Eviction Notice Forms in Canada (Ontario N4, N12, N13)

Why there's no fill-in-the-blank eviction notice for Ontario

Section 43(1) of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 requires that, wherever the Act permits a notice of termination, the notice must be in a form approved by the Landlord and Tenant Board, must identify the rental unit, must state the termination date, and must be signed by the person giving it or their agent. The Board's own forms — not a generic template — are what satisfies that requirement. Using the wrong form, an outdated version, or a document that isn't Board-approved at all risks the notice being invalid, which can delay or defeat an eviction application before it even reaches a hearing.

The three notices below cover different situations and are not interchangeable: N4 for unpaid rent, N12 for the landlord, a purchaser, or a specified family member moving in, and N13 for demolition, a major repair, or converting the unit to a different use. Filing the wrong one, or missing a required attachment, is one of the most common reasons an application is dismissed.

Changes taking effect through 2026 worth knowing before you serve a notice

As of 2026, the Landlord and Tenant Board requires the Affidavit of the Person Intending to Move In to be uploaded with the eviction application at the time of filing for an N12-based application, tied to the disclosure duty in section 72(1) of the Act — filing the application and adding the affidavit later risks the whole application being rejected as incomplete. Separately, procedural changes taking effect September 21, 2026 shorten the N4 non-payment notice period to 7 days and allow the one month's compensation that would otherwise be owed under an N12 or N13 notice to be waived where the landlord gives 120 or more days' notice. The forms themselves are unchanged by these procedural updates — always download the current version rather than reusing a saved PDF.

British Columbia and Quebec have their own mandatory systems too

British Columbia's Residential Tenancy Branch requires certain eviction notices — including the One Month Notice to End Tenancy (RTB-33) and the Two Month Notice to End Tenancy (RTB-32) — to be generated as an RTB-32P or RTB-32L form through the Branch's own online portal; a notice not generated that way risks being legally unenforceable. Quebec runs an entirely separate, French-language civil-law system: the Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL) publishes its own avis de résiliation de bail and avis de reprise de logement forms, used to end a lease or repossess a dwelling under the Civil Code of Québec rather than under any Landlord and Tenant Board-style regime.

Every other province regulates this separately too

Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, and the remaining provinces and territories each have their own residential tenancy legislation and their own tenancy authority, and most publish their own notice forms as well. There is no Canada-wide eviction notice, official or otherwise — always confirm the current form and process with the tenancy authority for the province where the rental unit is actually located before serving anything.

Requirements checklist

These rules were verified directly against the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 and current provincial guidance — check the relevant province's current rule before serving a notice, since procedures change.

• A notice of termination must be on a form approved by the Landlord and Tenant Board

  Section 43(1) of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 requires a notice of termination to be in the Board-approved form, identify the rental unit, state the termination date, and be signed by the person giving it or their agent.

  Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17, s. 43

• An N12 eviction application must include the Affidavit of the Person Intending to Move In at filing

  The Affidavit of the Person Intending to Move In, tied to the good-faith disclosure duty in section 72(1) of the Act, must be uploaded together with the eviction application itself as of 2026 — filing it separately or later risks the application being rejected as incomplete.

  Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17, s. 72

• British Columbia increasingly requires eviction notices to be generated through its own portal

  British Columbia's Residential Tenancy Branch requires landlords to generate certain notices, such as the One and Two Month Notices to End Tenancy, as an RTB-32P or RTB-32L form through the Branch's online portal, rather than completing a static PDF independently.

  Province of British Columbia — Tenancy forms

How to find and use the right official notice

1. Identify your province. Residential tenancy law in Canada is entirely provincial — start by confirming which province's tenancy authority actually governs the rental unit.
2. In Ontario, match the reason to N4, N12, or N13. Use N4 for unpaid rent, N12 for the landlord, a purchaser, or a specified family member moving in, or N13 for demolition, a major repair, or a conversion — they are not interchangeable.
3. Download the current Board-approved PDF directly from Tribunals Ontario. Always download the current version from tribunalsontario.ca rather than reusing a saved copy, since the Board updates its forms from time to time.
4. File any required attachment with the application itself, not afterward. For an N12-based application, upload the Affidavit of the Person Intending to Move In together with the application — filing it later risks the application being rejected as incomplete.
5. Outside Ontario, use your own province's official form or portal. In British Columbia, generate the notice through the Residential Tenancy Branch's online portal where required. In Quebec, use the Tribunal administratif du logement's own French-language forms.

Frequently asked questions