Why Ontario Landlords Are Selling Their Rental Properties — And What It Means for the Market
Ontario landlords face 6-16 month Landlord and Tenant Board wait times for dispute resolution, and many investor-owned properties are losing $1,500-3,000/month in negative cash flow at current rates. Cash-for-keys agreements (formalized via N11) can speed up vacancy but carry enforcement risk if tenants don’t leave. Some experienced landlords are pivoting to commercial real estate, where disputes go through courts, not the LTB system.
I had Cody Kraus on Supply and Demand recently — he owns a Century 21 franchise in Windsor with four office locations, 14 years in the business, and he’s also a landlord himself. Multiple residential properties, commercial holdings, the whole spectrum. And what he told me about his own investing experience in Ontario honestly confirmed what I’ve been hearing from investors across the GTA for the last two years.
They’re done. Not because the math doesn’t work. Because the system doesn’t work.
16 months without rent — and that wasn’t even the worst part
Cody bought a property with plans to eventually tear it down and build a fourplex. The tenant knew the timeline. Moved in, paid a few months, then stopped. Cody kept maintaining the property — cutting the grass, fixing appliances, replacing the stove. The tenant just stopped paying.
They got a hearing. The adjudicator didn’t make a decision. No order. No explanation. Just silence. So they waited. And waited.
“16 months without rent is how long we owned that property and couldn’t evict the tenant for.”
Eventually they got a second hearing — either the first adjudicator quit or just never dealt with it. That’s 16 months of mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, and maintenance on a property generating zero income. For a small landlord, that can be financially devastating.
The cash-for-keys trap
Cody had another property where the tenant was selling drugs. Neighbors were upset. He wanted them out and offered a fair cash-for-keys deal — an N11 in Ontario terms. The tenant accepted, but with a condition: release some money upfront so they could use it for first and last on their next place.
“The sucker that I was, I’m always a sucker for a good story. I wanted to help them because I didn’t want them to go unhoused. I don’t want to make anybody homeless. We sell homes and rent homes for a living. She took the money, didn’t move out, and then it still took me another seven months to get an eviction and not recover any of those funds.”
Read that again. He paid the tenant to leave. The tenant took the money, stayed, and it still took seven more months through the LTB. The money was gone. No recourse.
And before you think this is just a Windsor problem — I’m hearing the exact same stories from landlords across York Region and the GTA. The geography doesn’t matter. The system is the system.
The spelling error that cost a family their own home
This one genuinely made me angry. A family relocated to Michigan for work. They kept their Ontario home and rented it out month-to-month. When they moved back, they served the tenant proper notice. Reasonable. Legal. The tenant refused to leave.
So they filed with the LTB. The entire case was dismissed — because of a spelling error on the paperwork. They had to refile, wait again, and in the meantime find somewhere else to live because their own home was occupied by a tenant who wouldn’t leave.
That family moved back to Michigan while they waited to find out if they could live in their own house.
This is the kind of thing that makes rational investors say: I’m out. Not because they lost money on the property itself — the asset appreciated. But because the system around the asset became unworkable.
The brand-new fourplex disaster
Even brand-new builds aren’t safe. Cody built a fourplex — got occupancy about 18 months ago. Upper and lower units, side by side. The upstairs tenant installed a bidet attachment. The water line cracked. It flooded the unit below so badly that the entire lower unit had to be stripped to the studs — mechanicals removed, kitchen ripped out, drywall gone. Mold throughout.
The upstairs tenants told Cody they were moving out, stopped paying rent, then changed their minds and paid up again to stay. Meanwhile, the lower unit family — who did nothing wrong — is displaced. Cody’s paying for their temporary housing out of pocket. And the upstairs tenants are complaining that repairs aren’t happening fast enough.
Almost no recourse against the tenants who caused the damage. That’s the part that breaks landlords — not the financial hit, but the complete absence of accountability in the system.
Why the LTB isn’t getting fixed anytime soon
Cody and I talked about whether there’s any political will to fix the Landlord and Tenant Board. His take was blunt — and I think he’s right.
“Fighting for the landlord is not going to gain you popularity right now. There’s a lot less landlords than there are tenants. And also — oh, poor Mr. Landlord who owns 10 properties. I just need a place to live.”
The math is simple. More tenants vote than landlords. No politician wins an election by making life easier for property investors. Doug Ford has acknowledged the LTB wait times need to improve. The Ontario Ombudsman has flagged systemic issues. But acknowledgment isn’t action.
“Let’s say that you had 10,000 mom and pop investors that maybe have one or two rental homes in Ontario. If you make it very, very difficult for them to collect rent from a good tenant and allow bad tenants to stay there longer and put all these rules and regs in place, they’re eventually just going to sell.”
