Ontario’ passed’s Bill 60 is ushering in significant changes to a landlord–tenant system facing soaring rents, low vacancy rates and growing pressure on both private and nonprofit housing providers.
The new law is, among other things, designed to speed up hearings at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) and simplify evictions.
Sarah Button, executive director of Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation (CCOC), says Bill 60 seems an attempt to “expedite evictions rather than fixing the system that is getting you decisions. If the government wants affordability, it needs to protect it, not just hope it lasts.”
The Peterborough Community Legal Centre says tenants used to have 14 days to pay their rent under an N4 notice before a landlord can apply for an eviction hearing with the LTB, but Bill 60 cuts that time to seven days. The law will also shorten the time to request a review of an LTB decision to 15 days, from 30.
Ottawa advocates and landlords agree the system is strained. However, they remain sharply divided on whether Bill 60 will ease or intensify that pressure. This is happening as a growing share of residents are spending more than 30 per cent of their income on housing, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says.
“Even with rental subsidies, we’re seeing tenants lately who simply can’t make ends meet. Affordability isn’t just about having a unit — it’s about whether people can remain in it month after month,” Button said.
CCOC says a more efficient tribunal alone will not address income insecurity, the primary reason tenants fall behind on rent.
The conversation can’t just be about enforcement. For many people, this isn’t about avoiding rent. It’s that incomes aren’t keeping up with the cost of living. The affordability gap is widening.
Sarah Button, Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation
“The conversation can’t just be about enforcement,” Button said. “For many people, this isn’t about avoiding rent. It’s that incomes aren’t keeping up with the cost of living. The affordability gap is widening.”
While tenant organizations are concerned about the impact of faster evictions and affordability on young and low-income tenants, landlords say the previous system allowed non-payment cases to drag on for months.
John Dickie, chair of the Eastern Ontario Landlord Organization, says long delays at the LTB have discouraged investment in rental housing and placed large financial burdens on small landlords.
“Most of the backlog at the board involves non-payment or persistent late payment,” Dickie said.
Dickie says the new enforcement measures in Bill 60, which include stricter timelines for moving forward with approved eviction orders, are important for small-scale landlords who depend on rental income to cover costs. He says greater stability for landlords could have impacts across the market.
“If the rental system is unpredictable or overly risky, fewer landlords will stay in the business and fewer new units will get built,” he said. “That hurts tenants most of all.”
In a statement provided by Dickie, the Eastern Ontario Landlord Organization (EOLO) wrote: “Bill 60 is about moving the balance in the system to a small degree more toward landlords and responsible tenants and away from bad tenants. Landlords say that it is a move towards a more balanced system overall.”
Dickie and Button point to an underlying problem in the Ottawa rental market: demand for housing far exceeds supply. Ontario started 94,750 new builds in 2024 — far below the 125,000 housing starts needed for the government to meet its goal of building 1.5 million homes by 2031.
Municipalities are under pressure and struggling to accelerate approvals. For example, Ottawa missed its provincial housing target in 2024 and is projected to fall short again in 2025, putting provincial funding incentives at risk.
In Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s fall 2024 rental market report, strong demand for rentals outpaced supply, so even though market pressures eased for landlords, the market has remained constricted. This despite the fact that rental units first occupied after Nov. 15, 2018, are exempt from rent-increase limits under the rent-control guideline.
The report also says 2.2 per cent of purpose-built rental apartments were vacant in 2024, up from 1.5 per cent in 2023. This is below the 10-year historical average of 2.7 per cent.
Ottawa students and young renters say they’re feeling pinch.
Dominic Brennan recently moved out of his parents’ house in Rockland to rent an apartment with his brother in Ottawa. He said affordability shapes almost every decision he makes about housing. Brennan lives in a newly built unit that is exempt from rent-control rules.
“I just want predictable housing costs so I can budget. It’s hard to plan your life when rent changes year to year,” he said.
Brennan said while landlords and tenants often appear to be on opposing sides in public debates, most students he knows aren’t looking for confrontation with their landlords.
He added that the challenge for young renters isn’t luxury or preference — it’s secure housing.
Despite differing opinions on Bill 60, all sides agree that the stakes are rising. Button said she hopes the legislation’s implementation does not overshadow the financial realities many renters are facing. Dickie said he hopes the reforms promote fair and timely resolutions for landlords and tenants.
“From my perspective, renters and landlords both want stability,” Brennan said. “I think the system needs clearer rules, so everyone knows what to expect.”
