Ontario's 2027 Rent Increase Guideline
Is 1.9%
On Mississauga's average rent, that's $44.50 more a month. Here's the exact math by neighbourhood, the November 2018 rule that exempts much of the city's newest stock, and the notice deadline that lands on October 3.
In this article
Ontario has set the 2027 rent increase guideline at 1.9%. On Mississauga's average rent of $2,342 a month, that works out to $44.50 more per month, or $533.98 over a full year — and it is the most a landlord can raise your rent in 2027 without going to the Landlord and Tenant Board first.
That's if the cap covers you at all, which is the part most renters get wrong. The guideline does not apply to any unit first occupied for residential purposes after November 15, 2018. It does not apply between tenancies — the day you move out, the rent resets to whatever the market will pay. And it does not apply if the landlord wins an above-guideline order. The 1.9% is a ceiling for sitting tenants in older buildings, which is a narrower group than the headline suggests.
1.9%, for any increase taking effect on or after January 1, 2027. Down from 2.1% in 2026 and the lowest guideline since 2022. Your landlord has to give you 90 days' written notice on the Board's Form N1, and can only raise the rent once every 12 months. For a January 1 increase, that notice has to be in your hands by October 3, 2026.
Where 1.9% Comes From
The guideline isn't a policy choice made fresh each year. It's a formula: the average of the Ontario Consumer Price Index's monthly year-over-year changes across a June-to-May window, then capped at 2.5% so that a single inflationary year can't hand tenants a double-digit increase.
That cap matters more than it looks. For three consecutive years — 2023, 2024 and 2025 — the guideline printed at exactly 2.5%, which is what happens when the formula runs hot and the ceiling does the work instead. In those years, tenants in rent-controlled units were effectively getting a real-terms rent cut, because the cap held their increase below actual inflation. 2026 was the first year since 2022 that the formula, rather than the ceiling, set the number. 2027 is the second, and it is lower again.
| Year | Guideline | What set it |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | 1.9% | Formula — lowest since 2022 |
| 2026 | 2.1% | Formula — first year off the cap since 2022 |
| 2025 | 2.5% | Capped |
| 2024 | 2.5% | Capped |
| 2023 | 2.5% | Capped |
| 2022 | 1.2% | Formula |
| 2021 | 0% | Legislated freeze |
| 2020 | 2.2% | Formula |
| 2019 | 1.8% | Formula |
| 2018 | 1.8% | Formula |
One clarification on timing, because it trips people up: 1.9% is not "the 2027 calendar-year rate" in the sense of starting in January. It applies to any increase that takes effect on or after January 1, 2027. If your rent anniversary falls in July, your July 2027 increase uses 1.9%, and the notice for it arrives in the spring.
1.9% in Mississauga Dollars
The percentage is provincial. The dollar figure is not. Below is 1.9% applied to the average rent in each Mississauga neighbourhood we track, using the same August 2026 figures behind our renter's guide to Mississauga.
| Neighbourhood | Avg. rent now | +1.9%/mo | New rent | Over 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Port Credit | $2,129 | $40.45 | $2,169.45 | $485.41 |
| Cooksville | $2,200 | $41.80 | $2,241.80 | $501.60 |
| Lakeview | $2,239 | $42.54 | $2,281.54 | $510.49 |
| Sheridan | $2,264 | $43.02 | $2,307.02 | $516.19 |
| City Centre | $2,280 | $43.32 | $2,323.32 | $519.84 |
| Applewood | $2,295 | $43.61 | $2,338.61 | $523.26 |
| City average | $2,342 | $44.50 | $2,386.50 | $533.98 |
| Malton | $2,400 | $45.60 | $2,445.60 | $547.20 |
| Creditview | $2,450 | $46.55 | $2,496.55 | $558.60 |
| Fairview | $2,495 | $47.41 | $2,542.41 | $568.86 |
| Central Erin Mills | $2,500 | $47.50 | $2,547.50 | $570.00 |
| Meadowvale | $2,675 | $50.82 | $2,725.83 | $609.90 |
Read that table as a scale, not as your bill. The guideline applies to your current lawful rent, not to your neighbourhood's average — so find the row closest to what you actually pay and use it as a reference point. If you pay $1,850 in an older Cooksville walk-up, your 2027 increase is $35.15 a month, not $41.80.
