| EI rates and rent increase for 2025 |
| As 2025 approaches, it’s time to look ahead at some upcoming changes that will affect workers and tenants in Ontario. |
| New EI rates for 2025 |
| The highest amount that workers can get from Employment Insurance (EI) goes up on January 1, 2025. |
| Type of EI benefit | 2025 highest amount | 2024 highest amount |
|---|
| Regular, sickness, caregiving, maternity, and standard parental benefits | $695 a week | $668 a week | | Extended parental benefits | $417 a week | $401 a week |
|
| People can apply for EI online or at a Service Canada office. It usually takes more than 4 weeks for Service Canada to review an application and start paying benefits. |
| Rent increases |
| The rules about rent increases are complicated. To learn which rules apply to them, tenants need to know if: |
- they’re covered by the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA)
- they have an agreement with their landlord to add extra services or space
- their landlord has applied for a rent increase above the annual guideline
|
| They also need to know the age of the building or unit that they live in. |
| General rule about rent increases |
| For tenants protected by the RTA, a landlord must wait 12 months after the tenant moves in before raising the rent. And they can raise the rent only once every 12 months after that. |
| A landlord must also give the tenant written notice of the rent increase at least 90 days before the day the rent goes up. |
| For example, tenants whose rents are going up on January 1, 2025, should have received their written notice no later than October 3, 2024. |
| Landlords should use one of the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) rent increase forms. The most common form is the Form N1: Notice of Rent Increase. |
| If a landlord uses their own notice, it must have all the information that’s on the LTB form. |
| Rent increase guideline |
| For most tenants covered by the RTA, there’s a limit to how much their rent can increase each year. This is called the rent increase guideline or the guideline. |
| The guideline is set each year by the Government of Ontario. In 2025, it’s 2.5%. |
| Age of the building or unit |
| For some tenants covered by the RTA, a landlord can increase the rent by any amount, unless the rental agreement says something different. But a landlord can still raise the rent only once every 12 months. |
| This affects the following types of housing if no one lived there on or before November 15, 2018: |
|
| And it affects tenants who live in a self-contained apartment in a house that was created after November 15, 2018. But this is true only if the house had no more than 2 units before that date and either: |
- the owner lived in another part of the house when the unit was created, or
- the new apartment was created in what had been an unfinished space, like a basement or attic.
|
| Special rules |
| There are 2 other situations when a landlord can increase the rent by an amount higher than the guideline: |
|
| Tenants not covered by the RTA |
| Some tenants are not protected by the RTA at all. For example, this includes tenants who must share a kitchen or bathroom with their landlord, or the landlord’s spouse, parent, or child. |
| Those tenants should check what their rental agreement says about rent increases. If the agreement does not say anything, their landlord can increase the rent by any amount and at any time. |
| Getting legal help |
| It’s a good idea for tenants to get legal help if: |
- their landlord wants to raise the rent above the rent increase guideline, or
- they believe their landlord did not give them enough notice about the increase.
|
| Community legal clinics can help tenants who have low incomes. |
| And Steps to Justice lists more legal services for tenants. |
