Roommate disputes: why the LTB will not help you

The Landlord and Tenant Board decides landlord-tenant disputes, not roommate-versus-roommate ones. An unpaid share is an ordinary debt claim in Small Claims Court — and it only works if the shares were written down.

Published August 3, 2026·3 min read

When a roommate stops paying, the instinct is to go to the Landlord and Tenant Board. It will generally not help: the Board decides disputes between a landlord and a tenant. A dispute between two co-tenants is an ordinary contract claim, and the venue is Small Claims Court.

That single fact is the reason to write a roommate agreement. In Small Claims you need to show what was agreed: the share, the due date, what was paid and what was not.

Joint lease: the landlord can chase any of you

On a joint lease, liability is usually joint and several. If one roommate stops paying, the landlord is not required to work out whose share is missing — it can pursue whichever tenant is easiest to collect from, and an application for arrears can be brought against all tenants together.

A roommate agreement does not change that. What it does is give the person who covered the shortfall a written claim for the difference.

Only one name on the lease

Then that person is responsible to the landlord for everything, and the others' status depends on the arrangement. Where an occupant shares a kitchen or bathroom with the owner, the Residential Tenancies Act does not apply to them at all. Where the person they share with is a tenant rather than the owner, the position is less settled and the Board may treat the occupant as the head tenant's tenant — with the notice and hearing rights that follow.

Practical consequence: nobody should assume an occupant can simply be told to leave. Get advice before acting, and never change the locks — removal requires an order and enforcement by the sheriff.

Ontario deposit rules worth knowing

A landlord may collect a rent deposit of no more than one rent period, applied to the last month's rent. Damage deposits are not permitted. If your landlord is holding more than a month, that is worth questioning before roommates start splitting it.

Notice: match the tenancy rules

A tenant ending a monthly tenancy in Ontario gives 60 days' notice, ending on the last day of a rental period. A roommate agreement that requires only 30 days leaves the remaining roommates carrying a share nobody can cover. Sixty days aligns the two.

Ending your obligations to the landlord takes notice to the landlord, in the required form — telling your roommates is not notice.

What to write down

rent share per person and the internal payment day, set several days before the landlord's;
who collects and pays, if anyone;
how the deposit was contributed and how it comes back;
utilities: whose name, how split, when reimbursed;
rooms and shared space;
guests, quiet hours, cleaning, smoking, cannabis, pets;
notice to leave and who finds the replacement.

Put it on paper

Our roommate agreement for the common-law provinces records the shares, the dates and the rules, explains what the agreement can and cannot do, and flags the provincial points that catch roommates out — the jurisdiction gap, Ontario's deposit limits and the 60-day notice.

→ Roommate agreement · Room rental agreement