Ontario N4 notice guide: non-payment of rent, the 7-day rule, and filling the form out right

What an N4 is — and what it isn't

The N4 is the Landlord and Tenant Board's official form for starting the eviction process when a tenant hasn't paid rent. It tells the tenant exactly how much rent is owed and sets a termination date — a deadline to pay up or move out. If the tenant pays everything owing, the notice is void and the tenancy continues as if it never happened.

What it is not: an eviction. Receiving or serving an N4 changes nothing about who lives in the unit that day. Only the Board can order an eviction after a hearing, and only the Sheriff (the Court Enforcement Office) can enforce that order. A landlord who changes the locks, shuts off utilities, or removes belongings after the termination date is carrying out an illegal eviction — and the Board can order significant compensation against them.

The N4 is strictly for non-payment of rent. Damage, noise, illegal activity, or a landlord's own use of the unit each have their own notice forms (N5, N6, N7, N12, and others). Using an N4 for anything other than unpaid rent will get your application dismissed.

Is an N4 the right notice? A 60-second form check

Before you fill in a single field, confirm the ground matches the form — using the wrong notice is one of the fastest ways to lose at the Board:

• Rent is unpaid (in whole or in part) → N4. Nothing else belongs here: not late fees, not NSF charges, not utilities.
• Damage, substantial interference, or overcrowding → N5, not N4. The tenant gets 7 days to remedy a first N5.
• The tenant always pays late but eventually pays, and nothing is currently owed → N8 (persistently late payment), not N4.
• You want the unit for yourself, a family member, or a purchaser → N12, with its own 60/120-day notice rules.
• Illegal acts in the unit → N6 or N7, depending on severity.

Each notice pairs with a different Board application (N4 → L1; N5/N6/N7/N8 → L2), and the notice and the application must match. If your situation involves both unpaid rent and, say, damage, deal with the rent through an N4 first — it's the cleaner, faster path — and address the damage separately.

The September 2026 change: 7 days for every tenancy

This is the change most online advice still gets wrong. On September 21, 2026, a package of amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act took effect — through Bill 60, the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025, and the earlier Bill 97, the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, 2023. Among other things, the package cut the N4 notice period.

The rule now: for any N4 given on or after September 21, 2026, the termination date must be at least 7 days after the notice is given — for monthly, yearly, weekly, and daily tenancies alike. Before that date, monthly and yearly tenancies needed 14 days (daily and weekly were already at 7).

Two practical consequences. First, if you are working from an old template or a saved PDF, stop: for any notice served on or after September 21, 2026, you must use the new mandatory N4 (2026/09) form — the previous version is no longer accepted. The Board also updated the N5, N6, N8, N12, N13, L1, L2, L9, L10, and T5 forms for these changes, and old versions of those will not be accepted after November 30, 2026. Always download the current N4 from the LTB before you serve it. Second, the shorter clock doesn't mean a faster eviction — it only shortens the wait before you can file the L1 application. The Board's hearing backlog is unchanged, so the overall timeline barely moves.

Filling out the N4: the fields that decide cases

The N4 is a two-page form, and Board Members dismiss applications over errors on both pages. Work through it slowly:

• Tenant and landlord names exactly as they appear on the lease, plus the full rental unit address including the unit number and postal code
• The total amount of rent owed, carried forward from the rent table on page two — and this is the critical part: only rent. Do not include late fees, NSF charges, interest, or separately billed utilities. Ontario landlords generally cannot charge late fees on rent at all, and putting non-rent charges on an N4 is one of the most common reasons notices are thrown out
• A rental-period table on page two showing, for each period with unpaid rent: the rent charged, the rent paid, and the balance owing. If arrears span more than three rental periods, combine the older ones as the form instructs
• The termination date: at least 7 days after the notice is given (for notices on or after September 21, 2026). Count from the date the tenant is deemed to have received the notice, not the date you filled the form in — the service rules below change this math
• Your signature and the date you signed

Double-check the arithmetic twice. A Member who finds the amount on page one doesn't match the table on page two — or doesn't match your rent ledger — will dismiss the application, and you'll be serving a fresh N4 and starting the clock again.

Serving the N4: valid methods and the timing math

An N4 served the wrong way is the same as an N4 never served. The Board recognizes these methods:

• Handing it directly to the tenant, or to an adult who is in the rental unit
• Leaving it in the tenant's mailbox or where mail is normally delivered
• Sliding it under the door or through the mail slot
• Sending it by fax
• Sending it by courier — add one business day to the notice period
• Sending it by mail — the tenant is deemed served on the 5th day after mailing, so add 5 days to the notice period

Two things that do not work: taping or posting the notice to the door is not valid service, full stop. Email requires the tenant's prior written agreement to accept notices that way, and a text message alone is not a recognized method.

The deemed-service rules are where landlords most often miscalculate. A mailed N4 needs a termination date at least 12 days after the mailing date (5 deemed-service days + 7 notice days). Hand delivery, mailbox, and under-the-door delivery all count as given the same day, so the 7-day clock starts immediately. Whatever method you use, complete a Certificate of Service recording how and when you served the notice — you'll file it with the L1 application, and it's your proof if the tenant denies receiving anything.

The N4 timeline, day by day

The counting rule trips up even experienced landlords: the 7 days start the day AFTER the notice counts as given — not the day you hand it over — and mail's 5 deemed-service days run before the count even starts. Worked example, with rent due October 1 and unpaid:

• October 1 — rent due, not paid. The landlord can't serve an N4 today.
• October 2 — landlord hand-delivers the N4. The notice counts as given the same day.
• October 3–9 — the 7-day notice period runs (day 1 is October 3).
• October 9 — the termination date: the earliest valid one for this notice.
• October 10 — the earliest day the landlord can file the L1 application.

