Rent Increase Guideline: How Much Can Toronto Landlords Raise the Rent in 2016?

Many Toronto landlords are excited about our prospects in 2016.  According to a report in the Financial Post the average price of a single detached home is now over $1,000,000 in Toronto. House prices continue to rise at record rates. This also includes price gains for other types of investment properties such as townhouses and condos.

Toronto leads the way, but prices are rising all over the Greater Toronto Area and north of the 407 as Newmarket landlords experience huge price gains for rental properties.

How Do Rising Prices Help Landlords?

Rising prices mean more qualified tenants are deciding to rent for a while instead of buying their house or condo to live in.

Many people who have been landlords for years are commenting how these days there are more tenants than before contacting them when they list a property for rent.

And these are tenants with high credit scores showing a history of financial responsibility. This type of record means they are likely to make sure they pay rent on time and respect your investment property.

Ontario Rent Increase Guideline 2016

So how much can Toronto Landlords raise the rent in 2016? For a bit of background on this subject please note in 2015 landlords could raise the rent by 1.6%.

If your property is covered by the Rent Increase Guideline you must follow the Ontario Government’s rules. 

Here is the Ontario government email to the Ontario Landlords Association regarding How Much Can Ontario Landlords Raise The Rent in 2016?:

To:        Ontario Landlords Association

From:   Housing Policy Branch, Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing

For OLA Members,

The 2016 annual rent increase guideline, which was announced on Friday, June 19, 2015, is 2.0 per cent.

Please find links to the increase, which are available in both English and French at the Ministry website. If you have any questions about the increase please contact us.

Thank you,

Housing Policy Branch, Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing

This is information directly from the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Am I Covered By the Rent Increase Guideline?

The rules are a bit convoluted and unclear.  You can see the Ontario Landlords Am I Covered by the Rent Increase Guideline page for help.

Many new condo owners will be happy to find out they aren’t covered and can raise the rent as much as they want to (while still keeping rents competitive with other condos out there). Remember, if you raise the rent too high you might lose your good, paying tenants.

Does 2.0% Cover Your Rising Landlord Costs?

If you are covered by the guideline, many landlords have told us the rent increase guideline simply isn’t high enough for them to cover their ever increasing costs of doing business. 

Landlords across Canada have also written they are shocked considering provinces such as Alberta don’t even have a guideline and landlords can raise the rent as much as the market will allow them to.  This means they can raise the rents and use that money to help maintain safe high quality rentals.

Toronto Landlords Can Raise the Rent by 2.0% in 2016 as this is the Rent Increase Guideline. Does this cover your costs?  We recommend you raise the rent this year because the guideline next year might even be lower.