Ontario Landlord Compliance · Return a deposit
Renting a Condo in Toronto: What Move-In Rules Can the Condo Corporation Require?
A Toronto owner books the elevator for a tenant's move-in day, gets handed a $300 deposit requirement from the condo corporation, and assumes the easiest move is folding that cost into the lease as a line item. That move is exactly the one Ontario's tenant-protection law blocks, and it catches more landlords than almost anything else on a move-in checklist.
Written by PlatuniThe short answer
- 1.A condo corporation can require the owner to pay a move-in or move-out fee, an elevator booking deposit, or a damage deposit tied to the move. What it can't do is let that cost travel onto the tenant through the lease; Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act bars a landlord from charging a tenant any fee, deposit, or like amount beyond rent and a narrow list of exceptions. [Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17, s.134; O. Reg. 516/06, s.17]
- 2.The only deposit-like charges a landlord can pass to a tenant are a last month's rent deposit and a refundable key, fob, or card deposit capped at the actual replacement cost. A move-in fee, an elevator deposit, or a damage deposit dressed up as a "move-in fee" in the lease has no legal force even if the tenant signed it. [O. Reg. 516/06, s.17]
- 3.Pet rules can restrict the type, size, or number of pets going forward through the declaration or a board rule, but enforcing a new restriction against a pet that was already living in the unit is judged for reasonableness, not automatic. A dispute over removing an existing pet now runs through the Condominium Authority Tribunal's pet process rather than straight to court. [Condominium Act, 1998, S.O. 1998, c. 19, s.58; Condominium Authority Tribunal, pets and animals jurisdiction]
- 4.A service animal is protected under the Human Rights Code regardless of any weight, breed, or number restriction the condo's own rules impose. The Code overrides the condo rule, full stop, and this isn't a case-by-case reasonableness question the way an ordinary pet dispute is. [Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19]
- 5.Whether a tenant automatically gets a parking spot with the lease depends on how that spot is actually structured in the declaration. A separately titled parking unit can be bought, sold, or leased independently of the residential unit, while an exclusive-use common element parking space is tied to the unit without its own title, and the two aren't interchangeable for lease purposes. [Condominium Act, 1998, s.1 and declaration provisions governing parking]
- 6.None of this replaces the Section 83 notice the owner already owes the corporation when leasing the unit. Move-in logistics like elevator booking and fobs run alongside that notice requirement, not instead of it.
This Covers
- · Why a condo corporation's move-in fee can be entirely legitimate for the owner and entirely unenforceable against the tenant at the same time
- · What's actually true about pet restrictions versus what boards sometimes claim
- · Why the lease needs to spell out whether parking comes with the unit, rather than assuming it does
Usually Exempt
- · Lease approval and tenant registration itself, covered in Platuni's separate Toronto tenant-registration guide
- · Rental restrictions and grandfathering, covered in Platuni's separate Toronto rental-restrictions guide
- · Fine and violation enforcement after move-in, covered in Platuni's separate Toronto tenant-violations guide
1. The corporation can charge the owner, the owner can't charge the tenant
A condo corporation is within its rights to require the owner to pay for the practical costs of a move: booking the service elevator, a refundable damage deposit for shared hallways, or a modest administrative charge tied to processing the move. None of that is in dispute.
Where this goes wrong is the next step, when an owner tries to pass that same cost straight through to the tenant as a line item in the lease. Section 134 of the Residential Tenancies Act prohibits a landlord from charging a tenant a fee, deposit, premium, or similar amount beyond lawful rent, except for a short list of exceptions set out in regulation. A move-in fee isn't on that list.
Do this instead
When a Toronto landlord gets a move-in deposit requirement from the condo corporation, treat it as the owner's own cost of doing business, not a pass-through charge for the lease. Build it into the rent calculation if needed, but don't write it into the lease as a separate fee the tenant owes.
2. Only two deposit types survive the pass-through rule
The regulation under the Residential Tenancies Act carves out exactly two deposit-like charges a landlord can require from a tenant: a last month's rent deposit, and a refundable key, fob, or card deposit capped at whatever it costs to replace. Everything else, administration fees, damage deposits, pet deposits, and move-in fees among them, falls outside the exception and has no legal force in a lease.
This matters for condo move-ins because the fob or key card the corporation issues for building access is exactly the kind of item this exception covers, which is why landlords sometimes assume the broader move-in deposit is covered the same way. It isn't. The fob deposit survives; the elevator deposit and any general move-in fee don't.
Do this instead
Separate the fob or access card deposit, which a Toronto landlord can legally collect from a tenant at replacement cost, from every other move-in charge the condo corporation bills the owner. Only the first survives the Residential Tenancies Act's pass-through rule.
3. Pet restrictions bind going forward, but removing an existing pet isn't automatic
A declaration or a board rule passed under Section 58 can restrict the type, size, or number of pets allowed in a unit, and that restriction is generally enforceable against a new pet moved in after the rule takes effect. What's less automatic is applying a new or tightened restriction against a pet already living there before the rule existed.
