TORONTO — The Ontario government has scrapped a controversial plan to review and potentially end the province’s long-standing system of month-to-month residential leases, following widespread backlash from tenant groups and housing advocates.
Housing Minister Rob Flack announced Sunday that Premier Doug Ford’s government will not move forward with consultations on changing Ontario’s “security of tenure” rules — a framework that ensures tenants can remain in their homes beyond the initial lease term unless evicted for legal reasons.
“Residents expect stability and predictability in Ontario’s rental market, and now is not the time to consider changes to this system,” Flack said in a post on X. “As such, we have decided not to proceed with consultations on potential changes to month-to-month leases.”
The announcement reverses a plan unveiled just three days earlier by Attorney General Doug Downey, who had said the government was considering reforms to give landlords more “flexibility” in controlling how long tenants could stay. Downey argued that “evergreen leases that just go on with no end in sight may not be appropriate” and that the province would consult landlords and stakeholders on potential alternatives.
The proposal sparked immediate outrage among tenant advocates, who warned it could erode rent control protections and make housing even more unstable. ACORN Canada, a national tenants’ rights organization, launched a letter-writing campaign denouncing what it called a “dangerous” move toward fixed-term leases, which would allow landlords to end tenancies or impose unlimited rent increases each year.
“This would have opened the door for landlords to push out tenants annually or raise rents without limit,” ACORN said in a statement.
Ontario’s current laws allow most leases to automatically renew on a month-to-month basis once the original term ends. While landlords can still evict tenants for cause or personal use, they cannot force them out arbitrarily.
The Ford government has previously drawn criticism for weakening tenant protections. Early in its first term, the PCs removed rent control on all new units first occupied after November 2018, exempting thousands of apartments and condos from annual rent increase limits.
Flack said instead of pursuing lease reforms, the government will now focus on “common-sense changes” to improve the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) — though tenant groups say many of those proposed changes also favour landlords.