Can I Prohibit Smoking or Pets in My Rental Property? 2026 Ontario Guide

Smoking and pets in Ontario rental properties 2026 guide

Short answer: smoking — yes, with the right lease clause at the right time. Pets — no, not in the lease. Those two answers are opposite, and mixing them up is the most common mistake in this area of Ontario rental law.

The 2023 version of this article said a property owner “absolutely has the right” to prohibit both smoking and pets, and cited the United States Fair Housing Act for service animals. That is wrong in Ontario. The Fair Housing Act does not apply here. A provision in a tenancy agreement prohibiting animals is void under section 14 of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (RTA), while a no-smoking clause is not void and can be enforced through the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) when a tenant breaks it and the smoking causes damage or interferes with others. This 2026 guide corrects the old article and sets out what is enforceable, what is void, and what to do when there is a real problem.

This is general information about Ontario law and LTB practice, not legal advice for a specific file.

TL;DR

  • Smoking: a landlord may include a no-smoking policy in a new tenancy agreement — covering the unit, and, if the clause says so, balconies and patios — for tobacco, cannabis, and vaping. If the tenant agreed to it when the tenancy began, the clause is enforceable.
  • Smoking cannot be imposed mid-tenancy. A tenancy that continues after a fixed term renews on the same terms (RTA s.38), so an existing tenant without a no-smoking clause is grandfathered for that tenancy unless they agree in writing to add one.
  • Smoking and vaping are prohibited by the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 in the indoor common areas of apartment buildings and condominiums — lobbies, hallways, stairwells, elevators, and laundry rooms — regardless of what any lease says.
  • Pets: a “no pets” provision in a tenancy agreement is void under RTA s.14. Signing it, initialling it, or agreeing to it separately does not revive it. A landlord cannot evict a tenant, charge a fee, or require removal of an animal only because the animal is there.
  • No pet money: a pet deposit, pet rent, a pet fee, or a damage or cleaning deposit is not lawful in Ontario. The only deposits are a rent deposit of at most one month’s rent (the last month’s rent deposit, RTA s.106) and a refundable key deposit at actual cost (ss.105–106 framework). Money collected under a void pet charge can be claimed back through the Board.
  • Screening is the one stage where pets matter lawfully for a house or apartment rental: before a tenancy exists, a landlord may ask about pets and may decline an applicant who has one. Pet ownership is not a protected ground under the Ontario Human Rights Code. That changes where the animal meets a disability-related need — see the service and support animal section.
  • A specific animal can still put a tenancy at risk. Under RTA s.76 the Board must not terminate over an animal unless the species’ past behaviour has substantially interfered with reasonable enjoyment, the species’ presence has caused a serious allergic reaction, or the species or breed is inherently dangerous — and, under s.76(2)–(3), the tenant’s own animal must actually have caused or contributed to the interference or the reaction. General claims about dogs, breeds, or noise are not enough.
  • Condos are different. A condominium’s declaration, bylaws, and rules can prohibit or restrict pets and can prohibit smoking in units and on balconies, and owners and tenants must comply with them. In a condo, check the status certificate and the corporation’s rules before you advertise, screen, or sign.
  • Short-term guests are not RTA tenants. For a stay under 28 nights in Toronto, house rules can prohibit both smoking and pets — but human rights duties for a guest’s service animal still apply, and Airbnb treats service animals as not pets.

Table of Contents

The split answer, and what the old article got wrong

Ontario treats smoking as a matter of contract and conduct, and animals as a matter the Legislature has already decided. That is why the two policies land differently:

  • Smoking is not addressed by a voiding provision in the RTA. A landlord and a new tenant can agree that the unit will be non-smoking, and that agreement is a term of the tenancy. Breach alone is handled through the Board’s notice process; breach that also causes undue damage or substantially interferes with the landlord or other tenants is where termination applications succeed.
  • Animals are addressed directly, in one sentence. Section 14: “A provision in a tenancy agreement prohibiting the presence of animals in or about the residential complex is void.” The Ontario Standard Form of Lease guide gives “additional terms that do not allow pets” as an example of a void and unenforceable term, with one qualification noted in the same guide: a landlord can require a tenant in a condominium to comply with condominium rules, which may prohibit certain pets.

