How to Give Your Landlord Notice in Ontario (Form N9): The 60-Day Rule

• 60 days is the floor for most leases: A month-to-month or fixed-term tenancy needs at least 60 days’ written notice. Daily or weekly tenancies need 28.
• The termination date is the part people botch: For a monthly tenancy it must be the last day of a rental period, not any random day 60 days out.
• Use form N9 and sign it: It’s the Landlord and Tenant Board’s official Tenant’s Notice to End the Tenancy. An unsigned N9 is a defective notice.
• You give the N9 to the landlord, not the LTB: This isn’t a Board filing. It goes straight to your landlord.
• Verbal notice is worthless: Telling the super you’re leaving does nothing. It has to be written.
• Keep proof you sent it: A dated copy of the signed N9 plus a mailing confirmation showing the date and who received it.

Start here, because the notice period decides everything else. In Ontario the amount of notice you give depends on what kind of tenancy you have.

• Month-to-month (periodic) tenancy: at least 60 days’ written notice.
• Fixed-term lease (a one-year lease, say): at least 60 days’ notice, and the end date can’t be before the last day of the term.
• Daily or weekly tenancy: at least 28 days’ written notice.

That 60-day count runs from when the landlord receives the notice, not from when you write it or drop it in the mail. So if you’re mailing it, build in a few extra days for delivery. People forget this and end up one day short.

The 60 days is a minimum, not a target. You can give more. You cannot give less. The official rules are laid out in the Landlord and Tenant Board’s brochure on how a tenant can end their tenancy, and it’s worth a two-minute read before you commit to a date.

This is the trap. The 60 days is the easy half. The date itself is what trips people, because it can’t be any old day 60 days from now.

For a monthly tenancy, the termination date you put on the N9 has to be the last day of a rental period. Your rental period usually tracks your rent. If you pay on the 1st of the month, your rental period runs the 1st to the end of that month, so your termination date has to be the last day of a month.

For a weekly tenancy the same logic applies, except the termination date has to be the last day of a rental week, and the notice is 28 days.

Fixed-term lease ending and you’re not renewing? The termination date can be the last day of the term, or later, but never before it. Give your 60 days, and don’t set a date that lands mid-term.

The form is the easy part once the date is settled. You can download the current version straight from the Board: LTB forms on tribunalsontario.ca. Look for N9, Tenant’s Notice to End the Tenancy.

It asks for the basics:

• Your name and the names of any other tenants on the lease.
• The landlord’s name and the rental address.
• The termination date you worked out above. This is the field that matters most. Double-check it.
• Your signature. The N9 has to be signed. An unsigned form is a defective notice and your landlord can treat it as if you never gave it.

If more than one tenant is named on the lease, it’s cleanest to have every tenant sign. Don’t leave the signature line blank thinking you’ll handle it later. That’s the single most common way one of these gets thrown out.

Keep a copy of the completed, signed form before it leaves your hands.

One thing to be clear on: the N9 goes to your landlord, not to the Landlord and Tenant Board. You’re not filing anything with the Board here. This is a notice you serve directly. (If your situation does involve LTB paperwork later, the directory of where to mail Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board forms covers those addresses.)

You can deliver the N9 a few ways: hand it to the landlord, leave it with someone who appears to be an adult in their household or office, put it in their mailbox, or mail it to them. Any of those work. What you want, in all of them, is a record of when it went and who got it.

That record is what protects you if the landlord later claims they never got the notice, or that it came too late. The fight, when there is one, is almost always about the date. So:

• Keep the dated, signed copy of the exact N9 you served. Save it as a PDF or print it before it goes out.
• Keep a mailing confirmation. Mail the N9 through PostPal and you get a dated confirmation showing what was sent, to whom, and on what date. Filed next to your copy, that’s a time-stamped record of the day your 60 days started running. No trip to the post office, no standing in line.

You don’t need anything fancier than that. A dated copy of the signed notice plus a confirmation showing the date and recipient is a solid record that you gave proper notice on time.