A rule has to be reasonable to be enforceable, and a board trying to force out a long-resident, non-nuisance pet solely because a new restriction passed afterward faces a real reasonableness question, not a guaranteed win. Disputes like this, along with most pet-rule enforcement questions, now go through the Condominium Authority Tribunal's dedicated pet process rather than a court application from the start.
Do this instead
If a Toronto board tells a tenant or owner that an existing pet has to go because of a new rule, ask whether the pet has caused an actual nuisance or rule violation, or whether the board is simply applying the new restriction retroactively. The second scenario is a genuine reasonableness fight, not a settled matter.
4. Service animals sit outside the pet-rule framework entirely
A service animal isn't subject to the same weight, breed, or number limits that apply to an ordinary pet, because the Human Rights Code overrides the condo corporation's own rules on this point. This isn't a reasonableness test the way an ordinary pet dispute is; it's a direct legal override.
A board or manager that tries to apply a size or breed restriction to a documented service animal is applying a rule that simply doesn't reach that situation, regardless of how the condo's own pet policy reads on paper.
Do this instead
Flag any service-animal accommodation request to a Toronto client immediately as a Human Rights Code matter, not a pet-rule matter. The condo's weight or breed restriction doesn't apply, and treating it as an ordinary pet-policy question risks a real human-rights exposure.
5. Parking doesn't automatically come with the lease, and the declaration decides why
Whether a tenant gets to use a parking spot depends on how that spot is set up in the building's declaration, and the two common structures aren't interchangeable. A parking unit has its own separate legal title and can be bought, sold, or leased on its own, sometimes by a different owner than the one leasing the residential unit above it. An exclusive-use common element parking space, by contrast, has no separate title and is tied to a specific residential unit as part of that unit's rights.
An owner who assumes "my unit comes with parking" without checking can end up leasing a spot the tenant doesn't actually have a right to use, or failing to mention a separately titled spot that needs its own lease language.
Substantive review means an editor checked this article against the current Condominium Act, 1998 and Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 text, the related regulation, and the Condominium Authority of Ontario's published guidance on pet disputes. The exact move-in fees a corporation charges, and how a specific unit's parking is structured in its declaration, depend on that corporation's own governing documents; verify current requirements with the property manager, the corporation's records, or an Ontario condominium lawyer before relying on this for a move-in situation. This is general information, not legal advice. Corrections: compliance@platuni.com
Reading this as a tenant?
If your lease includes a move-in fee, administration charge, or damage deposit beyond a last month's rent deposit and a fob deposit at replacement cost, that charge likely has no legal force under the Residential Tenancies Act, whatever the lease says.
Sources and review
- 1.Condominium Act, 1998, S.O. 1998, c. 19, s.1 (definitions), s.58 (rules). ontario.ca/laws/statute/98c19. Checked 4 Oct 2026.
- 2.Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17, s.134 (illegal charges). ontario.ca/laws/statute/06r17. Checked 4 Oct 2026.
- 3.Ontario Regulation 516/06 under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, s.17 (permitted charges). ontario.ca/laws/regulation/060516. Checked 4 Oct 2026.
- 4.Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19. ontario.ca/laws/statute/90h19. Checked 4 Oct 2026.
- 5.Condominium Authority of Ontario, guidance on pets and animals dispute resolution. condoauthorityontario.ca. Checked 4 Oct 2026.
Substantive review means an editor re-checked each cited section against the current code, not that the page was re-saved. Corrections: compliance@platuni.com.
Frequently asked questions
Can my condo corporation really charge a move-in fee, and can I pass it to my tenant?
The corporation can charge you, the owner, for move-in logistics like elevator booking or a damage deposit. You generally can't pass that specific charge to the tenant through the lease; the Residential Tenancies Act limits what you can bill a tenant beyond rent to a narrow list that doesn't include a move-in fee.
What deposits can I actually charge my tenant in Toronto?
A last month's rent deposit, and a refundable key, fob, or card deposit capped at the actual replacement cost. Nothing else, including a damage deposit or administration fee, survives under the regulation.
Can the board make my tenant get rid of a pet they've had for years because of a new rule?
Not automatically. A new or tightened pet rule is tested for reasonableness when applied against an existing, non-nuisance pet, and that kind of dispute now typically goes through the Condominium Authority Tribunal's pet process rather than a straight enforcement letter.
Does a weight limit on dogs apply to my tenant's service animal?
No. The Human Rights Code overrides the condo's pet-size or breed restriction for a documented service animal; this isn't a case-by-case reasonableness question.
How do I know if my unit's parking spot transfers automatically to my tenant?
Check the declaration to see whether the spot is a separately titled parking unit or an exclusive-use common element tied to your residential unit. The two structures aren't interchangeable, and assuming one when the declaration says the other can leave a tenant without the parking you promised.