Can a Toronto Condominium Corporation Restrict Long-Term Rentals?

Section 7 of the Condominium Act, 1998 lets a corporation's declaration include conditions and restrictions on the occupation, leasing, and use of units. That's the only place a meaningful long-term leasing restriction can live. A board cannot pass an ordinary rule banning long-term rentals the way it might restrict a nuisance or parking issue, because leasing is bound up with an owner's underlying property rights, not day-to-day operation.

If a Toronto building's declaration doesn't already restrict long-term leasing from first registration, adding that restriction later means amending the declaration. Section 107 sets the threshold: written consent from at least 80% of unit owners for most provisions, rising to 90% for anything touching common expense contributions, common interests, or exclusive-use common elements. Getting 80% of owners in a condo to agree on anything is rare, and a restriction limiting what some owners can do with their own units struggles to clear that bar.

The picture changes once the rental is short-term or transient rather than a standard lease. Section 58 lets a board pass an ordinary rule addressing conduct and use in the building, and that authority has been used to restrict or ban short-term rentals specifically, even where the declaration never mentions leasing. A rule like this takes effect automatically 30 days after notice, unless owners requisition a meeting within that window and enough show up to vote it down.

The practical gap between the two paths is wide. A declaration amendment needs 80% owner consent before it can take effect; a rule restricting short-term rentals takes effect by default unless a requisitioned meeting defeats it. For a board wanting to clamp down on short-term rentals, the rule-making path is realistic in a way the declaration path for long-term leasing isn't.

This isn't theoretical. In 2017, two Toronto Standard Condominium Corporations tried to amend their declarations to eliminate provisions that expressly permitted transient, short-term rentals, even though the court noted they weren't dealing with real problems from such rentals. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice refused the application, finding the existing declarations hadn't restricted leasing, short-term included, and that continuing to allow it wasn't inconsistent with provincial law or municipal zoning. The judge was direct: a lower threshold than 80% consent is a question for the legislature, not something a court will manufacture by reinterpreting an amendment application.

None of the condo-specific rules above touch what the City of Toronto itself requires. Under Chapter 547 of the Toronto Municipal Code, anyone operating a short-term rental must register annually with the city, and the unit generally has to be the operator's principal residence. An entire-unit short-term rental is capped at 180 nights a calendar year, with an annual registration fee attached. This is a city licensing requirement, not a condo rule, and it applies whether the property is a house or a condo unit.

Roughly a third of the short-term rentals registered under this bylaw operate inside condo buildings, so a Toronto landlord doing short-term rentals in a condo has two checklists to clear: whatever the corporation's declaration or rules say, and the city's own registration, residence, and night-limit requirements, which exist independently of the corporation.

Before listing a Toronto unit for long-term rent, read the declaration itself rather than relying on what a board member or property manager says informally about "the rules." If the declaration doesn't restrict long-term leasing, no board rule can create that restriction, and an 80% vote to amend it is the only path that would. If the plan is short-term instead, check both the corporation's current rules, which can restrict this without touching the declaration, and the city's registration and residence requirements under Chapter 547.

Keep a current copy of the declaration and any rules the board has passed under Section 58, with their effective dates, since a rule adopted after a lease was signed may raise different questions than one that predates it. If a short-term rental is involved, keep the city registration and proof of principal residence on file; both are required independently of anything the corporation tracks. If a board claims a long-term leasing ban is in effect, ask for the amended declaration and the 80% consent record behind it; nothing short of that genuinely restricts a long-term lease.

Substantive review means an editor checked this article against the current Condominium Act, 1998 text, the cited 2017 decision, and the City of Toronto's published short-term rental bylaw summary. Whether a specific building's declaration already restricts long-term leasing, and what its current rules say about short-term rentals, depends on that corporation's own registered documents; verify current status with the property manager, the corporation's records, or an Ontario condominium lawyer before relying on this for a leasing decision. This is general information, not legal advice. Corrections: compliance@platuni.com