After a tenant completes a one-year residential lease, can a landlord legally require them to sign another fixed-term agreement or vacate the property?
Short answer (in Ontario): No — the tenant does not have to sign another one-year lease, and the landlord generally cannot require them to move out just because the fixed term ended.
Here’s how it works under Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act:
✅ What happens when the one-year lease ends
When a tenant signs a one-year residential lease, at the end of that year:
- The tenancy automatically continues on a month-to-month basis, and
- All the same terms and conditions stay in force (rent, rules, responsibilities, etc.),
- No new lease is required.
This happens by operation of law. Nothing needs to be signed.
❌ What the landlord cannot do
A landlord cannot:
- Force the tenant to sign a new one-year lease, or
- Say “sign another year or move out,” unless they have a lawful ground for termination (for example: N12 for own use, N13 for demolition/renovation, etc., with proper notice and compensation where required).
Simply reaching the end of the fixed term is not a legal reason to evict.
✅ What is allowed
- The landlord may offer a new fixed-term lease (for stability),
- The tenant is free to accept or decline, and
- If the tenant declines, the tenancy just continues month-to-month.
That’s it.
No penalty. No eviction just for saying no.
Practical example
Tenant signs:
👉 May 1, 2025 – April 30, 2026 (one-year lease)
On May 1, 2026:
- Tenant automatically becomes month-to-month.
- Landlord cannot require a new one-year lease.
- Landlord cannot require vacancy just because the year ended.
One important exception (for completeness)
If the unit is in a building first occupied after Nov 15, 2018, rent control rules are different — but security of tenure still applies. Even there, the landlord still can’t evict just because the lease term ended.
Bottom line
In Ontario:
👉 Fixed-term lease ends = tenancy continues month-to-month.
👉 Tenant does NOT have to sign another one-year lease.
👉 Landlord cannot force them out for refusing.
Written by Rodney Harvey, Broker of Record at Konfidis, Brokerage providing advisory-focused commercial, industrial, investment, and real estate brokerage services across Oshawa, Durham Region, and Ontario.
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