Two other corrections to the 2023 text. First, there is no Ontario rule that lets a landlord “limit the number or types of pets” by lease — a lease limit is a prohibition in part, and it is void for the same reason. Lawful limits on number, species, and size come from condo documents and municipal bylaws, not from the lease. Second, service animals in Ontario are governed by the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, not by United States housing law. Importing United States categories — including a blanket “assistance animal” paperwork test — misstates the duty, which is accommodation to the point of undue hardship.

For the wider frame, see our landlord responsibilities guide and our Ontario lease agreement guide. A clause the Act voids does not become useful because it is written confidently.

Smoking: how to make a no-smoking policy that holds

Section 10 of the Ontario Standard Form of Lease deals with smoking. Ontario law prohibits smoking in common areas, but not, by itself, inside an individual unit — the rules for a unit are the ones the landlord and tenant agree to in the lease. A policy that holds is built at signing, not invented later:

  • Put it in the tenancy agreement at the start. State the policy in section 10 and, if you need more detail, in additional terms that do not conflict with the RTA. Name what is covered: smoking tobacco, smoking cannabis, and using an electronic cigarette or other vaping device, so there is no argument that the clause only meant cigarettes.
  • Say where it applies. Inside the unit is the core. If balconies, patios, or the whole property are included, say so expressly — a clause silent on the balcony will be read as silent on the balcony.
  • Cover guests. State that the tenant is responsible for ensuring occupants and guests follow the policy. Most “the tenant does not smoke” defences are really “my guest did” defences.
  • Ask at screening, and record the answer. Whether an applicant smokes is a lawful screening question for a non-smoking unit, unlike the protected grounds listed in the Human Rights Code and the information limits in O. Reg. 290/98. Keep the application, the advertisement describing the unit as non-smoking, and the signed lease together — that package is your evidence that the term was agreed at the start.
  • Do not add a smoking deposit or a smoking cleaning fee. A deposit other than the rent deposit and a key deposit is not lawful, whether you label it for smoke, pets, damage, or cleaning. A tenant’s duty is different: a tenant must repair undue damage they or their guests cause, and must keep the unit in a state of ordinary cleanliness (RTA ss.33–34 framework). Damage is claimed on proof, after the fact — it is not collected in advance.

Existing tenants. You cannot add a no-smoking policy to a sitting tenant’s agreement on your own. When a fixed term ends and the tenancy continues, section 38 deems it renewed as a monthly tenancy on the same terms. An existing tenant who was never under a no-smoking clause may keep smoking in the unit for that tenancy — the grandfathering point Smoke-Free Housing Ontario and LTB guidance both make — unless they agree in writing to a new term. Grandfathering is not a licence to harm others: if smoke migrating into other units substantially interferes with another tenant’s reasonable enjoyment, or causes undue damage, the conduct grounds in the next section are available on their own facts, clause or no clause.

Common areas need no clause. The Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 prohibits smoking tobacco, using an electronic cigarette to vape any substance, and smoking cannabis in common indoor areas of condominiums, apartments, and other residential buildings, including corridors, elevators, and laundry rooms. Post the rule, refer complaints to that Act as well as to the building’s own rules, and do not treat a common-area breach as a private lease quarrel only.

Enforcing a no-smoking clause

Enforcement is a Board process, in steps, with records. Only the LTB can order a tenancy terminated, and only the Court Enforcement Office — the Sheriff — enforces an eviction order. There is no self-help version.

