The N4 Form in Ontario: Which Version to Use and What Changed
The LTB did not restyle the N4 for September 21, 2026. It rebuilt it. Here is how to identify the version in your hand, what moved on each page, and the three errors that send a landlord back to day one.
The service date picks the form. An N4 served on or after September 21, 2026 must be on the N4 (2026/09) form. An N4 served on or before September 20, 2026 belonged on the retired form stamped 01/04/2022 and stays valid. The day you fill the form in is irrelevant.
Start here: which one do you need
There is no overlap window and no grace period. The Landlord and Tenant Board accepts one version per service date, and the cutover is the moment the notice is given to the tenant. If you prepared an N4 in early September and did not serve it until the 22nd, the copy in your folder is the wrong one.
Serving on or after Sept 21, 2026
Use the N4 (2026/09). Three pages, 7-day termination period stated on the face of the form for every tenancy type.
Served on or before Sept 20, 2026
The retired 01/04/2022 form was correct at the time. Those notices remain valid and do not need to be reissued on the new form.
Download the current N4 from Tribunals Ontario or browse the full LTB forms index. Always take the form from the LTB rather than from a saved copy or a third-party site, because the Board republishes these documents in place.
Four ways to tell the versions apart in about five seconds
You do not need to read the form to know which one you have. Any one of these settles it.
Count the pages
The N4 (2026/09) is 3 pages. The retired form was 2. The page footer says so explicitly: "Page 1 of 3" against "Page 1 of 2".
Look at the top of page 1
The new form opens with the line "Effective September 21, 2026" and "Version 1" above the title. The retired form had no such banner.
Read the footer stamp
The new footer reads "N4 (2026/09) King’s Printer for Ontario, 2026". The retired one is stamped 01/04/2022.
Read the title
The new form is titled "Notice to End your Tenancy Early For Non-payment of Rent". The retired form did not carry the word Early.
What changed on the form itself
The headline change is the termination period, but the rebuild goes well beyond it. The retired form set out a split rule: at least 14 days for a monthly or yearly tenancy, at least 7 days for a daily or weekly one. Because that rule was printed on the face of the document, the LTB could not implement Bill 60 by changing the law alone. It had to reissue the form, and it took the opportunity to rebuild the whole thing.
| On the form | Retired (01/04/2022) | New (2026/09) |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 2 pages | 3 pages |
| Title | Notice to End your Tenancy | Notice to End your Tenancy Early |
| Termination period | 14 days monthly or yearly, 7 days daily or weekly | 7 days for every tenancy type |
| Rental unit address | One free-text line | Six boxes: street number, street name, unit, municipality, province, postal code |
| Representative ID | LSUC number | LSO number |
| Representative contact | Fax number | Email address |
| Representative name | Single name field | First name and last name |
| Arrears table and signature | Bottom of page 2 | Their own page 3 |
| Tenant guidance | Sidebar labels | New "Tenant Responsibility" section on page 1 |
| Naming | Refers to "the Board" | Refers to "the LTB" |
Why this breaks saved templates. The LTB rebuilt the document rather than editing it, and not one of the fillable field names survived the rebuild. Software or a mail merge that fills the N4 by field name will not warn you. It will produce a blank or misaligned page. If you automate this, regenerate from the new form and read the output before serving.
What goes where on the new three-page form
Page 1: the notice
Tenant and landlord names, the rental unit address in its six separate boxes, the total rent owed, and the termination date. Page 1 also carries the tenant-facing warning that they have seven days to pay, and the new Tenant Responsibility block about paying rent in full and on time.
Page 2: tenant information
Entirely LTB-authored explanation for the tenant. What happens if they agree, if they disagree, if they move out, how they will know the landlord applied, and LTB contact details. Nothing here is filled in by the landlord.
Page 3: the arrears table and signature
The rent period rows showing charged, paid and owing for each period, the total, the signature and date, and the representative section with the LSO number, company name, mailing address and email. This is the page that used to be crammed under the tenant information on page 2.
The arrears table is where most N4s are won or lost at a hearing. Each row is a rent period with the amount charged, the amount actually paid, and the difference. The total on page 3 has to match the figure you wrote on page 1. If a tenant makes a partial payment between the day you prepare the notice and the day you serve it, both numbers move.
The three mistakes that void the notice
1. The wrong version for your service date
Covered above, and the easiest to avoid. Check the footer stamp against the day you intend to hand the notice over.
2. Counting 7 days from the wrong day
The 7 days run from deemed service, not from signing. Mail adds 5 deemed-service days under the RTA, so a mailed N4 needs 12 days between the mailing date and the termination date. Hand delivery adds none. This trap did not change with the new form, and it catches more landlords than the version question does.
3. An address that does not match the tenancy
The split address boxes are new, and a unit number that used to sit inside a single free-text line now needs its own box. A missing unit number on a multi-unit property is a real ground for a tenant to challenge the notice.
None of these can be fixed after the fact. O. Reg. 516/06 s.56 prevents the Board from amending a defective notice of termination, so a bad N4 is not corrected at the hearing. It is restarted, and the arrears keep accruing while you wait for a new hearing date.
What did not change
Only the N4 was reissued. If you are hunting for updated versions of the other notices, stop looking. As of this update the LTB still publishes:
- N1 (rent increase) at its November 30, 2015 version
- N12 (landlord or purchaser personal use) at its July 28, 2020 version
- N13 (demolition, conversion, major repairs) at its July 28, 2020 version
The September 21 tranche did change the N12 compensation rule, waiving the one month of compensation where the termination date is at least 120 days after the notice is given. It did that without touching the form, so you keep using the July 2020 N12. Note that the waiver is an N12 provision only. N13 compensation is unchanged and still owed in full. The N12 personal-use guide walks through the conditions.
Our N4 notice generator asks for the service date first and then picks the form version from it, fills the right field map for that version, and counts the termination date including the deemed-service days for how you are delivering the notice. If you are serving around the cutover, that removes the two decisions most likely to go wrong.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- LTB forms, filing and fees (Tribunals Ontario). Publishes the N4 (2026/09) with its September 21, 2026 effective date, and the current N1, N12 and N13 versions.
- Bill 60, Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025 (Legislative Assembly of Ontario). Amends RTA s.59(1) to a termination date not earlier than the 7th day after notice is given.
- O. Reg. 516/06 under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (Ontario e-Laws). Section 56 on the Board's inability to amend a defective notice of termination.
This guide is general information for Ontario landlords, not legal advice.
Related guides
The 7-day N4 rule
The notice period itself, the deemed-service math, and what stayed the same.
How to issue an N4
The full process from arrears to service to the L1 application.
After the N4
What to file when the termination date passes and the arrears are still owing.
N4 notice generator
Picks the form version and counts the termination date from your service date.
The right form, picked for you
OntarioLandlord tracks rent the day it is due and builds each N4 on the form version and notice period in force for your service date, deemed-service days included. No saved template to forget about.
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