How to Get Your Deposit or Last Month's Rent Back

What you're actually entitled to get back

A last month's rent deposit is generally meant to be applied to your actual last month of tenancy, not held indefinitely as a general security deposit. In most cases, Ontario law generally does not allow a landlord to collect a separate damage deposit at all, so if your landlord is holding something described that way, it is often really a last month's rent deposit regardless of the label used.

Our guide on rent deposits in Ontario explained covers how these deposits generally need to be treated, including the interest a landlord is generally required to pay on it annually. If you've already moved out and the landlord has not applied, returned, or accounted for the deposit, you are generally entitled to ask for it back, along with any accrued interest owed.

There are generally two common scenarios tenants find themselves in. The first is where the tenancy ended cleanly — rent was fully paid up to the move-out date, and the deposit should simply have been applied as the final month's rent or refunded if it wasn't needed for that purpose. The second, somewhat more complicated, is where the landlord claims the tenant still owes money for damage, cleaning, or something else entirely unrelated to rent, and is treating the deposit as covering that instead. Understanding which situation you're in generally shapes how you frame your request, since the first is usually a straightforward accounting issue and the second often requires explaining why a damage-style deduction isn't a valid basis for withholding this specific deposit.

Step 1: Confirm what's owed and gather your documentation

Before contacting the landlord, it's worth pinning down exactly what you believe you're owed and why. Taking the time to do this calculation carefully, in writing, before you reach out tends to make the whole process faster, since it gives the landlord a specific figure to respond to rather than a general complaint.

1. Locate your lease and any receipt showing the deposit amount originally paid.
2. Calculate the interest the landlord generally owes on the deposit for each year it was held, since Ontario law generally requires annual interest at a set rate tied to the rent increase guideline.
3. Confirm the date your tenancy actually ended and whether the deposit was supposed to be applied to your final month's rent, refunded, or otherwise accounted for.
4. Gather any written communication with the landlord about the deposit, including move-in and move-out records, photos, or emails.
5. If you're unsure how to calculate the interest owed, our rent deposits guide includes the general method, and working through it before contacting the landlord can save a round of back-and-forth later.

Step 2: Make a clear, written request to the landlord

A direct, written request is generally the fastest and simplest way to resolve this, and it also creates a paper trail that will matter later if the landlord still doesn't pay.

1. Send a written request (email is generally fine, though a letter works too) stating the deposit amount, the interest owed, and the total you're asking to be paid.
2. Set a reasonable deadline for a response, and keep a copy of what you sent.
3. If the landlord disputes the amount or claims a right to deduct for damage, ask them to explain the basis in writing, since a landlord generally cannot simply deduct for damage from this type of deposit without going through the proper process.
4. Keep track of any response (or lack of one) and the date, since this will generally support a later LTB application if needed.

Step 3: File a T1 application with the LTB if needed

If the landlord does not respond or refuses to pay what's owed, the next step is generally a T1 application (Tenant Application for a Rebate) with the LTB. This is a monetary application, meaning the focus is generally on the amount owed and the documentation supporting it, rather than any broader dispute about the tenancy itself.

1. Complete the T1 application, setting out the deposit amount, the interest calculation, and the dates involved.
2. Attach or be ready to provide your lease, deposit receipt, and copies of your written requests to the landlord.
3. Pay the filing fee and keep the receipt and file number for your records.
4. Watch for the Notice of Hearing, which will set out the hearing date and any disclosure requirements.

If you're also dealing with a landlord who simply won't engage at all, our guide on what happens if your landlord won't return your deposit looks at this specific scenario in more depth, including what realistic next steps look like.

Step 4: Prepare for and attend the hearing

At the hearing, a deposit-recovery claim is usually one of the more straightforward types of cases, since it generally turns on fairly simple documentation rather than a complex factual dispute.

1. Bring your lease, deposit receipt, and your interest calculation, clearly laid out.
2. Bring copies of your written requests to the landlord and any response received.
3. Be ready to respond if the landlord raises a damage claim or other offset, since you may need to explain why that claim shouldn't reduce what you're owed.
4. Present your total request clearly — the deposit amount plus accrued interest — so the member can easily follow the calculation.

What happens after you get an order

If the LTB agrees that the deposit (and any interest) is owed, it will generally issue a monetary order requiring the landlord to pay a specific amount by a specific date. If the landlord still doesn't pay, the order can generally be filed with the Small Claims Court for enforcement, which may include collection steps such as garnishment, consistent with the general enforcement process described in our LTB orders and enforcement guide.

It's worth keeping the order itself in a safe place, since you may need to refer back to it, or provide a copy to the court, at the enforcement stage. The timeline from filing a T1 application to receiving a final order can vary considerably depending on the LTB's current scheduling, so it's generally sensible to treat this as a process measured in months rather than weeks, and to keep following up through the proper channels in the meantime rather than assuming the claim has stalled.

Common mistakes that delay getting your money back

Several avoidable issues tend to slow down or complicate deposit-recovery claims.

1. Not calculating the interest owed, and asking only for the original deposit amount.
2. Waiting a long time after moving out before following up, which can make the timeline harder to track and documentation harder to locate.
3. Relying only on verbal requests to the landlord, without any written record to point to later.
4. Not keeping the original lease or deposit receipt, which can make it harder to prove the amount actually paid.
5. Assuming a landlord's informal claim about "damage" automatically justifies keeping the deposit, without pushing back or understanding how that type of claim is actually supposed to be handled.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related reading

Reviewed by Ryan J. Manilla, BA, JD

Legal Reviewer · Landlord Tenant Ontario