The drop from 2.1% to 1.9% is worth about $56 a year
It is a smaller win than the headline implies. On the city average, the difference between last year's 2.1% guideline and this year's 1.9% is $4.70 a month — $56.38 over a year. Useful, but not the number that decides your housing budget.
A full year of the 2027 guideline costs the average Mississauga renter $533.98. The gap between the city's cheapest and priciest neighbourhoods is $546 — a month. Rent control governs what happens if you stay put. Where you sign is still the decision with an order of magnitude more money in it. Our rent and income matcher shows which neighbourhoods your income actually covers.
Who the 1.9% Cap Doesn't Cover
This is the section worth reading twice, because the exemption that catches the most Mississauga renters is invisible from inside the apartment. Nothing about the unit itself tells you which side of the line it sits on.
Units first occupied after November 15, 2018 have no cap at all. That covers new buildings, additions to existing buildings, and most new basement apartments. If your unit was first occupied for residential purposes after that date, your landlord can propose 10%, or 20%, with the same 90 days' written notice — the guideline simply does not apply. This is not a loophole being exploited; it is how the rule was written in 2018, and it is permanent for those units.
It matters disproportionately here. Mississauga's newest rental supply sits in exactly the places renters have been moving toward: the City Centre towers around Square One, the Hurontario corridor ahead of the Hazel McCallion LRT, and the investor-owned condo units that have been absorbing demand since 2024. A 1970s high-rise in Cooksville is almost certainly capped. A tower that opened in 2021 near Square One almost certainly is not.
Ask the landlord in writing, before you sign: "When was this unit first occupied for residential purposes?" Put it in an email so the answer exists on paper. A building's age is a clue but not proof — an addition to an old building, or a basement unit created in 2020 inside a 1960s house, can be exempt while the rest of the property is capped. If the answer is evasive, treat the unit as uncapped and price it that way.
Three more gaps, briefly:
- Between tenancies. When one tenancy ends and a new one begins, the landlord and the new tenant negotiate rent from scratch. There is no cap on the reset. This is why a long tenancy in a capped unit is worth real money, and why an annual guideline is a weaker protection than it sounds in a market with high turnover.
- Community housing, long-term care homes, and commercial property. All sit outside the guideline, each under its own rules.
- Above-guideline orders. Covered in Section 05 — a capped unit can still legally exceed 1.9% if the Board approves it.
90 Days, Form N1, Once Every 12 Months
A rent increase is not valid because your landlord says it is. Three conditions have to be met, and if any one of them fails, the increase can be disputed at the Landlord and Tenant Board.
- Written notice in the proper form. That is the Board's Form N1, Notice of Rent Increase. A text message, a plain letter, or a verbal heads-up is not the proper form.
- At least 90 days before it takes effect. Ninety days is a minimum, not a fixed date — a landlord may serve notice earlier, and many do.
- At least 12 months since the last increase or since the tenancy began, whichever is more recent.
Because the 90 days counts backward from the effective date, the deadline moves with your rent anniversary. If your increase is scheduled for January 1, 2027, notice has to reach you by October 3, 2026 — about six weeks from now. Here is the full year:
| If your increase takes effect | Notice must be served by |
|---|---|
| January 1, 2027 | October 3, 2026 |
| February 1, 2027 | November 3, 2026 |
| March 1, 2027 | December 1, 2026 |
| April 1, 2027 | January 1, 2027 |
| May 1, 2027 | January 31, 2027 |
| June 1, 2027 | March 3, 2027 |
| July 1, 2027 | April 2, 2027 |
| August 1, 2027 | May 3, 2027 |
| September 1, 2027 | June 3, 2027 |
| October 1, 2027 | July 3, 2027 |
| November 1, 2027 | August 3, 2027 |
| December 1, 2027 | September 2, 2027 |
You have 12 months from the date the amount was first charged to dispute it at the Landlord and Tenant Board. That window is generous by design — plenty of tenants only realise an increase was defective months after they started paying it. Check the served date, the form, and the percentage against your current lawful rent before you assume the number is final.