  1. Document first. Dates and times, which unit the smoke came from, complaints from other tenants in their own words, photos of damage (yellowing, burn marks, lingering odour noted at a lawful inspection), cleaning or repainting quotes and invoices, and a copy of the signed clause. One undated complaint rarely carries a file.
  2. Warn in writing, once, clearly. Identify the clause, the specific breaches, and what must stop. Keep the letter. Many files end here, and if yours does not, the letter becomes part of the record that you acted reasonably.
  3. Serve the right notice. Where smoking substantially interferes with the reasonable enjoyment of the landlord or other tenants, or causes undue damage, the route is Form N5 (interference / damage), followed by a Form L2 application if the tenant does not correct the behaviour in the cure period the form provides. The first N5 is voidable if the tenant corrects the behaviour within 7 days after the termination date in the notice; a second N5 for the same kind of behaviour within 6 months is not voidable on that basis. Where the conduct seriously impairs safety — a fire-risk pattern, for example — get advice on whether Form N7 is the correct notice on your facts. Use the current LTB forms: forms reissued on September 21, 2026 replaced older versions, and old versions are not accepted after November 30, 2026.
  4. Claim damage on proof. Smoke contamination that requires repainting, sealing, or replacement of furnishings you supplied is undue damage beyond ordinary wear if you can prove it — before-and-after condition records, dated photos at move-in and at inspection, and real invoices. An LTB case on a breached non-smoking clause has terminated a tenancy and awarded damage costs on exactly that kind of proof. The same case without condition records is an argument, not a claim.

Do not withhold services, change locks, or threaten eviction at the door for a smoking breach. Each of those creates a tenant application against you that is easier to prove than your smoking file. See our eviction guide for the full notice map and our tenant complaints guide for handling the neighbour who is reporting the smoke.

Pets: why a no-pets clause is void

Section 14 is short, and it does not contain exceptions for houses, for small landlords, for a tenant who promised, or for a clause in a separate pet addendum or a building’s own lease form. If the document is part of the tenancy agreement, a term prohibiting animals is void.

What follows from that, in practice:

  • A tenant may move in with an animal, or get one later, even after signing a “no pets” lease, answering “no pets” in a way you later dispute, or being shown an advertisement that said “no pets.” The clause cannot be used to evict them, fine them, raise their rent, or require the animal’s removal, on its own.
  • A landlord cannot charge for the animal in advance or by the month: no pet deposit, no pet rent, no monthly pet fee, no non-refundable pet cleaning charge. The lawful deposits remain the rent deposit (at most one period’s rent, applied to the last rental period, with interest at the guideline rate — 2.1% for 2026) and a key deposit at actual replacement cost.
  • A tenant is still responsible for their animal’s conduct. The tenant must keep the unit in a state of ordinary cleanliness, must repair or pay for undue damage caused by the tenant, an occupant, or a guest — pet damage included — and must not substantially interfere with others. “The clause is void” ends the ban argument. It does not end the damage, noise, or safety argument, which is decided on evidence about the actual animal.
  • Do not try to do indirectly what section 14 forbids directly: a “no pets” additional term renamed as an allergy, insurance, or house rule in the lease is still a tenancy-agreement provision prohibiting animals. Genuine allergy and safety conflicts are real, and the Act gives them a forum — section 76, below — not a clause.

Our subleasing and roommates guide covers the related point for occupants: people and animals a tenant brings into the home are governed by conduct and by lawful external rules, not by lease wording that tries to ban them in advance.

Screening: the one stage where pets can matter

Section 14 protects a tenant. It does not create a right to be chosen as a tenant. Before any tenancy agreement exists, a landlord may ask an applicant whether they have pets, may state a preference in advertising, and may decline an applicant because of a pet. Pet ownership, on its own, is not a ground protected by the Ontario Human Rights Code.

