General information about Ontario law as of the date above, not legal advice. The law and the Board's forms change; check the sources at the end of the page.
If your tenant has moved out and still owes you money, you claim it at the Landlord and Tenant Board with an L10 application. The tenant must have moved out on or after 1 September 2021, you must file within one year, and the Board can order up to $50,000. The Small Claims Court usually comes in afterwards, as the place to file the Board’s order if the former tenant does not pay. This page is general information about the law as of 15 October 2026, not legal advice.
Which route fits your situation?
| Your situation | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| The tenant moved out less than a year ago, and the claim is $50,000 or less | An L10 at the Board |
| The claim is more than $50,000 | A claim in the Superior Court of Justice, or an L10 that gives up everything above $50,000 |
| The tenant still lives in the unit | An L1, L2 or L9 at the Board, not an L10 |
| More than a year has passed since the tenant moved out | The L10 can no longer be filed |
| The Board ordered payment and the former tenant has not paid | File the order with the Small Claims Court to enforce it |
What can you claim on an L10?
The L10 covers five kinds of money:
- Rent and compensation. Rent the tenant did not pay during the tenancy, and compensation for each day they stayed after a notice of termination or an agreement to end the tenancy took effect. Rent includes amounts paid to you separately for services such as parking, and a flat monthly charge for a utility.
- NSF charges. Your bank’s charges for a returned cheque, plus your administration charge of up to $20 a cheque. You can claim these only together with rent or compensation.
- Utilities. Heat, electricity or water the tenancy agreement required the tenant to pay, and they did not. A share of a bill, such as half the hydro, is claimed here, not as rent.
- Damage. The cost to repair or replace property that the tenant, another occupant or a guest damaged wilfully or negligently. Normal wear and tear is not undue damage.
- Substantial interference. Out-of-pocket costs caused by conduct that substantially interfered with your reasonable enjoyment of the property or another lawful right, for example a fire department charge after a false alarm. Damage and utility costs cannot be claimed under this reason.
The form adds the filing fee to the total you claim. The LTB lists the L10 fee as $201, or $186 through the Tribunals Ontario Portal.
How long do you have to file?
You must file no later than one year after the tenant moved out. The form puts it as no more than 365 days after the day they left. The Board cannot extend this deadline. The L10 is also only for a tenant who moved out on or after 1 September 2021, the day these rules came into force.
How much rent can you claim if the tenant left without notice?
The Act sets the period. If the tenant left without any notice, rent is owing up to the earliest termination date a proper tenant’s notice could have set, counted from the day you knew, or ought to have known, that they had left. If they gave a notice that did not follow the Act, the same rule applies from that notice.
If you had given the tenant an N12 or N13 and they left early without a proper notice, rent is owing until 10 days after their notice, or after you knew or ought to have known they had left. It does not run past the termination date in your notice.
If you re-rent the unit, the claim stops on the day the new tenant is entitled to move in. The Board also considers whether you took steps to minimize your losses.
What about the rent deposit?
The Act says a rent deposit is applied to the rent for the last rental period before the tenancy ends. You also owe the tenant interest on the deposit each year, at the rent increase guideline in effect when the interest is due. The L10 asks how much rent deposit you still hold, the date you collected it, and the last period for which you paid the tenant interest on it. Have those figures ready before you fill in the rent section.
What do you need before you file?
- The move-out date. The one-year period runs from it, and the form asks for it.
- The former tenant’s current address, if you know it. You can leave it blank, but you still have to serve them, and at the hearing you may be asked how you found the address. Never give the rental unit’s address.
- A record of the rent. The form’s table needs each rental period, the rent charged, the rent paid and the rent owing. The last row must show the last period for which rent is owed.
- Bank notices for any NSF cheques, with the date and amount of each charge.
- The utility bills, and the tenancy agreement that made the tenant responsible for them, if it is in writing.
- Proof of the damage and its cost: what was damaged, the cost of each repair or replacement, and photos, invoices or estimates. If the work is not done yet, you can use estimates.
Who serves the L10, and how?
You do. For most applications the Board serves the documents, but for an L10 you give each former tenant the application and the Notice of Hearing at least 30 days before the hearing. Serve them where they live now. You cannot leave the documents at the old unit.
You can hand them to the former tenant or to an adult where they live, or mail or courier them there. Email works only if the tenant agreed in writing during the tenancy to receive documents by email, and you can prove they received them.
You then file a Certificate of Service at least 20 days before the hearing. If you do not, the Board may cancel the hearing and close the file, and the fee is not refunded. If none of the usual methods will work, you can ask the Board to allow another method of service at least 40 days before the hearing.
What happens at the hearing?
You will have to prove what you claim. Give your evidence, such as the rent record, bills, photos and invoices, to the former tenant and the Board at least 7 days before the hearing.
If you claim rent, the former tenant can raise other issues, such as maintenance problems. For an application filed on or after 21 September 2026, they must first give you and the Board a written description of each issue and pay you half of the rent arrears claimed, at least 7 days before the hearing.
How much can the Board order?
The Board can order up to the greater of $10,000 and the Small Claims Court limit, which is $50,000. If the former tenant owes more, you can bring the claim in court instead, and the court can use the Board’s powers. Because the Small Claims Court’s own limit is also $50,000, a larger claim starts in the Superior Court of Justice. If you claim at the Board, everything above $50,000 is lost once the Board issues its order. See when it goes to court.
Can you sue a former tenant in Small Claims Court instead?
Not for the money an L10 covers, within the Board’s limit. The Act gives the Board exclusive jurisdiction over applications under the Act. Since 1 September 2021, claims for rent, compensation, NSF charges, utilities, damage and interference costs against a former tenant are applications under the Act. Court cases already started before that date were allowed to continue. And because the Small Claims Court’s limit is the same $50,000, it is not a route for a larger claim either.
How do you collect after the Board’s order?
If the former tenant does not pay, you can file the order with the Small Claims Court for enforcement. A certified copy of a Board order filed in the Superior Court of Justice, of which the Small Claims Court is a branch, is treated as an order of that court. You must tell the Board within 10 days after you file it.
The court’s tools for an order to pay money include garnishment and a writ of seizure and sale of personal property or land. You can also have the former tenant examined about why they have not paid and about their income and property. If the Board set a date for payment, interest runs from that date at the post-judgment rate. See enforcing an order.
For how Law Press handles these claims, see tenant left owing money.