Sublease Agreement Canada | RTA s.97, s.34 & s.22 Rules

In Canadian tenancy law, a sublease is a transfer of possession for less than the tenant's full remaining interest. The original tenant keeps what lawyers call the reversion: a slice of the term, sometimes a single day, that returns to them before the head lease ends. That retained interest separates a sublet from an assignment. With an assignment, the tenant hands over the whole remaining term and leaves; with a sublet, the tenant intends to come back. The subtenant has no contract with the head landlord; their rights run against the tenant alone. A sublease agreement that covers every remaining day of the term is therefore treated as an assignment, with very different consequences for liability.

Two neighbouring documents are often confused with it. The residential tenancy agreement for Canadian provinces is the head lease itself, signed directly between owner and tenant. A roommate agreement between co-tenants governs people who share a unit and are all on the lease, and it is enforced as an ordinary contract rather than under tenancy legislation. A partial sublease, where the tenant rents out one bedroom while still living in the unit, raises its own questions, because tribunals often treat the newcomer as a roommate or occupant rather than a true subtenant.

Residential subletting is governed province by province. In Ontario, the governing text is the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 17, which defines the subtenant in section 2(1) and sets the core rules in sections 97 to 104. British Columbia relies on the Residential Tenancy Act, S.B.C. 2002, c. 78, chiefly section 34, read with Residential Tenancy Policy Guideline 19. Alberta applies section 22 of the Residential Tenancies Act, S.A. 2004, c. R-17.1. The common denominator is landlord consent, which in most situations cannot be refused without reasonable grounds. A clause in the head lease that flatly prohibits subletting does not override the statutory right where the legislation protects it.

No notarization or registration is required, but form still matters. Alberta's section 22(1) declares a sublease invalid without written consent, and British Columbia's section 34(1) sets the same writing rule. Ontario's section 97 does not require writing, yet a tenant relying on verbal approval is exposed before the Landlord and Tenant Board if the landlord later denies it. Because the tenant becomes a landlord toward the subtenant, the provincial deposit and inspection rules also govern the sublease agreement itself. The B.C. government guide to subletting and assigning a residential tenancy shows how these consent rules work in practice.

Commercial premises follow a different track. A commercial sublease is governed by the head lease and the common law, supplemented in Ontario by section 23(1) of the Commercial Tenancies Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L.7, which reads a covenant against subletting without consent as subject to a proviso that consent will not be unreasonably withheld, unless the lease expressly says otherwise. Quebec stands apart: as a civil-law jurisdiction, it regulates subleases through articles 1870 to 1876 of the Civil Code of Québec, and this template is drafted for the common-law provinces.

The textbook case is the temporary relocation. A tenant in Toronto takes an eight-month contract in Calgary and does not want to give up a unit at a rent impossible to find again. Students form the second large group, with a wave of summer sublets every spring in university towns. In both cases the tenant stays liable for rent and damage, so the subtenant has to be chosen and documented carefully.

On the commercial side, businesses with more space than they need often sublease part of their premises to another company after a downsizing or a shift to hybrid work. Those arrangements usually sit alongside other Canadian business contract templates, such as service or confidentiality agreements between the two companies.

Two edge cases deserve a mention. A tenant in rent-geared-to-income housing often cannot sublet at all: British Columbia expressly exempts certain public housing bodies from the duty to consider sublet requests reasonably. And a tenant planning to list the unit on a short-term rental platform is subletting in law, which brings the landlord's consent rules and municipal bylaws into play; in British Columbia, the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act adds a principal residence requirement in many communities.

• The identification of the parties and the head lease names the tenant as sublandlord, each adult subtenant and the head landlord, and refers to the original lease by date and address. Every occupancy term of the head lease, from pet rules to condominium bylaws, binds the subtenant.
• The sublease term sets a fixed start date and an end date that falls before the head lease expires. That gap protects the tenant's reversion and keeps the arrangement from being recharacterized as an assignment.
• The rent and deposit clause fixes the monthly amount, the due date and the payment method, and it caps any deposit at the provincial limit. In practice that means a rent deposit only in Ontario under section 106, since the province does not allow damage deposits, and no more than half a month's rent as a security deposit in British Columbia under section 19 of the Residential Tenancy Act.
• The landlord consent clause records the head landlord's approval, signed and dated, on an annexed consent page. The sublease is expressly conditional on that consent.
• The damage and liability allocation makes the subtenant answerable to the tenant for damage beyond normal wear and tear, backed by a condition inspection at move-in and move-out signed by both. It also deals with tenant insurance, since the tenant's own policy rarely covers a subtenant's belongings or liability.
• The termination and holdover provision covers the end of the term, early termination for non-payment and the method for serving notices. If the relationship breaks down, the tenant can follow up with a notice to end a tenancy drafted to provincial rules instead of improvising one.

