Ontario 50% Arrears Rule for LTB Hearings: What Tenants Must Pay Before Raising Issues

Tribunals Ontario's update says payment must be made directly to the landlord and that it cannot be paid to the LTB in trust. Tenants are told to keep proof of payment.

[Cite: Tribunals Ontario, "LTB Operational Update: Legislative Changes Effective September 21, 2026"]

For a landlord, this means the receipt trail starts outside the hearing room. A payment that arrives by e-transfer, cheque or cash is evidence the Board will look for, and it should be logged against the file the day it lands.

A tenant has one deadline for the money and one for the paperwork. The payment has to be made at least 7 days before the hearing. The tenant also has to describe every issue they intend to raise at least 7 days before the hearing, and the Board's update stresses that the payment requirement is separate from that notice obligation.

[Cite: Tribunals Ontario, "LTB Operational Update: Legislative Changes Effective September 21, 2026"]

A tenant who meets one and misses the other has not met the rule. A landlord reviewing the file a week out can see quickly which of the two boxes, if either, has been ticked.

The Board's update describes the requirement as paying "half of the rent arrears." Secondary reporting ties the 50% to the arrears claimed in the L1 application, not to the tenant's own calculation of what is owed. The sources reviewed do not publish the statutory wording of the threshold, so a landlord relying on a specific figure should check it against the current e-Laws text of the Act.

[Cite: Tribunals Ontario, "LTB Operational Update: Legislative Changes Effective September 21, 2026"; Tenon10, "Ontario's 50% Arrears Rule"]

If this reading is right, the number in the L1 application becomes the base for the tenant's payment, and an accurate arrears figure on the form matters more than it used to. An inflated claim hands the tenant an argument about what the 50% should be.

The rule applies to applications filed on or after September 21, 2026. A landlord whose L1 was filed before that date is not subject to it, and the tenant at that hearing is not bound by it.

[Cite: Tribunals Ontario, "LTB Operational Update: Legislative Changes Effective September 21, 2026"]

Legislative citations for the change are sections 58(1.1) and 82(2) of the Residential Tenancies Act, as amended by S.O. 2025, c. 14, Schedule 12. The Board's September 21, 2026 operational update confirms the in-force date.

The rule governs what the Board hears in the arrears proceeding. Reporting on the change says tenants can still file a separate application about maintenance or tenant rights if they cannot meet the payment condition. Those applications have their own forms and timelines and do not move the arrears hearing.

[Cite: Now Toronto, "Ontario rental rules changing Sept. 21: What tenants should know"; Tenon10, "Ontario's 50% Arrears Rule"]

The consequence for a landlord is practical. An L1 can proceed to a decision without the tenant's complaints, but a separate application can follow. The two files may reach the Board at different times.

The Commission made a submission on May 1, 2026 on the regulatory proposal posted April 10, 2026, which set out the payment threshold and the timeframe. It recommended exceptions for Human Rights Code-related reasons and other extenuating circumstances, and noted that a payment barrier falls hardest on people with disabilities, Indigenous peoples, racialized people, lone parents, newcomers and people on public assistance.

[Cite: Ontario Human Rights Commission, "Submission on the regulatory proposal to set the timeframe and threshold for tenants to pay arrears to raise issues"]

The sources reviewed do not show whether the final rule includes the exceptions the Commission asked for. Treat the absence of a published exception as an open question and not as confirmation that none exists.

The same Bill 60 package cut the N4 notice period for unpaid rent from 14 days to 7 days and shortened the Board's order-review window from 30 days to 15. Separately, the LTB made its Payment Agreement Form mandatory for repayment plans. The 50% rule is the part that changes what happens inside the hearing itself.

[Cite: Tribunals Ontario, "LTB Operational Update: Legislative Changes Effective September 21, 2026"; Tribunals Ontario, "LTB Operational Update: Legislative Changes at the Landlord and Tenant Board" (June 30, 2026)]

Read together, the changes shorten the time to a hearing and narrow what a tenant can raise once there. A landlord's file should be ready sooner and the figures on it should be right.

Check every L1 filed on or after September 21, 2026 for an accurate arrears total, since the 50% threshold appears to be measured against it. Set up a way to record any tenant payment received before a hearing, with the date, amount and method.

Diarize a review date 8 days before each hearing. That is the last day a tenant's payment and written list of issues could still arrive, and it is the day to decide whether the file is likely to proceed on arrears alone.