A "defective" notice is one that doesn’t meet the rules, so it doesn’t legally end your tenancy. The lease keeps going and your rent obligation rolls on. Here’s what usually causes it:

• Too few days. You gave 45 days when you owed 60.
• Wrong termination date. The date isn’t the last day of a rental period, like the August 24 in the example above.
• No signature. An unsigned N9 doesn’t count.
• Verbal only. You told them but never put it in writing.
• Date set before the end of a fixed term. You can’t end a one-year lease mid-term with an N9 just by giving notice.

What happens if you get it wrong? In the simplest case you fix it and re-serve, which costs you time and may push your move-out date back by a full rental period. Worse, if you move out on a defective notice, you can stay on the hook for rent. So it’s worth getting the date right the first time. If your situation is unusual, confirm the details with the LTB before you serve.

Short answer: not by handing over an N9 alone. A fixed-term lease is a commitment for the full term, and an N9 alone won’t cut a one-year lease short in month three.

You’ve got a few real options instead:

• Agree with the landlord to end it early. If you both sign off, the tenancy ends on the agreed date. This is the cleanest route. Get it in writing.
• Assign or sublet. Ontario lets tenants assign the unit to someone else or sublet it, with the landlord’s consent (and the landlord can’t unreasonably refuse). The rules are specific, so read them.
• Specific legal grounds. Certain situations let a tenant end a tenancy early, and they each have their own forms and steps separate from the N9.

This is exactly the kind of thing to confirm for your own circumstances. The Board’s page on the Landlord and Tenant Board is the place to start, and when money or a disputed move-out date is on the line, get advice before you act.

Can I give notice by text or email?

A casual text isn’t proper notice. The notice has to be in writing on the N9 and signed. If your landlord agrees in advance to be served by email and you send the signed N9 as an attachment, that may be acceptable, but a plain "I’m moving out" text message is not. Use the form, sign it, and keep a dated copy.

What date do I put on the N9?

The termination date, which is the day your tenancy ends. For a monthly tenancy it has to be at least 60 days out and fall on the last day of a rental period. If you pay rent on the 1st, that’s the last day of a month. Count your 60 days, then move to the next valid last-day-of-period date.

Can I leave before my lease ends?

An N9 by itself won’t end a fixed-term lease early. Your realistic options are agreeing with the landlord to end it, assigning or subletting the unit with consent, or specific legal grounds that have their own process. Confirm your situation with the LTB.

Do I have to give a reason for moving out?

No. An N9 ending a periodic tenancy doesn’t require a reason. You give proper notice and the correct date, and that’s enough. You’re not asking permission, you’re giving notice.

What if I gave notice but the date is wrong?

Then it’s likely a defective notice and it doesn’t end your tenancy. The cleanest fix is to serve a corrected N9 with a valid date, which usually pushes your move-out to the next rental period. Don’t move out relying on a date you’re unsure about. Check it with the Board first.

Do I send the N9 to the Landlord and Tenant Board?

No. The N9 goes to your landlord directly. You’re not filing it with the Board. That’s a common mix-up, so don’t mail it to the LTB and assume your notice is done.

When does the 60 days start counting?

From when the landlord receives the notice, not from when you wrote it. If you mail it, allow time for delivery so you don’t come up short. A dated mailing confirmation helps you show when it went.

So the whole thing comes down to two numbers and one date. Sixty days for most leases, twenty-eight for weekly, and a termination date that lands on the last day of a rental period. Fill out the N9, sign it, give it to your landlord, and hold on to a dated copy.

Type your N9 details out and PostPal handles the rest: we print it, envelope it, mail it via Canada Post the next business day, and email you a dated confirmation showing what went out, to whom, and when. That confirmation is the thing you reach for if a landlord ever questions whether your notice was on time.

Mail your N9 notice with PostPal →

This article is general information, not legal advice. Tenancy rules can turn on the specifics of your situation, so confirm your exact case with the Landlord and Tenant Board.

Related Posts

• Mail a Tenant Notice Online
• How to Send Legal Notices & Demand Letters in Canada
• How to Keep Proof You Sent an Important Letter