Same scenario by mail: the N4 mailed on October 2 is deemed given on October 7 (the 5th day after mailing), the 7-day clock runs October 8–14, the earliest termination date is October 14, and the L1 can be filed on October 15. That's why hand delivery, the mailbox, or under-the-door service buys you nearly a week over mail.

One more boundary: the termination date can't fall on a day the tenant still owes nothing — and it must be a date the tenant could actually act on. When in doubt, add a day rather than shaving one; a termination date that's one day too early voids the notice, while one day too late costs you nothing.

After the notice: two paths — payment or an L1 application

Path one: the tenant pays. If the tenant pays everything owed — the arrears stated on the N4 plus any additional rent that has come due since — before the landlord files an L1 application, the notice is void and the tenancy continues. This is true even if the payment arrives after the termination date printed on the notice. The termination date is the deadline the form warns about; the legal cut-off for voiding the notice is the filing of the L1.

Path two: the landlord files. Starting the day after the termination date, the landlord can file an L1 — the Application to Evict a Tenant for Non-payment of Rent and to Collect Rent the Tenant Owes — with the Board. File through the Tribunals Ontario Portal or by mail, and include a copy of the N4 and the Certificate of Service. The filing fee is $186 through the portal or $201 by mail, and it can be added to the amount claimed against the tenant. (A fee waiver is available if you genuinely can't afford it.) Unlike most other eviction applications — which face a 30-day filing window under RTA s.69(2) — an L1 for unpaid rent has no statutory filing deadline (LTB Interpretation Guideline 10). But don't treat that as a reason to wait: the tenant can void the N4 by paying everything owed at any point before you file, so every week you delay is a week the notice stays killable.

Even after filing, payment can still end the case: if the tenant pays all the arrears, any additional rent due as at the date of payment, plus the landlord's filing fee before the Board issues its order, the application is discontinued and the landlord can't evict for the non-payment (RTA s.74(2)). At the hearing itself, the Member typically issues one of three outcomes — an eviction order if the rent remains unpaid, a payment-plan order, or a dismissal if the notice was defective or the amount disputed successfully. If a payment plan is ordered and the tenant defaults, the landlord can move to enforcement without a fresh hearing.

The 2026 companion rules you should know

The September 2026 package changed more than the N4 timeline. Two related rules matter to anyone in a non-payment dispute:

Persistent late payment now has a definition. Previously, whether a tenant 'persistently' paid late was a judgment call. Now, Ontario Regulation 241/26 sets a benchmark: rent received more than 7 days after the due date at least three times within any six-month period. A landlord relying on this ground serves an N8 (Notice to End your Tenancy at the End of the Term) and files an L2 application — owing rent at the time is not required. One nuance: a payment doesn't count as late if it was only 'late' because the landlord applied it to older arrears instead of the current month's rent. Keep a clean, dated rent ledger; it's your evidence.

Tenants raising their own issues face a new precondition. At an arrears hearing, tenants have long been able to raise maintenance and other problems under section 82 of the RTA. For landlord applications filed on or after September 21, 2026, there's now a payment gate: the tenant must pay the landlord at least 50% of the arrears claimed in the application, at least 7 days before the hearing — paid directly to the landlord, not to the Board in trust. The tenant must also give the landlord and the Board a written description of the issues at least 7 days ahead. Applications filed before September 21, 2026 run under the old rules even if the hearing happens later.

Seven mistakes that get N4s thrown out

Board Members see the same errors on repeat. Avoid all seven:

• Wrong termination date — forgetting the 7-day minimum, or forgetting the extra days for mail (+5) and courier (+1 business day)
• Wrong amount — including late fees, NSF charges, utilities, or any non-rent charges on the form
• Arithmetic that doesn't tie — page-one total not matching the page-two table or your rent ledger
• Bad service — taping it to the door, texting a photo of it, or emailing it without the tenant's prior written agreement
• Filing the L1 too early — before the day after the termination date
• Using an outdated form version — old versions stop being accepted after November 30, 2026
• No Certificate of Service — or one that contradicts the termination-date math when the tenant disputes receipt

Any one of these means dismissal and a restart: a fresh N4, a fresh notice period, and more arrears accumulating in the meantime. The ten minutes you spend double-checking the form are the cheapest insurance in the whole process.

Received an N4? What to do this week

If you're the tenant, treat the N4 as urgent but not as an eviction. You have not been ordered to leave, and nobody can force you out without a Board order enforced by the Sheriff.

First, check the math: compare the arrears on the notice against your own payment records and bank statements. Landlords do make errors, and a wrong amount can void the notice. Second, if you can pay — pay. Paying everything you owe before the landlord files an L1 voids the notice entirely, even after the termination date. Pay in a traceable way and keep every receipt. Third, communicate in writing: confirm what you paid and when, by email or text, so there's a record.

If you dispute the amount, can't pay in full, or the landlord is pressuring you to leave without a Board order, get advice promptly — a community legal clinic can review the notice for defects free of charge. And remember the September 2026 hearing rule: if you plan to raise repair or maintenance issues at a hearing, you'll need to have paid half the claimed arrears to the landlord at least 7 days beforehand. Don't ignore the notice and hope it goes away — the clock, short as it now is, is real.