A rent-controlled unit is an Ontario rental subject to the annual guideline cap on rent increases — but a large and growing share of the province's rental stock is legally exempt from that cap entirely.
Ontario’s posted rent increase guideline is calculated from the provincial Consumer Price Index using data from June to May of the prior year, but the figure is itself capped at 2.5% regardless of what CPI would otherwise justify. The recent history: 2024 and 2025 both landed at the 2.5% ceiling; 2026 is 2.1%. A landlord must give at least 90 days' notice before the increase date, on the LTB's prescribed form.
The exemption is the fact an agent needs most: “New buildings, additions to existing buildings and most new basement apartments that are occupied for the first time for residential purposes after November 15, 2018 are exempt from rent control.” A separate provincial guidance page adds that “Many of the rules about rent do not apply to some types of rentals, such as university and college residences and commercial properties.”
Rent control isn't the ceiling on every increase, even within a controlled tenancy — a landlord with the right grounds can still apply for an above-guideline increase on top of the standard cap.
A landlord owns two similar one-bedroom units in the same building: one was first occupied in 2015, so it is rent-controlled and its next increase is capped at the 2026 guideline of 2.1% with 90 days' notice; the other was first occupied in March 2019 — after November 15, 2018 — so it is exempt from the guideline entirely, and the landlord can set the increase without that statutory cap.
See also: Above-guideline increase · N12 notice
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