Ontario · for landlords
Not the lease. Not the rent. This: does the person renting the room have to share a kitchen or a bathroom with you? The answer decides whether the Residential Tenancies Act applies at all — and that changes the paperwork, the rent rules, and how the arrangement can end.
The Residential Tenancies Act does not apply to living accommodation where the occupant must share a bathroom or kitchen with the owner — or the owner's spouse, child or parent — and that person lives in the building.
You live in the house. They rent a bedroom and share your kitchen or your bathroom. You were living there first.
A self-contained basement unit with its own kitchen and bath. Or a room in a house where you do not live and they share only with other tenants.
The owner must already be living in the unit before the tenant moves in. Rent the room out and move in afterwards, and the exemption does not apply.
The shared kitchen or bathroom has to be shared with the owner, or the owner's spouse, child or parent. Four tenants sharing a kitchen in a house whose owner lives elsewhere are covered by the Act in the ordinary way.
It means the Residential Tenancies Act and the Board are not the forum. Contract law still applies, so what you agreed still binds you. The Human Rights Code still applies, so you cannot select on protected grounds. And you still cannot make someone leave by changing the locks or putting their things outside. Put the terms in writing even when no form requires it — the rent, what is included, notice either way, and the house rules. It is the cheapest disagreement you will ever prevent, and here is what belongs in it.
Usually not, if the person has to share a kitchen or bathroom with you and you already lived in the building before they moved in. The Act does not apply to accommodation where the occupant must share a bathroom or kitchen with the owner, or the owner's spouse, child or parent, and that person lives in the building. If they share only with other tenants, the Act does apply.
The standard lease (Form 2229E) is required for tenancies the Residential Tenancies Act covers. If your situation falls under the shared-kitchen-or-bathroom-with-the-owner exemption, the Act does not apply and the standard lease is not required. Putting the terms in writing is still a good idea.
Then the exemption does not apply. The owner has to be living there before the tenant moves in for the shared-facilities exemption to work.
That is a self-contained unit, nothing is shared with you, and the Residential Tenancies Act applies in full — standard lease, the Landlord and Tenant Board for disputes, and the rent increase rules.
The rent and whether utilities are included, the date it is available, and who else lives in the house. The last one is the most-asked question about a room and the one most ads leave out.
This is general information, not legal advice. It was checked against the sources below on 10 September 2026. If money or someone's housing is riding on the answer, speak to a paralegal or to Landlord's Self-Help Centre, which is free for small Ontario landlords. The Act itself is on ontario.ca, and the standard lease is published by the province.
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