Sell a Tenanted Rental Property — With the Tenancy in Place — Cash Offer in 24 Hours

Ontario landlords end a tenancy through a written notice on a form prescribed by the Landlord and Tenant Board. The N4 is for non-payment of rent (14 days for monthly tenancies, voidable if the tenant pays); the N5 is for interference, damage, or overcrowding (with a void period); the N6 is for an illegal act; the N7 is for serious wilful damage or threats; the N8 is for persistent late payment; the N11 is the agreement to terminate signed by both landlord and tenant; the N12 is for the landlord's, immediate family member's, or purchaser's own use, requiring 60 days notice and one month's rent compensation. If the notice does not resolve the file, the landlord files an L1, L2, L3, or L9 application with the LTB. Without the right form and the right grounds, the eviction will not stick.

There is no fast eviction in Ontario. The shortest path — non-payment of rent — runs N4 (14 days) plus L1 application plus LTB hearing scheduling, plus the order, plus enforcement through the Court Enforcement Office (Sheriff). LTB hearing wait times have been a structural backlog issue for several years; many landlords wait months from filing to hearing on routine arrears applications. End-to-end timelines for an arrears file frequently run six to twelve months or longer. Selling tenanted to an investor cash buyer who will assume the tenancy and any open LTB application is often faster than waiting the eviction out.

LTB scheduling and decision timelines have been a structural backlog issue for several years. Wait times from filing to hearing vary by application type and region but routinely run multiple months. After the hearing, written orders are typically issued within weeks. Enforcement of an order against a non-vacating tenant adds further time through the Court Enforcement Office (Sheriff). The LTB publishes current scheduling information on its Tribunals Ontario page; current wait times should be confirmed there before relying on any specific number.

It depends on whether the relationship was a residential tenancy under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 or a domestic / family-property arrangement. If the common-law partner was a tenant who paid rent under a tenancy agreement, the standard LTB notices (N4 for arrears, N5 for interference, etc.) apply. If the relationship was a cohabitation arrangement without a formal tenancy, removal is a family-law matter — applications under the Family Law Act for exclusive possession, partition and sale, or related relief through the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The line between the two is fact-specific. Talk to a family lawyer or a paralegal experienced in residential tenancy matters before serving any notice or filing.

Squatters' rights — the legal doctrine of adverse possession — allow a person who occupies land openly and continuously for a long enough period (without permission and to the exclusion of the registered owner) to claim title. Alberta's Land Titles Act has effectively eliminated adverse possession against titled land — once a property is registered under Land Titles, a squatter cannot defeat the registered owner's title by occupation alone. Ontario, by contrast, retained limited adverse possession claims for the small number of properties still under the Registry system rather than Land Titles, but the practical effect is narrow. "Squatters' rights" in everyday use usually refers to a tenant or unauthorized occupant who refuses to leave — that is a Residential Tenancies Act matter, handled through the LTB or RTDRS, not through adverse possession.

Yes. In both provinces a residential tenancy survives a sale of the property. The buyer steps into the landlord position by operation of statute (section 47 of Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act, 2006; comparable provisions in Alberta's RTA). The lease, the existing rent, any deposit (last month's rent deposit in Ontario, security deposit in Alberta), and any open tribunal applications transfer with the title. The tenant's rights are unaffected by the change of landlord.

No. Eviction is not a prerequisite to selling a tenanted property. Many investor-buyers — including direct cash buyers — purchase residential rentals with the tenancy assumed at closing. If a future buyer (or their immediate family) genuinely intends to occupy the unit, an N12 in Ontario or a 90-day-on-sale notice in Alberta can be used by the buyer post-closing, with the conditions and compensation that each statute requires.

An N12 is the Ontario form used to end a residential tenancy because the landlord, the landlord's immediate family member, or a purchaser (with a signed Agreement of Purchase and Sale for residential occupancy) intends in good faith to occupy the unit. Notice is 60 days, with one month's rent compensation paid to the tenant at or before the termination date. The person named on the N12 must occupy the unit for at least 12 months — RTA section 48.1 imposes penalties of up to 12 months' rent for bad-faith N12s.

In Ontario, the landlord serves an N4 (Notice to End the Tenancy Early for Non-payment of Rent) — 14 days for monthly tenancies, 7 days for daily/weekly. The notice is voided if the tenant pays the arrears within the notice period. If unpaid, the landlord files an L1 application at the LTB. In Alberta, the landlord serves a 14-day notice for substantial breach (which includes non-payment of rent) under the RTA. If the tenant does not vacate, the landlord applies to the RTDRS or the Alberta Court of Justice.

LTB scheduling timelines have been a structural backlog issue for several years — landlords routinely report waits of many months from filing to hearing on routine arrears or termination applications. Specific wait times vary by file type and region; the LTB publishes current scheduling information on its Tribunals Ontario page. Many landlords sell tenanted rather than wait — which is exactly the gap a direct cash sale fills.

RTDRS hearings are scheduled significantly faster than the LTB — often within weeks of filing for routine matters, depending on RTDRS workload. RTDRS has a monetary jurisdiction limit; matters above that limit (or where the parties prefer a court process) go to the Alberta Court of Justice. The faster timeline is one reason Alberta tenanted-property files often resolve through the tribunal before sale becomes necessary.

The deposit and any accrued interest follow the tenancy. In Ontario, the last month's rent deposit (with interest at the rent-increase guideline rate per RTA section 106) gets credited from seller to buyer at closing — the buyer's lawyer holds the deposit forward as the new landlord. In Alberta, the security deposit (with interest under the Security Deposit Interest Rate Regulation) is transferred to the new landlord, who holds it in trust per the RTA. The closing lawyer documents the assignment.

Yes. Open landlord-tenant applications do not block the sale of the property. The application stays with the original landlord up to closing; after closing, the new landlord decides whether to continue, settle, or withdraw the application. A direct cash buyer can take the property with the application active and decide post-closing — the closing lawyer documents the assignment of the file as part of completion.

Cash-for-keys is a voluntary agreement where the landlord pays the tenant a sum of money in exchange for the tenant surrendering the tenancy. It is legal in both Ontario and Alberta. In Ontario, the parties sign Form N11 (Agreement to End the Tenancy) along with a release. In Alberta, a written termination agreement signed by both parties accomplishes the same. The amount is negotiated — it is often economically rational where the alternative is a months-long LTB hearing followed by a Sheriff enforcement.

Yes. Closing documents can be signed remotely with a notary in your province (or country) or via video commissioning where the closing lawyer's protocol allows it. Out-of-province landlords are common — particularly investors who bought into Alberta or Ontario rental markets and now want out without flying back. The transaction still closes through a licensed Alberta or Ontario real estate lawyer, who handles title, deposit assignment, and the funds transfer.

Squatters' rights — properly called adverse possession — almost never apply to actively rented residential property. In Ontario, the Land Titles Act has eliminated adverse possession for properties registered in Land Titles (the vast majority of properties), and even on remaining Registry-system parcels the test requires 10 years of open, continuous, exclusive, and adverse possession. In Alberta, the Limitations Act and Land Titles Act effectively eliminated new adverse possession claims for Land Titles parcels in 1989. What landlords sometimes call a squatter is usually an overholding tenant — someone who stayed past the end of a lease — and that's a tenancy issue handled through the LTB in Ontario or RTDRS in Alberta, not an adverse possession issue. A property with an overholding occupant gets purchased the same way as any tenanted property: existing occupancy gets assumed at closing and factored into the offer.