The Landlord and Tenant Board runs its cases through an online system called the Tribunals Ontario Portal, or TOP. Ontario landlords use it to file the LTB applications they bring most often, pay a discounted filing fee, upload evidence, trade documents and messages with the tenant, and follow the progress of a file. This guide sets out what the Portal can and cannot do, and the procedural trap that catches landlords most often: assuming that uploading a document serves it on the tenant. Getting that wrong can cost you the evidence your case, and any later review, depends on.
At a glance
| Topic | The rule |
|---|---|
| Sign-in | Ontario Public Secure (a bank Sign-in partner, or a My Ontario Login) |
| Landlord applications it accepts | L1, L2, L3, L4, L9 and L10 |
| Filed elsewhere | Review requests by email; the A1, A2, A4, L6, L7 and L8 by email, mail, courier or ServiceOntario; the L5 by email to AGIpayments@ontario.ca |
| L1, L2, L3, L9, L10 fee | $186 through the Portal; $201 any other way |
| L4 fee | Free on the Portal |
| Cards accepted | Credit or debit versions of Visa and Mastercard |
| Evidence uploads | Permitted, but they do not serve the tenant without the tenant's written consent |
| Lawyers and paralegals | Portal use compulsory for listed items from January 1, 2025 |
What you can do on the Portal
Tribunals Ontario lists these Portal functions:
- filing applications and paying the fees;
- checking where a file stands;
- uploading evidence;
- reading and exchanging messages and documents with the other parties;
- choosing preferred hearing dates, in some circumstances; and
- trying to settle through the online dispute resolution (ODR) tool.
For the LTB, the Portal is the current record of your case. According to its help page, the information there is up to date, and staff cannot tell you more about a file's status than the Portal already shows.
Opening an account
Log in through Public Secure, the provincial government's sign-in service. One option is a My Ontario Login, made up of an email address and a password of eight or more characters mixing upper and lower case with at least one number and one symbol. The other is to sign in with your online banking credentials through Verified.Me (Government Sign-In), the Sign-in partner. Tribunals Ontario notes that the Portal does not run well on Internet Explorer and recommends a current version of Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
When you file the application yourself, the file links to your account automatically, and no PIN is needed.
Which applications it takes
On the landlord side, the Portal accepts:
- the L1, for eviction over unpaid rent plus the rent owing;
- the L2, to end a tenancy and evict, or to recover money;
- the L3, where the tenant gave notice or agreed to leave;
- the L4, where the tenant breached the conditions of a settlement or order;
- the L9, to collect rent a tenant owes; and
- the L10, to collect money from a former tenant.
Co-ops file their C1 and C2 there, and tenants their T1, T2, T5 and T6.
Everything else goes another way. The LTB lists these as email filings: the A1, A2, A4, L6, L7 and L8, review requests, and requests for hearing recordings. Payment comes first, through the LTB's online payment page; the application then goes with its receipt to ltbpayments@ontario.ca. Above-guideline increase (L5) applications follow their own email route via AGIpayments@ontario.ca, with the RUI (Rental Unit Information) spreadsheet attached. Apart from the review request, which is listed for email only, all of these (the A forms, L5, L6, L7 and L8) can also go by mail or courier, or to a ServiceOntario centre that takes LTB documents. Do not put credit card details in an email; the LTB deletes any application containing them.
Filing, step by step
- Gather the notice and proof of service. For an L1 or L2, that means the termination notice (N4, N5, N12 and so on) along with a Certificate of Service showing the date and method of service.
- Work through the guided application. Each section is presented in turn. Name every tenant, and supply an email address for each party and for your representative wherever you have one, because the LTB sends PINs and documents to those addresses.
- Upload the notice, any affidavit and the Certificate of Service when you file. The LTB's Rule 4.4 makes that mandatory. If it is not possible, Rule 4.5 allows 5 calendar days, and missing that deadline can result in administrative dismissal.
- Check everything before "Ready to Submit". Arriving at that screen locks the draft. If you find an error, the only fix is a fresh application.
- Pay the fee. Use a Visa or Mastercard, credit or debit. There are no refunds of LTB fees.
A document uploaded to the Portal counts as filed on the upload date (Rule 4.8), and typing a person's name is an acceptable signature on a Portal document (Rule 4.3).
LTB staff then review the application, the supporting documents, and whether the filing was on time. Applications that are incomplete or late may be refused or dismissed. The common timing mistakes appear in Rule 6, and for rent cases the L1 guide walks through them.