Screen lawfully, and keep the two stages separate:

  • Use only permitted screening information, the same way for every applicant. O. Reg. 290/98 under the Human Rights Code governs what may be considered: rental history, credit history, and income information, within the regulation’s limits — income information alone cannot be the test, and a rent-to-income ratio or a minimum-income cut-off cannot be applied on its own. Ask for credit consent in writing. Do not collect a Social Insurance Number. Our tenant screening guide and our guide to finding good tenants set out the full lawful list.
  • Ask the pet question directly, and do not oversell the answer. “Do you have, or do you plan to get, an animal that will live in the unit?” gives you a clear record for a condo with lawful pet restrictions, for insurance disclosure, and for practical planning (flooring, cleaning at turnover). It does not give you an enforceable promise that no animal will ever arrive in a house or apartment tenancy — tell owners that plainly before they rely on it.
  • Never screen out a service or support animal as a “pet.” If an applicant says an animal is needed because of a disability, the file leaves the pet-preference track and enters the accommodation track in the next sections. Asking for a diagnosis, refusing on sight, or charging a deposit at that point creates a human rights application, not a screening decision.
  • In a condo, screen against the corporation’s documents, not your preference. If the declaration prohibits dogs, or the rules limit size or number, disclose that in the advertisement and the showing, attach the relevant rule to the lease package, and use the lease term the Standard Form contemplates: the tenant must comply with the condominium’s declaration, bylaws, and rules.

When a pet causes a real problem: section 76 and the notices

The Board’s animal test is in section 76. On an application to terminate a tenancy where the ground is based on the presence, control, or behaviour of an animal the tenant keeps, the Board shall not terminate unless it is satisfied the tenant is in fact keeping the animal, and one of these is true:

  • the past behaviour of an animal of that species has substantially interfered with the reasonable enjoyment of the residential complex for all usual purposes by the landlord or other tenants;
  • the presence of an animal of that species has caused the landlord or another tenant to suffer a serious allergic reaction; or
  • the animal of that species or breed is inherently dangerous to the safety of the landlord or other tenants.

Then sections 76(2) and 76(3) narrow it further: even if a ground above is made out at the species level, the Board shall not terminate if the tenant’s own animal did not cause or contribute to the substantial interference, or did not cause or contribute to the allergic reaction. Evidence about dogs in general, a breed in general, or a neighbour’s fear in general is not evidence about this animal. Build the file on this animal:

  • Noise and disturbance: dated logs from affected tenants, recordings where lawful, building incident reports, and your written warnings to the tenant identifying the pattern and the cure expected.
  • Damage: move-in condition photos, inspection photos taken on a lawful entry (24 hours’ written notice under s.27, or consent at the time — see our entry guide linked in the manager section), repair invoices, and proof the damage is undue, not ordinary wear.
  • Allergy: a serious allergic reaction is a medical claim. Expect to prove it with medical evidence about the affected person, and to show this tenant’s animal caused or contributed to it — in a building with several animals, that link is the case.
  • Safety: bites, attacks, lunging or menacing behaviour, an animal at large in common areas, or a breed or species that is inherently dangerous — documented incident by incident, plus any municipal dangerous-dog or muzzle orders.

Notices. The usual route for interference or undue damage is Form N5, then Form L2 if the behaviour is not corrected in the cure period. For a serious safety impairment, get advice on Form N7. An L2 application costs $186 online or $201 by mail at current LTB rates. Serve current forms only — the September 21, 2026 form replacements govern, and old versions are not accepted after November 30, 2026. And keep the remedy in proportion in your own communications: in most files the realistic first ask is that the behaviour be corrected or, in a genuine section 76 case, that the animal be removed — the Board decides whether the tenancy itself ends, and it weighs the evidence about the specific animal when it does.

Do not seize an animal, bar it from the building, change locks, or tell a tenant the animal “must go by Friday” on your own authority. None of those is a landlord remedy, and each one damages the credible file you may actually have.

Service and support animals: not pets in law

Two Ontario instruments matter, and neither is the law the old article cited:

  • Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). A service animal is identifiable as one — for example, a guide dog or an animal wearing a harness or vest, or where the person provides documentation from an AODA-listed regulated health professional confirming the animal is required for reasons relating to a disability. Service animals are working animals, not pets, in public and customer-facing parts of a building.
  • Ontario Human Rights Code. In housing, a landlord must accommodate a tenant’s disability-related needs to the point of undue hardship, assessed on cost, outside sources of funding, and health and safety requirements. That duty can cover an animal a tenant needs because of a disability, whether or not the animal fits a narrow service-animal label, and whether the animal arrived with the tenant or was obtained later.

