Ontario N12 Notice 2026: Landlords Who Give 120 Days' Notice No Longer Owe One Month's Compensation

The waiver applies only when a landlord gives at least 120 days' notice, exactly double the standard 60-day minimum otherwise required for an N12 notice.

[Cite: Residential Tenancies Act, s. 48.1, as amended by S.O. 2025, c. 14, Sched. 12]

That specific threshold creates a clear trade-off; a landlord choosing to give the standard 60-day notice keeps the one-month compensation obligation, while a landlord willing to commit to the much longer 120-day lead time gets that compensation waived entirely, giving landlords a genuine incentive to provide tenants more advance warning.

This compensation waiver applies specifically to N12 notices for personal or family use; it doesn't extend to N13 notices for demolition, conversion, or repairs, which retain their own distinct compensation structure.

[Cite: Residential Tenancies Act, s. 48.1, as amended by S.O. 2025, c. 14, Sched. 12; distinguished from N13 provisions]

Some secondary commentary on this change has suggested the waiver also covers N13 notices, but that isn't accurate; a landlord terminating for renovation or demolition purposes under an N13 still owes the separate compensation that notice type requires, typically 3 months' rent in a building of 5 or more units, regardless of how much notice is given.

An N12 notice served on or before September 20, 2026 required the standard one-month compensation regardless of the notice period given; the waiver applies only to notices served on or after September 21, 2026.

[Cite: Residential Tenancies Act, s. 48.1, as amended by S.O. 2025, c. 14, Sched. 12]

A landlord who served a long-notice N12 before this commencement date doesn't get the waiver applied retroactively; a landlord planning to rely on this waiver needs to confirm the actual service date of the notice falls on or after the September 21, 2026 commencement date.

Alongside the compensation waiver, a new rule requires the landlord or qualifying family member to actually move into the unit within 60 days of the tenancy's termination, or face a presumption of bad faith.

[Cite: Residential Tenancies Act, amendments accompanying N12 provisions]

That occupancy deadline matters especially for a landlord relying on the compensation waiver; a landlord who gives 120 days' notice, avoids paying compensation, and then fails to actually occupy the unit within 60 days of termination risks a bad-faith finding that could expose them to penalties well beyond the compensation they originally avoided paying.

A landlord deciding whether to give 60 days' notice and pay 1 month's compensation, or 120 days' notice and pay nothing, needs to weigh the actual cost of the longer waiting period against the compensation saved.

[Cite: Residential Tenancies Act, s. 48.1, as amended by S.O. 2025, c. 14, Sched. 12]

For a landlord with flexible timing on when they actually need to move in, the 120-day route saves the compensation cost outright; for a landlord needing the unit sooner, the extra 60 days of waiting may cost more in practical terms than the 1 month's compensation it would save.

Since the waiver depends specifically on when the notice was served relative to the September 21, 2026 commencement date and whether 120 days' notice was actually given, a landlord should document the exact service date and notice period clearly.

[Cite: Residential Tenancies Act, s. 48.1, as amended by S.O. 2025, c. 14, Sched. 12]

A landlord who can show clear documentation of the notice's service date and the specific 120-day period given is in a much stronger position if a tenant later disputes whether compensation was actually owed, compared to a landlord relying on an informal or undocumented timeline.

Since this waiver applies specifically to N12 notices and not N13 notices, a landlord needs to confirm which specific notice type applies to their situation before assuming the waiver is available.

[Cite: Residential Tenancies Act, s. 48.1, distinguished from N13 provisions]

A landlord mistakenly applying the N12 waiver logic to what's actually an N13 renovation or demolition termination risks failing to pay compensation that's still legally required under that separate notice type's own rules.

A tenant receiving an N12 notice with at least 120 days of lead time should understand that the landlord's compensation obligation is specifically waived under this provision, rather than assuming compensation is still owed simply because it was the prior standard practice.

[Cite: Residential Tenancies Act, s. 48.1, as amended by S.O. 2025, c. 14, Sched. 12]

A tenant checking whether compensation should have been paid needs to confirm both the actual notice period given and the specific notice type, N12 versus N13, since the rules now differ meaningfully based on those 2 factors.

Waiving compensation in exchange for a much longer notice period reflects a deliberate legislative choice to give tenants more advance certainty about an upcoming move, in exchange for relieving landlords of the compensation cost.

[Cite: Residential Tenancies Act, s. 48.1, as amended by S.O. 2025, c. 14, Sched. 12]

A landlord should understand this provision as part of a broader package of changes within the same bill, several of which similarly trade one kind of procedural requirement for another rather than simply removing tenant protections outright.

Since the compensation outcome now depends directly on whether the notice period hits the 120-day threshold, a landlord's N12 notice template and internal process should clearly calculate and document the exact notice period given for each specific termination.

[Cite: Residential Tenancies Act, s. 48.1, as amended by S.O. 2025, c. 14, Sched. 12]

A landlord who doesn't clearly document the calculated notice period risks ambiguity over whether the 120-day threshold was actually met, which could become a point of dispute if a tenant challenges whether compensation should have been paid.

The practical starting point is deciding, for each planned N12 termination, whether the 120-day notice-and-no-compensation route or the standard 60-day notice-with-compensation route better fits that specific situation's timing needs.

Building the new 60-day post-termination occupancy deadline into internal tracking for any N12 termination relying on this waiver keeps a landlord from inadvertently triggering a bad-faith presumption after having already avoided the compensation cost.