Ontario gives tenants the strongest statutory footing. Under section 97(1) of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, a tenant may sublet with the landlord's consent, and section 97(2) bars any arbitrary or unreasonable refusal. The landlord may recover only reasonable out-of-pocket expenses under section 97(3), such as a credit check, never an administration fee. Under section 97(5), the subtenant has no right to remain once the subtenancy ends. An unreasonable refusal can be challenged under section 98 with Form A2 before the Landlord and Tenant Board. The 60-day window is strict: if a subtenant overholds, the landlord or the tenant must apply under section 101 within 60 days after the subtenancy ends, failing which section 104 can turn the occupant into an assignee of the tenancy.

British Columbia offers narrower protection. Section 34(1) of the Residential Tenancy Act bars any sublet without written consent, and the duty not to refuse unreasonably under section 34(2) applies only to fixed-term tenancies with six months or more remaining. Section 34(3) forbids any charge for considering or granting consent, and an unreasonable refusal can be overridden by the Residential Tenancy Branch under section 65(1)(g). Policy Guideline 19 requires the sublease to end before the tenant's own tenancy, even by a single day. As sublandlord, the tenant must also complete the condition inspection reports required by sections 23 and 35, or lose the right to claim against the deposit for damage under sections 24 and 36.

Alberta places its rule in section 22 of the Residential Tenancies Act. Under section 22(1), no sublease is valid without the landlord's written consent, and section 22(2) requires reasonable grounds for any refusal. Section 22(4) adds a rule many tenants overlook: a landlord who does not answer a request within 14 days of receiving it is deemed to have consented. A landlord who refuses must give written reasons under section 22(5). Disputes go to the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service, and the security deposit taken from the subtenant cannot exceed one month's rent.

Quebec follows the Civil Code of Québec. Under article 1870, the tenant must notify the landlord of the proposed sublet with the sublessee's name and address, and article 1871 allows a refusal only for a serious reason, given within fifteen days, failing which consent is deemed given. A Quebec sublet therefore calls for a civil-law document, with disputes heard by the Tribunal administratif du logement.

You start by selecting the province where the rental unit is located, which sets the consent wording, the deposit limits and the statutory references used throughout the document. Next you enter the details of the head lease: the landlord's name, the address of the unit, the date of the original agreement and the date it ends. The sublet term you choose must finish before that date, even by a single day, so that you keep the reversion.

The following screens cover the subtenant, the rent, the payment method and the deposit. For a partial sublet, you describe the room and the shared areas. You then decide how damage is handled, whether the subtenant must carry tenant insurance, and which furniture or appliances are included.

The final step produces the agreement and the landlord consent page. Send the consent page to the landlord first, collect the signature, and only then sign with the subtenant. In Alberta, keep proof of the date your request was received, since the 14-day clock runs from it.

The most frequent mistake is signing with the subtenant before the landlord has approved anything. In Alberta the sublease is then invalid, and in every province an unauthorized sublet gives the landlord a ground to end the head tenancy. The second is setting a sublet end date identical to the expiry of the head lease, which turns the deal into an assignment and can strip the tenant of the right to return. The third is overcharging: Ontario's section 134(3) bars a tenant from charging a subtenant more than the lawful rent, and landlords elsewhere routinely cite a profit motive when refusing consent.

The remaining errors concern evidence and money. Tenants carry deposit habits from one province to another and collect a damage deposit in Ontario, where the law allows none, or more than half a month's rent in British Columbia. Others skip the condition inspection and cannot later prove what the subtenant damaged. Insurance is the last blind spot. Check both policies before the keys change hands, because a water leak during a sublet ends up argued over by three parties and two insurers.