate charge, or at the adjusted increase you took when adding it.
Tax claims. Have the base-year and reference-year tax bills, any tax appeal decisions, and the annual rent roll ready. Without proof of total yearly rents, the Board applies a statutory factor that may work against you (s. 45(5)).
Disclosure. Get your evidence to the tenant and the Board 7 days or more before the hearing, or 5 days or more before if it is reply evidence (Rules 19.1–19.2).
Where T3 claims fail
- The cut happened more than a year before filing. Section 130(5) bars it.
- A former tenant seeking a tax reduction. Section 133 is open only to current tenants.
- A care home claim about care services or meals. The T3 does not cover it.
- Reason 2 filed without tax evidence.
- Filed on the Portal, or with no fee. The T3 must go in by mail, courier, ServiceOntario or email, with the fee paid.
- A brief, reasonable, temporary interruption. Section 39(7) means no reduction is owed.
After the hearing
The Board hears the application (tax applications may be dealt with in writing) and issues an order fixing any reduction, when it starts and any rebate. Either side can seek a review within 15 days (for orders dated July 1, 2026 or later) or take a question of law to the Divisional Court within 30 days.
Frequently asked questions
Can I take away a parking spot or locker without lowering the rent?
Generally not. Withdrawing something included with the tenancy lets the tenant seek a reduction measured by your cost or the item's value. The exception is a temporary cut that lasts a reasonable length of time.
Does rent go down automatically when property taxes fall?
When the decrease exceeds 2.49%, yes: the s. 131 reduction applies by law. Section 133 also lets a tenant bring a T3.
From what date does the lower rent apply?
For a service cut, from the day the service was first reduced or removed. For lower taxes, from the start of the first rental period that begins on or after the T3's filing date.
Is a former tenant allowed to file a T3?
Yes, but only about a service or facility that was cut while they were living there, and only inside the one-year limit.
Official sources
- Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, ss. 130–133, 207
- O. Reg. 516/06, ss. 39–41, 45
- T3 Instructions
- T3 – Tenant Application for a Rent Reduction (PDF)
- LTB Rules of Procedure, Rules 5.6, 19, 26
- LTB Forms, filing and fees