And here’s the irony Cody pointed out — the system getting worse for small landlords might actually fix the system. Fewer landlords means fewer cases. Institutional players know the rules. The LTB becomes more efficient by default — not because it was reformed, but because the people it was failing just left.
The Alberta comparison
I asked Cody what makes Alberta’s landlord-tenant system work better. Two things:
Faster hearing times. Alberta’s Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service processes cases significantly faster than Ontario’s LTB. Weeks, not months.
Rules-based decision making. Less weight given to personal stories. More weight given to what the rules actually say.
“There’s a lot of weight given to the story in Ontario. If you can concoct a story and appeal to the emotional pull of the adjudicator, they might be able to have it swung in their favor. I think the rules should just be applied as they were written.”
That’s not heartless — it’s fair. The rules exist to protect both parties. When adjudicators start making exceptions based on who tells a better story, the system rewards manipulation, not merit. Good tenants and good landlords both lose.
What smart investors are doing instead
Cody’s not quitting real estate investing. He’s pivoting. And the direction is interesting.
Commercial real estate. In Ontario, commercial leases operate under contract law — not the Residential Tenancies Act. Disputes go through the courts with lawyers. Settlements happen quickly. You can take your unit back if a tenant defaults. Higher barrier to entry, but significantly more protection for the investor.
Different markets. Alberta, Saskatchewan, the East Coast. Places where the landlord-tenant framework hasn’t swung so far that the risk equation breaks down.
Different asset classes entirely. Dividend funds. Agricultural land. Anything with clearer rules and faster resolution when things go wrong.
The common thread: investors aren’t leaving real estate because properties stopped appreciating. They’re leaving residential rental in Ontario because the system around it became hostile to anyone without a legal department.
What this means if you own rental property in Ontario
If you’re a small landlord thinking about selling — you’re not alone, and you’re not wrong. The numbers might still work on paper, but the operational risk of a bad tenant with no fast resolution path is real. I’ve helped several investors in the GTA sell their rental portfolios over the last couple of years, and the conversation is always the same: the appreciation was great, but the headaches aren’t worth it anymore.
If you’re thinking about selling a rental property — or if you’re trying to figure out whether to hold or sell — I’m happy to run the numbers with you. No pressure. Just data.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to evict a tenant in Ontario?
As of 2025, Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) hearings can take 6-16 months from application to resolution. During COVID, backlogs pushed some cases even longer. One investor on the Supply and Demand podcast shared a case that took 16 months without collecting any rent. The wait time affects both landlords dealing with non-paying tenants and tenants dealing with negligent landlords.
What is cash for keys in Ontario?
Cash for keys is an informal agreement where a landlord pays a tenant a lump sum to voluntarily vacate the property, avoiding the lengthy LTB eviction process. In Ontario, this is formalized through an N11 (Agreement to End the Tenancy). The risk: if the tenant takes the money and doesn’t leave, the landlord must still go through the full LTB process to enforce the agreement, and recovering the funds is extremely difficult.
Why are Ontario landlords switching to commercial real estate?
Commercial real estate in Ontario operates under contract law, not the Residential Tenancies Act. This means disputes are handled through the courts with lawyers and settlements, not through the LTB adjudication system with its 6-16 month wait times. Commercial leases also offer more enforceable protections for property owners. The trade-off is higher capital requirements and potentially longer vacancy periods.
What happens to Ontario’s rental supply if small landlords sell?
When individual landlords sell single-family rentals, those properties are typically purchased by owner-occupants — removing them from the rental supply permanently. The remaining rental stock consolidates into purpose-built apartments owned by REITs and institutional investors. This reduces rental options for tenants (fewer house rentals, more apartments) and concentrates market power in fewer hands.
Are Alberta’s landlord-tenant rules better than Ontario’s for investors?
Alberta’s Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service (RTDRS) generally offers faster hearing times and more rules-based decision-making compared to Ontario’s LTB. In Alberta, adjudicators tend to apply regulations as written with less weight given to personal circumstances. Ontario’s system allows more discretionary consideration, which critics say creates inconsistency and can be exploited.
Watch the Full Episode
This is from my conversation with Cody Kraus on Supply and Demand. Cody owns a Century 21 franchise in Windsor with four offices, and he’s been investing in real estate for over a decade — so when he says the system is broken, he’s speaking from experience, not theory. Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or watch the full episode below:
If you own rental property in Ontario and you’re weighing your options — hold, sell, or pivot — I’m happy to talk it through. No sales pitch. Just an honest look at what the numbers say for your situation.
Adam Nadler | Vision Real Estate | Selling Services | RE/MAX Your Community Realty