Practical rules for owners and managers:

  • Do not charge a deposit, fee, or extra rent for a service or disability-related support animal, and do not apply a condo or lease pet restriction to it without accommodation analysis — condo corporations have the same Code duty.
  • You may ask for reasonable documentation that confirms a disability-related need for the animal, from an appropriate regulated professional. You may not demand the diagnosis itself, a training certificate from a particular provider, or a registry card — Ontario has no official service-animal registry or certification that a landlord can require.
  • Accommodation is not unlimited, and it is fact-specific. If the specific animal causes serious damage, a documented serious allergy for another tenant, or a real safety risk, there are competing rights to reconcile — usually with legal advice, and ultimately at the Board or the Human Rights Tribunal, not by self-help. Proposing a reasonable alternative (a different floor plan, air filtration, a non-combustible cannabis format in the smoking context) is part of the process; a flat refusal is not.
  • Keep accommodation records separate, minimal, and private. The file needs the need and the arrangement agreed, not medical detail.

Condos: the rules that can do what a lease cannot

A rented Toronto condo sits under two legal layers. Section 14 voids the lease clause. It does not void the condominium corporation’s declaration, bylaws, or rules, and the Condominium Act, 1998 requires owners and occupants — tenants included — to comply with the Act and the corporation’s governing documents.

  • Pets. A declaration can prohibit pets outright or restrict species, size, weight, or number; provisions in a declaration do not have to pass the reasonableness test that rules must pass. Rules, which must be reasonable and made for safety, security, welfare, or to prevent interference with others’ use and enjoyment, can also restrict pets, and many Toronto buildings do — a weight limit and a one- or two-pet limit are common patterns. A tenant who keeps an animal in breach of a valid declaration or rule faces enforcement by the corporation against the occupant and the owner, which can include a compliance proceeding and costs, in addition to any Board proceeding by the landlord.
  • Smoking. A corporation can prohibit smoking — including on balconies and in units — by declaration or by a reasonable rule, and many buildings have adopted smoke-free rules in recent years, often with a legacy or grandfathering provision for existing occupants that you must read carefully. Section 117 of the Condominium Act also prohibits conduct that creates a nuisance, annoyance, or disruption, and the prescribed nuisances include smoke and odour — a provision the Condominium Authority Tribunal can apply in a dispute between an owner and the corporation.
  • Before you buy, advertise, or sign: read the status certificate package (Condominium Act s.76; the certificate fee is capped at $100 including taxes and it must be delivered within 10 days), confirm the pet and smoking provisions in the declaration and the current rules, disclose them to applicants in writing, and make the lease require compliance with the corporation’s documents. The expensive version of this lesson is a tenant lawfully in a unit with a dog the building lawfully prohibits, and an owner caught between the Board and the corporation.

See our Toronto condo board rules guide for how to check a building before you commit to it.

City and provincial animal rules that apply anyway

Even where neither a lease nor a condo document restricts an animal, public law does. These rules bind the animal’s owner, and a landlord who knows of a clear breach and does nothing can inherit the complaint file:

  • Toronto animal limits. Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 349 limits a dwelling unit to no more than three dogs and no more than six cats, with set fines listed by the City ($200 for keeping more than three dogs, and $200 for keeping more than six cats, in the City’s current fine schedule). Dogs and cats must be licensed with the City, and a list of prohibited animals (which includes many exotic species) applies city-wide.
  • Leashing, waste, and dangerous acts. Dogs must be leashed off their owner’s property (leash no longer than two metres), excrement must be removed immediately, and Toronto’s dangerous-dog regime can impose muzzle, microchip, and warning-sign orders after a bite or a dangerous act, with substantially higher set fines for dangerous-dog breaches.
  • Ontario’s pit bull ban. Under the Dog Owners’ Liability Act, it remains prohibited to own, breed, transfer, import, or train a pit bull in Ontario, in force since August 29, 2005. “Pit bull” includes the named terrier breeds and a dog with an appearance and physical characteristics substantially similar to them; the small grandfathered class of restricted pit bulls from 2005 is, by age alone, effectively gone. The Act also makes a dog’s owner liable for damages from a bite or attack, and a court can order control measures or destruction after a bite, attack, or menacing behaviour.
  • Cruelty and care. Provincial animal welfare law sets standards of care for animals kept in a unit. A neglect situation is a call to the provincial animal welfare service and, where the unit itself is at risk, a documented inspection and Board file — not a reason to enter without lawful notice or consent except in a genuine emergency.

Cannabis, vaping, and medical accommodation

Three points settle most cannabis questions in a rental:

  • A no-smoking clause can cover cannabis and vaping — if it says so. Draft for substances and methods, not just “cigarettes”: smoking tobacco, smoking cannabis, and vaping any substance. A clause written for tobacco alone invites an argument you do not need.
  • Without a clause, smoking cannabis in a unit is treated like smoking tobacco in a unit. Recreational cannabis smoking is generally permitted where tobacco smoking is permitted under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act framework, and banned in the same indoor common areas. Growing plants is a separate question: federal law permits a limited number of plants per residence for personal production, but a lease can address growing, and condo rules frequently prohibit it because of moisture, odour, and electrical load — check both documents before promising either way.
  • Medical use engages the Human Rights Code, not an automatic right to smoke indoors. A tenant who uses cannabis for a disability-related medical reason must be accommodated to undue hardship. Where smoke migrates to other units, a reasonable accommodation discussion can include non-combustible formats (oils, capsules, edibles) or smoking outdoors away from windows and air intakes. What it cannot be is a flat “no” with no analysis, or a demand for a diagnosis. Document the discussion and the alternatives considered.

Prevention that is lawful: set the tenancy up well

Since a ban is not available, prevention is the strategy. None of it requires a void clause:

  • Condition records. Dated move-in photos of flooring, walls, doors, screens, and supplied furnishings, signed off in a move-in inspection. Pet and smoke damage claims are won or lost on this file, months or years later.
  • A practical conversation at move-in. Where litter, leashes in common areas, waste removal, and balcony use work in this building; which areas are common-area smoke-free by law; who to call if a pipe leaks or an animal is in distress. Put the building and condo rules in the welcome package, with the tenant’s acknowledgment of receipt — receipt of a real external rule is evidence; a void ban is not.
  • Insurance that knows the facts. Tell your insurer the unit is tenanted, whether it is non-smoking, and whether animals will be present, and require tenant liability insurance in the lease where you do so for all tenants (the Standard Form contemplates a tenant-insurance term; the tenant must provide proof if asked). An undisclosed use is a coverage problem discovered at the worst moment. See our landlord liability guide and our short-term rental insurance guide.
  • Turnover budgeting, not deposits. Budget for a proper clean and touch-ups between tenancies as an operating cost. A Toronto core one-bedroom turnover clean runs about $115 in 2026, within a $90–$150 band, including linens and restocking for a short-term unit; a long-term turnover with carpet cleaning and paint touch-ups costs more, and it is priced from quotes, not collected from the incoming tenant in advance.
  • Respond to the first complaint properly. A barking log started in week one, a written warning with a clear cure, and a lawful inspection where damage is reported will either fix the problem or become the section 76 file. Ignoring complaints for six months and then demanding removal does neither.

For the maintenance duties behind several of these points, see our maintenance and repairs guide.

Worked example: what a void pet deposit costs, and what lawful action looks like

Labelled arithmetic on verified Toronto inputs. Change the inputs and the lesson is the same.

