Month-to-Month Tenancies in Ontario Explained

A month-to-month tenancy is a residential tenancy with no fixed end date. Instead of running for a set term — one year, for example — it simply continues, rental period after rental period, until either the landlord or the tenant properly ends it by giving the required notice. For most tenancies, a rental period is a calendar month, which is where the name comes from, though some tenancies run on a different rental period, such as weekly.

Month-to-month tenancies are extremely common in Ontario, and not just among tenants who deliberately chose one from the outset. In fact, the single most common way a tenancy becomes month-to-month is almost accidental: a fixed-term lease simply reaches its end date, and nobody does anything about it.

A landlord and tenant can also agree to start a tenancy on a month-to-month basis from day one, without ever signing a fixed-term lease at all. This is common in situations where either side wants flexibility from the outset — a tenant who isn’t sure how long they’ll need the unit, or a landlord who wants to keep options open for a property they might sell or renovate. Whether a month-to-month tenancy arises this way or through the automatic conversion described below, the legal rules that govern it are the same.

A common misconception is that a fixed-term lease simply expires on its end date, the way a membership or a subscription might lapse. That’s generally not how it works for residential tenancies in Ontario. If a fixed-term lease ends and neither the landlord nor the tenant takes further action — no renewal is signed, no notice to end the tenancy is given, and no new agreement is reached — the tenancy generally doesn’t end at all. It automatically continues as a month-to-month tenancy, on the same terms and conditions as the expired lease, simply by operation of law.

This matters because it means doing nothing is not a neutral choice. A tenant who assumes they can just “let the lease run out” and leave without any notice may be surprised to learn that the tenancy didn’t actually end — it kept going, and the tenant may still owe notice obligations before moving out. Likewise, a landlord who assumes a fixed term ending means the tenant must leave, or must sign a new lease, is generally mistaken; the tenant is generally entitled to simply continue on a month-to-month basis if they choose to.

Because a month-to-month tenancy has no built-in end date, it only ends when one side takes the formal step of giving proper notice. For a tenant who wants to move out, this generally means giving the landlord at least 60 days’ written notice, timed so that the termination date falls on the last day of a rental period — for most tenancies, the last day of a calendar month.

This timing requirement trips people up more often than the 60-day length itself. Giving notice on, say, the 10th of the month doesn’t simply create a termination date exactly 60 days later if that date doesn’t land on the end of a rental period — the notice generally needs to be structured so the tenancy actually ends at the close of a full rental period, which in practice often pushes the effective moving date out further than a simple 60-day count might suggest.

A landlord ending a month-to-month tenancy generally faces a higher bar: notice alone isn’t enough. The landlord still generally needs a legally recognized ground for ending the tenancy — such as the landlord’s own use, demolition, conversion, or another basis set out in the Residential Tenancies Act — and must use the notice form and timeline that corresponds to that specific ground. A landlord generally cannot end a month-to-month tenancy simply because the fixed term is over, or because they’d prefer a different tenant.

It’s worth being clear that moving from a fixed-term lease into a month-to-month tenancy is not a downgrade in legal protection. The same Residential Tenancies Act framework that applied during the fixed term continues to apply afterward — the same maintenance obligations, the same rules around entry and notice, and the same grounds (and restrictions) around ending the tenancy. The practical content of the tenancy — the unit, the rent, the rules — generally carries forward unchanged from whatever was in place under the original lease, unless the parties agree otherwise.

What changes is really just the absence of a fixed end date. A fixed-term tenant knows the lease runs until a specific date; a month-to-month tenant’s tenancy simply continues indefinitely, period after period, until someone properly ends it.

This also means the grounds a landlord can rely on to end a month-to-month tenancy are the same grounds available during a fixed term, such as non-payment of rent, the landlord’s own use, or significant interference with other tenants — not some separate, looser set of rules that apply just because there’s no fixed end date in play. A tenancy becoming month-to-month is not, by itself, a weaker form of tenancy.

Rent increase rules generally continue to apply in the same way once a tenancy becomes month-to-month. For tenancies subject to the province’s annual rent increase guideline, the same minimum interval between increases and the same notice period requirements generally continue to govern, regardless of whether the tenancy is currently under a fixed term or running month-to-month. A landlord generally can’t use the transition to month-to-month as an opportunity to increase rent outside of these normal rules.

Some landlords offer a lower rent, or other incentives, specifically in exchange for a tenant signing a new fixed-term lease rather than continuing month-to-month. That kind of offer is generally a matter of negotiation rather than a legal requirement — a tenant is generally free to decline and remain on a month-to-month basis, and a landlord is generally free to decide whether a particular incentive is still worth offering once the tenant has made that choice.

The core practical difference between a renewed fixed-term lease and a month-to-month tenancy comes down to certainty and flexibility. A fixed-term lease, including a renewed one, commits both sides to a specific period — generally, neither side can end it early without the other’s agreement or a recognized legal ground, which gives a tenant certainty about how long they can stay, and gives a landlord certainty about occupancy for that period.

A month-to-month tenancy trades that certainty for flexibility: either side can end the tenancy with proper notice, without needing to wait for a specific date to arrive. For some tenants, this flexibility is genuinely preferable; for others, the lack of a guaranteed term feels less secure, even though the underlying legal protections against an improper eviction are the same either way.

For a closer look at how tenancies come to an end more generally — including notice requirements, mutual agreements to end a tenancy, and other scenarios beyond the simple month-to-month case — see our guide to ending a lease agreement in Ontario. This article is general information about how month-to-month tenancies work in Ontario, not legal advice for a specific tenancy; our tools and contact pages can help if you’re looking for next steps.