PINs and linking to a file
Filing on the Portal triggers notice to the other parties, each of whom receives a single-use PIN unique to them, by email where there is an address on file, or by post. Anyone who did not file, whether a tenant or a representative, gets access through the "Link my Account to a File at LTB" option, entering the 5-digit PIN together with the file number. After the link is made, the PIN is not needed again.
A PIN is personal and may not be shared. If you bring in a lawyer or paralegal after filing, upload a request to add them as your representative or agent under Documents, Evidence and Requests. For a lost PIN, or one that never arrived, phone the LTB (416-645-8080 or 1-888-332-3234) or email LTB@ontario.ca.
Evidence uploads
Where the file is an L1, L2, L3, L4, L9 or L10, evidence belongs on the Portal according to the Practice Direction on Evidence: open the file, go to Documents, Evidence and Requests, and pick Submissions. The technical rules:
- files can be up to 500 MB;
- permitted formats: documents (PDF, DOC, DOCX, TXT, MSG), spreadsheets and data (XLS, XLSX, CSV, DAT), images (JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIF), and audio or video (MP3, MP4, MOV, AVI);
- links to social media or any website are not accepted, so save or print the content as a document; and
- pages must be numbered in sequence and legible, with a table of contents when you submit several items.
Evidence sent through cloud services like iCloud or Dropbox will not be accepted.
Timing
Under Rule 19.1, every party must provide the other parties and the LTB with all the evidence they plan to rely on no later than 7 days before the hearing or case management hearing. Responding evidence is due no later than 5 days before (Rule 19.2). On an L1 or L9, Rule 10.2 adds the L1/L9 Information Update, which must reach every tenant and the LTB five days or more before the hearing.
Why an upload does not serve the tenant
This is where landlords lose hearings. Under Rule 19.1.1, posting documents to the Portal does not count as giving them to the other side. The exception is a party who has given written consent to Portal service, with that consent uploaded to the file. If there is no consent, you also have to serve the tenant by an approved method, such as by hand, mail or courier, or by email where the tenant agreed to email service, and within the same deadlines. Evidence the tenant never properly received is at risk of being excluded, which weakens both your hearing and any later challenge to the result.
To record the agreement, the LTB offers a form, the Consent to Disclosure through Tribunals Ontario Portal. What the form says:
- both the landlord and the tenant sign it, and every tenant signs a form of their own;
- consent has to be in writing, but using the LTB's form is optional;
- either side may later withdraw from Portal delivery with written notice to the other; and
- each side is responsible for watching the Portal for new uploads.
Upload the signed form under Documents, Evidence and Requests, choosing the consent-to-disclosure option. Rule 3.1 likewise allows service by Portal upload once the recipient has agreed in writing, and under Rule 3.9 the document is deemed served on the upload date.
Settlement, messages and withdrawals
Through the ODR tool, the parties can try to negotiate a settlement on their own. Tribunals Ontario describes ODR as neither mediation nor adjudication; if the parties settle or reach a deadlock, a Dispute Resolution Officer can be requested. Rule 13.5 keeps ODR discussions confidential, and nothing said there can be put before the LTB. An ODR session can end in a payment plan, a consent order or a mediated agreement, or in the applicant withdrawing on the Portal.
The Portal is mandatory for lawyers and paralegals
From January 1, 2025, licensees of the Law Society of Ontario have had to use the Portal for Portal-eligible applications and for a list of other items. That list covers summonses, evidence, L1/L9 Information Updates, requests to amend an application, and requests to reschedule, extend or shorten time, withdraw, discontinue, amend an order or re-open. The LTB will not process any of these from a licensee if they arrive by mail, fax, courier, email or through ServiceOntario.
Frequently asked questions
Do I save money filing on the Portal?
Yes. For the L1, L2, L3, L9 and L10, the fee is $186 on the Portal against $201 by other routes, and the L4 is free on the Portal.
Does the L5 go through the Portal?
No. An L5 is emailed to AGIpayments@ontario.ca along with the Rental Unit Information spreadsheet, or filed by mail, by courier or at ServiceOntario. The LTB emails you a secure payment link, valid for three calendar days.
The tenant has a PIN. Is my uploaded evidence served on them?
Only where written consent to Portal service has been given by the tenant and is on the file. Without it, serve the tenant separately before the deadline.
I reached "Ready to Submit" and then spotted an error. What can I do?
The draft can no longer be edited from that page. Begin a new application, and check it carefully before clicking "Save and Next".
Whom do I call if Zoom or the Portal fails on hearing day?
For Zoom trouble on the hearing day, phone LTB hearing support at 416-212-9064 (toll-free 866-769-7865) or email LTBHearingSupport@ontario.ca. Portal and PIN problems go to LTB@ontario.ca.