A Toronto one-bedroom rented at $2,228 a month — the September 2026 Toronto one-bedroom average asking rent in the Rentals.ca and Urbanation data; the all-unit Toronto average was $2,554. At application, the landlord collects a $300 “pet deposit” and a $50 monthly “pet fee,” and the lease says “no pets after all if management directs.” The tenant moves in with a cat.

Every one of those charges is built on a void term. Six months in, the pet fees alone total $300, plus the $300 deposit held — $600 collected or held on a basis section 14 and the deposit rules do not allow, claimable back by the tenant through the Board (a rebate application is filed within one year after an illegal charge was collected or retained), with the tenancy — and the cat — still lawfully in place. The landlord has the worst of both outcomes: no enforceable pet restriction, and a documented illegal charge.

Now the lawful version of the same file. No pet money is collected. The move-in inspection photographs the hardwood and the balcony door screen. In month four, two tenants report repeated late-night barking after the tenant obtains a dog, and a lawful inspection confirms a chewed door frame, with an invoice to repair it. The landlord warns in writing with dates, serves an N5 if the pattern continues uncorrected, and files an L2 ($186 online) only on the documented record — species-level substantial interference, plus this dog’s contribution to it, plus proven undue damage. That file can succeed at the Board. The first file could only lose.

Short-term rentals: house rules work differently

A guest in a Toronto short-term rental is generally not an RTA tenant: section 5(a) exempts accommodation occupied for a travelling or vacationing purpose, and Toronto defines a short-term rental as a stay of fewer than 28 consecutive nights. The contract with the guest, the platform’s terms, and the building’s rules govern — so a host can do for guests what a landlord cannot do for tenants:

  • Set the listing and the house rules to “no smoking” (including balconies, if the building requires it) and “no pets,” before booking, so the rule is a term the guest accepted. Enforce it during a stay by message first — a reminder, then platform support if the guest continues — and claim proven smoke or damage costs after checkout through the platform’s resolution process, with photos from the turnover inspection.
  • Charge a pet fee to a guest who books with a pet, if your listing allows pets for a fee and the fee was disclosed before booking. That is a guest contract term, not a tenancy deposit — do not import the practice into a long-term lease, where the same charge is unlawful.
  • Service animals remain the exception on this track too. Airbnb’s policy treats a service animal as not a pet: a host may not refuse it, charge a pet fee for it, or require disclosure in advance, though a host may ask the two questions Airbnb permits about whether the animal is required because of a disability and what task it is trained to perform. Human rights law points the same way. Build the listing assuming a service animal may arrive without notice, and price and clean accordingly.
  • Condo rules bind guests as occupants. If the building prohibits pets or smoking, the host’s house rules must say so, and a guest’s breach can become the owner’s problem with the corporation — screen and message accordingly.

Toronto’s short-term framework for 2026, for context: registration is $390 a year, only a principal residence may be registered, entire-unit rentals are capped at 180 nights a year, the Municipal Accommodation Tax is 6% since August 1, 2026, plus 13% HST, and Airbnb’s host-only service fee is 15.5% on the subtotal including the cleaning fee. See our Toronto condo house rules guide, our Toronto condo income estimate, and our Toronto Airbnb management page.

What never to do

  • Never rely on a “no pets” lease clause, addendum, or house rule in a tenancy agreement. It is void, and acting on it creates the other side’s case.
  • Never collect a pet deposit, pet rent, a pet fee, or a smoking or cleaning deposit. Only the rent deposit and a key deposit at actual cost are lawful.
  • Never impose a no-smoking policy on a sitting tenant who never agreed to one, and never pretend a renewal on the same terms (s.38) created one.
  • Never refuse, charge, or demand papers for a service or disability-related support animal as if it were a pet. Ask only for reasonable confirmation of the disability-related need, never the diagnosis.
  • Never remove an animal, bar it from the building, change locks, or set your own deadline for a tenant to “get rid of” a pet or stop smoking. Termination is the Board’s order, enforced by the Sheriff.
  • Never use an old LTB form. Forms reissued September 21, 2026 govern, and old versions are not accepted after November 30, 2026.
  • Never quote United States fair-housing rules to an Ontario tenant, applicant, or adjudicator. The Ontario Human Rights Code, the AODA, and the RTA are the law here.

