From unpaid rent to an eviction order: the N4 + L1 path, step by step

Step 1 — Serve the N4: Notice to End a Tenancy Early for Non-payment of Rent

The N4 is the official Tribunals Ontario form that starts a non-payment eviction. You cannot file an eviction application without serving it first.

The single most important field is the termination date. For a monthly tenancy it must be at least 14 days after the day you serve the notice (7 days for daily or weekly tenancies). Ontario’s Bill 60, once proclaimed, compresses the 14-day period to 7 days — check which rule is in force when you serve, or use our deadline calculator.

An N4 with a termination date even one day short is void. The tenant does not need to challenge it — the Board simply dismisses your application months later, and you start over from zero.

The arrears amount must be exact and must only include rent — not NSF fees, utilities you billed separately, or damage costs. Wrong math is the second most common way an N4 dies.

Step 2 — Wait out the notice period

If the tenant pays everything owing before the termination date, the N4 is dead and you cannot file. If they pay part of it, recalculate before filing — the amounts on your L1 must match reality on the day you file.

If the termination date passes without full payment, you may file your application the very next day. Do not wait: arrears keep growing and hearing dates are booked weeks out.

Step 3 — File the L1: Application to Evict a Tenant for Non-payment and Collect Rent

The L1 is filed with the Landlord and Tenant Board — online filing through Tribunals Ontario is fastest. A filing fee applies (roughly $200; confirm the current amount on the Tribunals Ontario website).

Your L1 must be consistent with your N4: same tenancy details, same rent, arrears carried forward correctly plus anything that came due since. Inconsistencies between the two forms are a classic reason applications get adjourned or dismissed.

Attach an up-to-date rent ledger. Adjudicators decide arrears cases on the paper trail — a clean ledger and a sworn affidavit of arrears do most of the work.

Step 4 — Serve the tenant and file your Certificate of Service

After the Board issues your Notice of Hearing, the tenant must be served using a method the LTB accepts (hand delivery, mail, posting where permitted — check the current Rules of Procedure).

Then complete and file the Certificate of Service telling the Board exactly when and how you served. No certificate, no valid hearing — improper service is the third classic way landlords lose a month.

Step 5 — Prepare for the hearing

Bring your N4, L1, certificate of service, lease, rent ledger, and a sworn affidavit of arrears. Organize your evidence with a table of contents and labelled tabs — the biggest practical advantage a self-represented landlord can give an adjudicator.

Be ready for the tenant to raise maintenance issues (a Section 82 defence). Bring records of any repair requests and what you did about them.

If the tenant pays everything owing (including your filing fee) before the order is enforced, the eviction generally does not proceed — the process is designed to collect rent first, evict second.