How to Use the Landlord and Tenant Board Portal as a Landlord

The Landlord and Tenant Board portal is the Tribunals Ontario Portal. You create a Public Secure account, log in with a My Ontario Login or a bank sign-in partner, then file applications such as the L1, pay by card, upload evidence and check your file status. This guide covers each step, what to have ready and the login snags that trip landlords up.

What the Tribunals Ontario Portal lets landlords do

The portal is the Landlord and Tenant Board's case management system. Landlords use it to file applications and pay the fee, upload evidence, check the status of a file, exchange messages and documents with the other party, pick preferred hearing dates in some situations and try the dispute resolution tool before a hearing.

Not every form can be filed there. These landlord applications can be filed on the portal:

• L1: evict for non-payment of rent and collect the rent owed
• L2: end a tenancy and evict, or collect money
• L3: end a tenancy after the tenant gave notice or agreed to end it
• L4: end a tenancy because the tenant did not meet the conditions of a settlement or order
• L9: collect rent the tenant owes
• L10: collect money a former tenant owes

Other landlord forms, such as the L5 for an above-guideline increase, go by email, mail, courier or a ServiceOntario centre. The LTB says online filing saves time and money, and its fee table lists lower fees for several portal applications. For current amounts, check the Fees tab on the LTB's forms page or read our LTB filing fees and timelines guide.

What to have ready before you start

The portal guides you screen by screen, but there is no way back from the last step. Once you reach the "Ready to submit" page, the LTB says you cannot return to review or change the draft. You can pay and submit, or start a new application. So gather everything first:

• An email address you check daily. The LTB emails portal correspondence unless you uncheck the consent box and ask for regular mail.
• The full name of every tenant on the lease and the exact unit address, including unit number and postal code.
• A copy of the notice you gave (for an L1, the N4) and the details of how and when you gave it, which the certificate of service records.
• Your rent figures by rental period: what was charged, what was paid and what is still owed.
• A Visa or Mastercard, credit or debit, for the fee.
• Your evidence as readable files.

The LTB's L1 instructions say the application is refused if the form, the N4 copy, the certificate of service or the fee is missing. They also say to wait until the day after the termination date on the N4, and that you cannot file if the tenant has already paid the amount that voids the notice. Our L1 application walkthrough covers the form itself.

Good records make this step quick. D&D Property Management's lease management work keeps lease records, notices and rent ledgers in one place. Whether to file is always the owner's decision.

Create your Public Secure account

The portal sits behind Ontario's Public Secure login. You have two ways in.

1. My Ontario Login. You need an email address that no one else on the system already uses. The password needs at least eight characters, with one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one number and one symbol. Secret questions are optional. They let you reset the password if you lose access to your email.
2. Sign-in partner. Government Sign-In by Verified.Me lets you use your online banking login instead of a new password. If that login fails, your bank is the one to call.

Pick an email address that will stay with the rental business, not one tied to a job you may leave. Public Secure's Manage Your Account page is where you change it later.

How to log in to the LTB portal and find your file

Start from the portal page on the Tribunals Ontario website and use its link to the sign-in screen, so you land on the real service. Sign in with the method you set up. What you see next depends on how the file began.

• You filed it yourself on the portal. The file appears in your account automatically. You do not need a PIN.
• You are responding to someone else's application. The LTB emails and mails a file number and a unique one-time PIN of five digits. Choose "Link my Account to a File at LTB", enter the file number, then the PIN. Once the file is linked, the PIN is no longer needed.
• Someone is helping you. PINs cannot be shared. A representative gets their own PIN after the applicant asks for them to be added to the file.

If your file reached the LTB some other way and does not show up, ask the LTB to help. A PIN that does not work may not have been assigned to you, especially if it came from another party.

How to file with the Landlord and Tenant Board portal

Treat the portal like a checklist you finish in one sitting. Whatever the screen order, plan to do these things.

1. Sign in and start a new application. Choose the form that matches the notice you served. After an N4 for unpaid rent, that is the L1.
2. Enter the parties and the rental unit exactly as they appear on the lease and the notice.
3. Enter the rent owing by rental period and check that the total matches the figure on your N4.
4. Upload what the form asks for, such as the notice and the certificate of service.
5. Pay by Visa, Visa Debit, Mastercard or Debit Mastercard and submit.
6. Save your own copy of everything you entered and uploaded.

One caution. The LTB says documents filed with the tribunal are available to the public on request, with limited exceptions. Upload what the application needs and leave out banking details and ID numbers that have nothing to do with the claim.

Upload evidence and check your file status

After you file, log in to add evidence, submissions and requests. The LTB's Practice Direction on Evidence says to pick your file number, open "Documents, Evidence and Requests" and choose "Submissions" from the dropdown menu. Each upload can be up to 500 MB, in formats such as PDF, JPG, PNG, DOCX, XLSX, MP3 and MP4. Pages should be readable and numbered in order, with a table of contents when you send more than one item. Links to social media or other websites are not accepted, so save or print what you rely on.

Two rules catch people. First, uploading is not the same as serving the tenant. Unless the other side agreed in writing, you must also give them a copy of everything you upload. The Consent to Disclosure through Tribunals Ontario Portal form records that agreement. Second, timing: the Practice Direction sets 7 days before the hearing, or 5 days for responding material. One LTB page says 7 business days, so file early. Before an L1 or L9 hearing you must also give the LTB and the tenant an L1/L9 Information Update.

To check status, log in. The portal shows where the file stands, the date and details of the next hearing and whether an order has been issued. The LTB says it will not email answers to those questions. Our LTB hearing guide explains what comes next.

Fixing common portal login and access problems

Technical support covers login and PIN-linking trouble. It does not handle hearing scheduling, file status updates or help joining a virtual hearing. For those, use the portal itself or the LTB's own contact channels.

Landlord and Tenant Board portal questions

Do I need a PIN to file my own application on the portal?

No. When you file directly on the portal, the file is attached to your account automatically. A PIN is for other parties named on the application and for representatives. If you are responding to a tenant's application, you need the file number and the one-time PIN the LTB sent you.

Can I file every LTB form on the portal?

No. Landlords can file the L1, L2, L3, L4, L9 and L10 there. Forms such as the L5, L6, L8, A1 and A2 go by email with online payment, by mail or courier, or at a ServiceOntario centre. Notices like the N4 or N12 are given to the tenant, not filed on the portal.

Where can I search an LTB Ontario database of past orders?

The LTB posts final orders on the Ontario government's Open Data Catalogue, adding older orders in phases. Some orders from 2002 onward are on CanLII, and other orders can be requested through the Tribunals Ontario records process. Orders where confidentiality was granted are not posted.

How do I check the status of my LTB file online?

Log in to the Tribunals Ontario Portal and open your file. It shows the file status, the date and details of your next hearing and whether an order has been issued. The LTB says the portal is current and staff cannot add more detail by email, so check there before you call.

Devon Moore, Operations Lead Co-Founder & Operations Lead — D&D Property Management

Devon Moore is the co-founder and Operations Lead at D&D Property Management, managing rental properties across Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph and Waterloo Region.