Province Releases Mandatory Lease Form. Implementation Date: On and After April 30, 2018

As expected, Ontario has introduced the mandatory “Prescribed Lease” to be used for all standard apartment rental units and tenancy agreements which are entered into on and after April 30, 2018.  This means that Landlords will have a very short time frame within which to change their administration process and implement the new form for new tenancies.  Here is a link to the “Standard Lease” form for your review: Standard Lease Agreement

You may download a fillable version of the Standard Lease on the link below, although you will have to save it to your desktop to view it.  

Fillable Standard Lease Agreement

The Government form allows landlords to add “Terms and Conditions” which can form part of the tenancy agreement and for most landlords, the additional terms and conditions, which deal with issues like parking restrictions, rights of entry, Cannabis cultivation, insurance, “Rules and Regulations”, etc., are key to preserving orderly rental operations. 

The London Property Management Association (LPMA) has been working with us for the past few months to draft Terms and Conditions for incorporation into the Mandatory Lease form and it is expected to be finalized within the next week for distribution and licensing to interested landlord associations and members.  LPMA has drafted all versions of the standard industry lease form used by LPMA, HDAA, WRAMA, GTAA and FRPO for the past few decades and will ensure that the Mandatory Lease and the Terms and Conditions are available in print form and in electronic form by the end of February.  The Mandatory Lease from is 13 pages long!  The additional Terms and Conditions will extend the document further, but that’s what happens when the government tries to micro-manage your rental operations. 

There will be some opportunities for you and your staff to get up to speed on implementation and use of the new form: Lawyers and Paralegals from Cohen Highley will be presenting at each of the following industry, Law Society, and legal education events: 

• LPMA Members’ Dinner and General Meeting on March 13th, 2018 (Joe Hoffer)
• FRPO RTA Seminar on April 4, 2018 in Toronto (Joe Hoffer)
• FRPO RTA Seminar on April 10, 2018 in Hamilton (Mark Melchers)
• FRPO RTA Seminar on April 12, 2018 in Scarborough (Joe Hoffer) 
• FRPO RTA Seminar on April 17, 2018 in London (Shannon Kiekens)
• FRPO RTA Seminar on April 24, 2018 in Ottawa (Emma Sims) 
• FRPO RTA Seminar on May 3, 2018 in Toronto (Kristin Ley)
• Law Society of Upper Canada Webcast “The Rental Fairness Act, 2017: What Paralegals Need to Know in 2018” on March 2, 2018 (Joe Hoffer and Mark Melchers)
• Osgoode/University of Toronto “Residential Landlord-Tenant Disputes: Practice Realities and the Impact of Bill 124” on April 6, 2018 (Joe Hoffer and Kristin Ley)

Start training your staff now and make sure that any lease that is to take effect on or after April 30, 2018 is in the “Prescribed Form”!

If you have any questions about the lease, you may contact Joe Hoffer at 519-672-9330 or hoffer@cohenhighley.com.