When a Capped Unit Legally Goes Over 1.9%
The landlord of a rent-controlled unit can apply to the Board for more than the guideline. There are exactly three grounds, and the ceiling on two of them is what turns 1.9% into a potential 4.9%.
| Ground | Annual cap above the guideline | Max in 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Capital expenditures | 3% — remainder carries into the next two 12-month periods | 4.9% |
| Security services | 3% — same carry-forward rule | 4.9% |
| Extraordinary municipal taxes | No cap | No limit |
The carry-forward is the part worth understanding. If the Board approves an increase larger than 3% above the guideline for capital work, the landlord does not lose the remainder — it can be taken in the following two 12-month periods, at up to 3% above the guideline each year. Approved capital work can therefore raise your rent for three consecutive years. On the city average of $2,342, a first-year 4.9% increase is $114.76 a month rather than $44.50.
The municipal taxes ground carries no percentage limit, but "extraordinary" is a legal test with a specific meaning at the Board — it is not satisfied by the fact that a tax bill went up. Mississauga's 2026 residential property tax rose 5.21% in total once the City's 1.61% share and the Region of Peel's 3.60% were combined, and an ordinary annual increase of that kind is not what the provision is aimed at.
A landlord's application is not an increase. Tenants do not have to pay a proposed above-guideline amount unless the Board approves it in an order. You can attend the hearing, submit evidence, question the claimed costs, and raise outstanding maintenance problems — unresolved maintenance issues can result in the application being dismissed.
New in Mississauga on September 1
The guideline is provincial. The other thing changing for Mississauga renters this fall is entirely municipal, and it takes effect within days of this being published.
Council passed the Rental Repairs and Renovations Licensing By-law on April 1, 2026, and it applies to any N13 notice — the notice a landlord uses to end a tenancy for major repairs or renovations — issued on or after September 1, 2026. It exists because the N13 process has been used to clear tenants out of below-market units under cover of renovation work.
Under the by-law, a landlord who issues an N13 must apply to the City for a licence within seven days. To get it, they have to show the work genuinely requires the unit to be vacant, hold a valid building permit, and have given tenants the required notices. Renovation work cannot begin until both the building permit and the City licence are in place.
For tenants, the by-law adds City money on top of what the province already requires. Eligible tenants get a one-time Moving Contribution. If you move out temporarily and intend to come back, you also get monthly top-up payments while you are gone. And your rent cannot be raised beyond what it would have been had you never left — the renovation does not reset it.
Underneath that sits the compensation the Residential Tenancies Act requires, which depends on how big the building is:
| Building size | If you intend to move back in | If you don't |
|---|---|---|
| 5 or more units | Rent for the duration of the work, to a maximum of 3 months' rent | 3 months' rent, or another acceptable unit |
| 1 to 4 units | Rent for the duration of the work, to a maximum of 1 month's rent | 1 month's rent, or another acceptable unit |
If you want to move back in after the work is done — at a rent no higher than what could lawfully have been charged had you never left — you must tell your landlord in writing, before you vacate, and keep them updated in writing if your address changes. Miss that step and the unit can be re-rented at market rate, which in a capped building is the entire point of the exercise.
The City has not published the dollar value of the Moving Contribution or the top-up payments on its program pages. Confirm your own amounts with the City at 311 (905-615-4311 from outside Mississauga) before agreeing to anything. Separately, Mississauga's Rental Housing Protection By-law — first enacted in 2019 and since updated — covers tenants displaced by redevelopment across roughly 360 rental buildings with six or more units.
Your Checklist
Email your landlord and ask when the unit was first occupied for residential purposes. After November 15, 2018 means no cap and no 1.9% — everything below still applies except the percentage.
Multiply your current lawful rent by 0.019. That is the monthly increase; multiply by 12 for the annual cost. Anything above it needs either an exemption or a Board order behind it.
It has to be Form N1, served at least 90 days before the effective date, and at least 12 months after your last increase. A January 1, 2027 increase served after October 3, 2026 is late.
The clock runs from the date the amount was first charged, not from the date of the notice. Start at the Landlord and Tenant Board, and bring the notice itself.
An application to the Board is not an approval. If you get notice of an AGI application, attend the hearing — maintenance problems you raise there can sink it.
Your landlord has seven days to apply, and work cannot start without both the licence and a building permit. Call 311 to verify one exists before you start packing.
$533.98 a year is roughly a quarter of one month's rent at the city average. Moving to save $200 a month is worth far more than fighting a lawful 1.9% — but only if you are moving into something you are happy to sit in for years, because the reset works both ways. Compare with our neighbourhood rent rankings.
Check it yourself — primary sources
Every figure in this article comes from the Government of Ontario, the Landlord and Tenant Board, or the City of Mississauga. Use the links below to verify your own situation.