Tenancy turnover on 1 September: the order that gets a GTA unit ready

A monthly tenancy in Ontario ends at the end of a monthly rental period, and the Landlord and Tenant Board's guide to the Act sets the notice at 60 days with a termination date that has to land on that period's end. For most GTA leases that means the outgoing tenant's tenancy runs to 31 August and the incoming tenant's starts on 1 September, with nothing in between. Everything below is written for whoever is responsible for the unit on that date — an owner with one rented condo, a family renting out a basement suite, or a tenant trying to leave the place in a condition nobody can charge them for.

What has to happen between 31 August and 1 September?

Four things, in a fixed order: the unit is emptied, then repaired, then cleaned, then checked. The order is fixed because each stage undoes the one before it — a plumber under a sink after the floors are done means the floors get done twice, and a fridge hauled out through a clean hallway leaves a mark on the wall. The step with no slack in it is the removal of anything large, because that date is set by the region rather than by you.

1. 1Book removals before the unit is even emptyThis is the only step with a lead time measured in weeks. Halton Region collects metal items and appliances by appointment only, and its own collection guide warns that "Collection may take 2-3 weeks from date of request." If a stove or a hot water tank is coming out, the request goes in now, not on the 31st.
2. 2Walk the unit the day it emptiesPhotograph every room before anything is touched, including inside the oven, under the sinks and the state of the floors. That set is the only record of the unit's condition at handover.
3. 3Repairs before cleaning, alwaysDrywall patching, painting, a sticking lock, a running toilet, a light fixture with no bulb. All of it makes dust or drips. Cleaning that happens before repairs is cleaning that gets paid for twice.
4. 4Clean the empty unit in one passTop to bottom, dry work before wet work, floors last, and the oven and fridge started first so they can soak while the rest of the unit is done. An empty unit is the only time cabinet interiors, closet shelves and the floor under the fridge are reachable at all.
5. 5Alarms, heat, keys, paperworkSmoke and carbon monoxide alarms tested, the furnace run for a cycle, keys and any fobs or garage remotes accounted for, and the lease copy in the new tenant's hands. These are the items that are legally yours rather than optional.

You cannot start the work while the outgoing tenant is still there

Painting a bedroom on 29 August because the tenant is "basically moved out" is not something the Act allows. The LTB's interpretation guideline on the landlord's right of entry requires written notice at least 24 hours before entry, and that notice has to state "the reason for entry; the date the landlord will enter; and the time of entry between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m." Repairs and painting are entry with notice, not entry on request.

One narrow exception matters at turnover time. Once notice of termination has been given, or the two of you have agreed the tenancy is ending, the same guideline lets a landlord enter to show the unit to prospective tenants "between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. and, before entering, the landlord informs or makes a reasonable effort to inform the tenant of the landlord's intention to enter." Showings, in other words, do not need the written 24 hours. Work on the unit still does.

Heat obligations: what starts on 1 September, and what does not

Two separate rules govern heat in a rental unit, and only one of them turns on with the calendar. The provincial one does: the LTB's guide to the Residential Tenancies Act lists the vital services a landlord "cannot shut off or interfere with", and heat is the only one with a season attached — "heat (from September 1 to June 15)". Electricity, fuel and hot or cold water carry no date at all. The second rule is municipal, and that is where the towns disagree with each other.

The practical consequence is small and worth acting on: run the furnace for a full cycle while the unit is empty and you still have days to get someone in. A system that sat off through July and August should not be tested for the first time on the evening of the 1st. In Oakville that is the exact date the 20 °C obligation begins.

Alarms are the one item Ontario ties directly to a change of tenancy

Ontario's fire safety page is blunt about it: "every home in Ontario must have a working smoke alarm on every storey and outside all sleeping areas," and "it is the landlord's responsibility to ensure their rental properties comply with the law." Non-compliance carries "a $360 ticket or fine of up to $50,000 for individuals or $100,000 for corporations." The carbon monoxide rules go further and name the moment you are in right now.

• A CO alarm is required if the home "has a fuel-burning appliance, has a fireplace, has an attached garage," and it must be installed "adjacent to each sleeping area" — the hallway or area outside the bedrooms.
• Landlords must test CO alarms "annually, when the battery is replaced, when changes are made to the electrical circuit, or a change of tenancy occurs." A turnover is one of the four listed triggers.
• Smoke alarms expire. The province's guidance is to test every month with the test button and "replace them every 10 years according to the manufacturer's instructions." The manufacture date is printed on the back of the unit — read it while the unit is empty and a ladder is already out.
• Do the alarms before the cleaning, not after. Pulling a smoke alarm off the ceiling drops dust, and a new alarm in a battery-powered model means a new battery going in at the same time.

Whatever the last tenant left behind takes longer to remove than you think

Legally the position is simpler than most people expect. Where a tenant moved out according to a notice of termination or an agreement to end the tenancy, the LTB's brochure on property left behind says "the landlord may immediately sell, keep or dispose of any property the tenant has left behind" — with the caveat that a landlord who chooses to store it must "take reasonable care to keep the tenant's property safe while storing it." The waiting periods people half-remember belong to different situations: 72 hours after a Sheriff-enforced eviction, 30 days after an abandonment. Read the brochure before assuming which one you are in.

The real constraint is the collection calendar, and it is regional.