When a manager helps

Smoking and pet files are lost on stage errors, not on principles: a ban written into the one document that cannot contain it, a deposit collected at the one moment it cannot be collected, a policy imposed at the one time it cannot be imposed, or a condo rule nobody read until the corporation enforced it. A manager’s value is sequencing — screening lawfully and consistently, putting the smoking term in at signing, disclosing condo documents before the lease, photographing condition at move-in, starting the complaint log at the first report, and serving the current N5 or L2 only on a record about the specific animal or the specific smoking.

Typical long-term management in the GTA runs 8% to 12% of rent, plus a placement fee of roughly 50% to 100% of one month’s rent when a new tenant is placed. Home Again’s full-service short-term management is 15%, for owners operating lawfully in their own principal residence. On a $2,228 one-bedroom, the difference between the void-deposit file and the lawful file in the worked example above was not a fee — it was $600 that had to be given back, against a claim that could actually be heard. Our landlord entry guide covers the inspection entries a damage file depends on.

Frequently asked questions

Can an Ontario landlord prohibit pets in a rental property?
Not in the tenancy agreement. Section 14 of the Residential Tenancies Act makes a provision prohibiting animals void, even if the tenant signed it. A landlord may decline an applicant who has a pet before a tenancy begins, and a condominium’s declaration, bylaws, or rules can prohibit or restrict pets for occupants of that condo unit. Once a tenancy exists in a house or apartment, only the animal’s actual behaviour — substantial interference, a serious allergic reaction, or inherent danger, proven about that specific animal under section 76 — can put the tenancy at risk.

Can an Ontario landlord prohibit smoking in a rental property?
Yes, for a new tenancy, by a no-smoking term the tenant agrees to in the lease at the start, covering tobacco, cannabis, and vaping, in the areas the clause names. Smoking and vaping are also prohibited by law in indoor common areas of apartment buildings and condos. A landlord cannot impose a no-smoking policy on an existing tenant who never agreed to one — the tenancy continues on the same terms — but smoking that causes undue damage or substantially interferes with others can still be acted on through the Board on its own facts.

Can a landlord charge a pet deposit or monthly pet fee in Ontario?
No. The only lawful deposits are a rent deposit of at most one month’s rent, applied to the last rental period, and a refundable key deposit at actual replacement cost. A pet deposit, pet rent, a pet fee, and a damage or cleaning deposit are all unlawful, and money collected on that basis can be claimed back through the Landlord and Tenant Board.

Can a tenant be evicted for having a pet in Ontario?
Not for having one. The Board must not terminate a tenancy over an animal unless section 76 is satisfied: the species’ past behaviour has substantially interfered with reasonable enjoyment, its presence has caused a serious allergic reaction, or the species or breed is inherently dangerous — and the tenant’s own animal must have caused or contributed to the interference or reaction. Damage and disturbance are handled through notices such as Form N5 and an L2 application, on documented evidence about the specific animal.

Do condo rules against pets or smoking apply to tenants?
Yes. A condominium’s declaration, bylaws, and rules bind owners and occupants, including tenants, and section 14 does not void them — it voids only the tenancy agreement’s own prohibition. A declaration can ban pets or smoking outright, and a reasonable rule can restrict them. Check the status certificate and the current rules before advertising or signing a condo tenancy.

Are service animals treated as pets in Ontario rentals?
No. A service or disability-related support animal is not a pet in law. Under the Ontario Human Rights Code a landlord must accommodate a disability-related need for an animal to the point of undue hardship, and may not charge a deposit or fee for it or demand the tenant’s diagnosis. A landlord may ask for reasonable documentation confirming the disability-related need. The same principle applies to short-term guests: Airbnb treats service animals as not pets, with no pet fee and no advance disclosure required.