Key takeaways
- →Federally regulated lenders are legally required to send a renewal disclosure statement at least 21 days before maturity — that's the legal floor, not a recommended planning window.
- →Many lenders offer a rate hold well before that 21-day minimum, commonly in a 90-to-120-day range, though the exact window is set by each lender individually rather than mandated by regulation.
- →Since November 21, 2024, a straight switch of an uninsured mortgage to a new federally regulated lender no longer requires stress-test requalification, provided the loan amount and amortization don't increase — a material factor in renewal planning that didn't exist a few years ago.
- →The client conversation that prevents the worst outcomes is the one that happens well before the lender's own renewal package arrives, not after.
The single most common renewal mistake isn't choosing the wrong product — it's starting the conversation too late to have real options. A lender's own renewal statement, by law, only has to arrive 21 days before maturity, and a client who waits for that letter before thinking about their renewal has already given up most of the leverage a broker could have used on their behalf.
Here's a working timeline built around what's actually confirmed — the legal minimum notice period and the November 2024 stress-test change for switches — alongside the common (but lender-specific) rate-hold practices worth planning around.
01 · What is a lender actually required to send before a mortgage matures?
Per the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, a federally regulated lender must disclose renewal information — effectively the same information provided when applying for a new mortgage — at least 21 days before the end of the current term. The same 21-day minimum applies if the lender has decided not to renew at all.
That 21-day figure is a legal floor, not a target. Treating it as the moment renewal planning starts means a client has, at best, three weeks to shop, compare, and decide — not enough time to do any of those properly, especially if switching lenders is even a possibility.
02 · How far ahead can a client actually lock in a renewal rate?
Well before the legal 21-day minimum, most Canadian lenders open a rate-hold window that lets a client lock a renewal rate ahead of maturity — commonly somewhere in a 90-to-120-day range, though the exact number of days, and whether it can be extended, is set by each lender individually rather than mandated by any regulation. Confirm the specific lender's current rate-hold policy directly rather than assuming a single industry-wide number applies.
This window is where most of the real planning value sits: a client who engages 90 to 120 days out can compare their existing lender's renewal offer against the market with time to actually act on what they find, rather than reacting to whatever number shows up in a 21-day notice.
03 · What changed recently for a client considering switching lenders at renewal?
Effective November 21, 2024, OSFI removed the minimum qualifying rate (MQR) requirement for a straight switch of an uninsured mortgage to a new federally regulated lender — provided the loan amount and amortization don't increase. Before that change, a client switching lenders at renewal had to requalify at the stress-tested rate, which discouraged shopping the renewal even when a better rate was available elsewhere. See renewal vs. refinance in Canada for how a straight switch differs from a refinance that does still require full requalification.
Staying with the existing lender at renewal has never required MQR requalification either way — that part hasn't changed. What changed is that switching lenders on a straight basis is no longer meaningfully harder to qualify for than staying put, which removes one of the biggest structural reasons clients used to default to their existing lender without shopping.
Start the renewal conversation on your calendar, not theirs
Never let a renewal date arrive as a surprise.
Treadstone's fulfillment and marketing systems flag upcoming renewals early enough to actually act on them — not after the lender's own 21-day notice has already gone out.
04 · What does a realistic renewal-planning timeline actually look like?
| Time before maturity | What to do |
|---|---|
| 120 days | Open the conversation. Pull the current mortgage details, confirm the maturity date, and flag whether a straight switch or a refinance is the more likely path. |
| 90 days | Request the existing lender's renewal offer if available, and begin comparing against current market rates and terms elsewhere. |
| 60 days | Decide: stay and renew, or switch. If switching, begin the new lender's application and document collection with enough runway to avoid a last-minute scramble. |
| 30 days | Finalize the decision and lock the rate if not already held. Confirm funding logistics if switching lenders, including any discharge process on the existing mortgage. |
| 21 days | The legal deadline for the existing lender's renewal disclosure, if it hasn't already arrived — by this point, a well-planned file has already acted, not just received the letter. |
| 0 days (maturity) | Funds either roll to the renewed term with the existing lender or transfer to the new one, depending on the path chosen. |
05 · Why does starting the conversation early matter more than any single number in it?
A client who first hears about their renewal from a 21-day legal notice has already lost the ability to meaningfully compare offers, request documents from a new lender if switching, or negotiate from a position of having options. None of the specific numbers in this article — the rate-hold window, the switch rules — matter if the conversation starts too late to use them.
Building renewal outreach into a broker's calendar well ahead of the 90-to-120-day rate-hold window, rather than waiting for a client to raise it, is the single highest-leverage habit in this entire timeline.
Frequently asked questions
This article is general information to help you scale — not a substitute for tailored advice on your specific business, licensing, or compliance obligations. All figures are illustrative examples for planning purposes; actual costs vary by province, market, and brokerage.