• Halton (Oakville, Burlington, Milton): three garbage bags or cans every other week, extendable to six with tags; bulk items capped at a three item limit, collected "once every other week with your garbage"; everything at the curb "by 7 a.m. and no sooner than 5 p.m. the evening before." Metal and appliances are appointment-only and may take two to three weeks.
• Peel Region (Mississauga): the region runs a specific moving-out collection "for residents who are moving out and have extra garbage and bulky items." You provide a date, Monday to Friday only, and "garbage bag tags are not required for moving out if Waste Management is contacted in advance." Recycling, organics and yard waste are collected on the same visit. Renovation items and household hazardous waste are not.
• Anything hazardous goes nowhere near the curb. Paint, solvents, propane cylinders and the half-used chemicals under the sink need a depot, not a bag. What movers will not take, and what to do with it instead covers the categories and where each one goes.

Cleaning an empty unit: what to start first

Start the two things that clean themselves while you work: the oven and the fridge. Everything else follows the standing order — dry before wet, high before low, floors last, one room finished before the next begins. What an empty unit changes is access. The floor under the fridge, the back of the cabinet under the sink, the closet shelves and the window tracks are reachable for exactly this one week, and none of them will be reachable again until the next turnover.

1. Oven cleaner and fridge shelves out first, so the soak time overlaps with the rest of the work.
2. Empty and wipe every cabinet, drawer and closet — interiors are what a walk-through opens.
3. Light fixtures, vents and the tops of door frames, all of which drop dust onto anything cleaned before them.
4. Bathrooms and kitchen surfaces, then the inside of the windows while the rooms are still bare.
5. Floors last, in a single direction, ending at the door you plan to leave by.

What the next occupant or a landlord actually looks at during the walk-through — and where the line between damage and normal wear tends to fall — is set out in move-out cleaning in Ontario: what landlords and buyers actually check. On that point the LTB guide is precise: a tenant must keep the unit clean "up to the standard that most people would consider ordinary or normal cleanliness" and must "repair or pay for the repair of any damage," but normal wear and tear is not damage — and the rent deposit "can only be used as the rent payment for the last month or week before the tenant moves out. It cannot be used for anything else, such as repairing damage."

The outside of the property is part of the turnover

Oakville and Mississauga both publish the same number for grass, and both apply it past the property line. Mississauga requires that "turfgrass on private property and the adjoining boulevard must be cut and maintained to a height no taller than 20 centimetres." Oakville's strengthened property standards require an owner to "maintain grass, weeds, and vegetation on adjoining boulevard(s) so they do not grow higher than 20 cm" and to "keep adjoining boulevard(s) free and clear of waste." The boulevard is the strip between the sidewalk and the road. Burlington, Milton and Toronto publish their own lot maintenance rules, so check the one that governs your unit rather than borrowing a neighbouring town's figure.

Grass in the last week of August is still growing, so a cut booked two weeks ahead is not the cut the new tenant sees on arrival. Put the last cut within a few days of the handover, after the truck has finished crossing the lawn. If the property is between services, a single visit is what lawn mowing is for. Mississauga also asks that "waste containers must be stored in the backyard, side yard or garage when they're not out for pickup" — worth checking on a turnover, because bins tend to end up wherever the last person left them.

One more exterior item belongs on an August turnover list rather than an October one: the eavestroughs. A unit changing hands now meets its first serious leaf fall with whoever moves in. If the roofline has not been looked at this year, gutter cleaning and repairs is far easier to schedule while the driveway is empty and nobody's car is parked under the ladder.

The paperwork that has to exist before the keys change hands

The lease is not optional paperwork in Ontario. The province's guide states that "the standard lease is required for most residential tenancy agreements signed on or after April 30, 2018," and that "the landlord must give a copy of the agreement to the tenant within 21 days after the tenant signs it." Care homes, mobile home and land lease sites, most social and supportive housing and co-operative housing are outside it. Extra terms are allowed in the additional-terms section, but the guide is clear that "any extra term which attempts to take away a right or responsibility under the act is void." A clause banning pets or guests is one of the examples the province itself gives.

• Rent deposit: last month's rent only. It is not a damage deposit and cannot be applied to cleaning or repairs.
• Keys and access: count every key, fob, mail key and garage remote at the handover, not on the day the new tenant calls about the one that is missing.
• Condo units add a second set of rules on top of the lease — status certificate, insurance, elevator booking and time windows. Those are covered in condo move-in rules in Mississauga and Oakville.
• If a truck is involved on the 1st, the parking and elevator side of the day has its own timing problem: moving on the 1st of the month in the GTA.

When to do the turnover yourself, and when not to

Do it yourself when the outgoing tenant left the unit in ordinary condition, there is a clear day or two before the 1st, and nothing large has to leave the property. A one-bedroom that was kept reasonably clean is a long day with a bucket and a vacuum, and paying someone for that is paying for a wipe-down you could have done. The same is true of the last cut if you own a mower and the lawn is small.

The calculation changes in four situations, and each of them is about time rather than effort: a same-day turnover with no clear day in between; an appliance or furniture that has to be gone by a date the region controls; a unit that held pets, a smoker or a long tenancy where cabinet interiors have not been opened in years; and a unit that has to photograph well for a listing on the same day it is cleaned. In each of those the finish time is fixed by somebody else's date.