How to Serve an N8 Notice at the End of a Term

Before you start: confirm the N8 actually fits

An N8 notice of termination is generally used to end a tenancy at the end of its current term or renewal period, rather than part-way through it. It differs in a basic structural way from notices like the N4 or N7: an N8 cannot generally be used to end a tenancy early, and the termination date on the notice must generally line up with the end of the current lease term, or with the end of a rental period for a month-to-month tenancy. Grounds typically relied on for an N8 include persistent late payment of rent across multiple rental periods, or an unreasonable number of occupants in the unit relative to what was agreed or what the space reasonably allows. Before drafting the notice, confirm which specific ground applies and double-check the actual term-end or renewal date on the lease, since the whole notice depends on that date being right.

Reviewing the broader overview of evictions in Ontario alongside the notices reference can help confirm an N8 is the right tool before you begin, particularly where the underlying issue could also fit an N4 (for unpaid rent) or an N5 (for other lease breaches), since those notices carry different timing rules entirely.

It's also worth thinking through, early on, whether the situation might actually be better addressed with a different notice even if an N8 would technically apply. Because an N8 generally requires a full 60 days of notice and must align with a term-end or rental-period boundary, it can end up being considerably slower than an N4 for straightforward non-payment, or an N5 for a one-off serious breach the tenant hasn't corrected. Landlords dealing with an urgent situation should generally weigh whether a faster notice already fits the facts before committing to the N8's longer timeline.

Step 1: Identify the specific ground and the term-end date

Start by pinning down two separate things: the specific ground you're relying on, and the exact date the current term or renewal period ends. For a fixed-term lease, this is generally the final day written into the lease itself. For a tenancy that has already become month-to-month, the relevant date is generally the last day of a monthly rental period, not an arbitrary date chosen by the landlord.

1. Confirm whether the tenancy is still within its original fixed term, or has already become month-to-month.
2. Identify the specific pattern of late payments, or the specific occupancy concern, with dates and supporting documentation.
3. Confirm the exact date the current term or rental period ends, since the termination date on the N8 generally needs to match it.

Step 2: Complete the N8 form in full

Using the current official N8 form from the LTB, complete each section carefully:

1. The tenant's full legal name(s) as they appear on the lease.
2. The complete rental unit address, including the unit number.
3. The specific ground checked, matching the facts you intend to rely on at a hearing.
4. A factual description of the pattern relied on — for persistent late payment, this generally means listing the specific months and dates rent was paid late, not a general statement that "rent is often late."
5. The termination date, set to the end of the current term or rental period.
6. Your signature and the date of signing.

Because "persistently" generally implies a repeated pattern rather than a single late payment, landlords relying on that ground should generally be prepared to show several specific instances, ideally documented with receipt or payment dates rather than recollection alone. For an occupancy-based N8, the description should generally identify how many people are living in the unit, since when, and how that compares to what the lease permits or what the unit can reasonably accommodate, rather than a general impression that the apartment "feels crowded." A clear, factual description on the form itself generally reduces the chance that the hearing becomes a dispute about what the notice actually meant, rather than about whether the underlying ground is proven.

Step 3: Serve the notice using an accepted method

As with other LTB notices, service generally needs to follow one of the accepted methods under the Residential Tenancies Act:

1. Handing the notice directly to the tenant.
2. Leaving it with an apparently adult person at the rental unit.
3. Leaving it in the mailbox or mail slot for the unit.
4. Sliding it under the tenant's door.
5. Sending it by mail to the rental unit address.

Keep a dated record of the method used immediately after serving the notice, since you will generally need to confirm the service date at any later hearing, and that date feeds directly into the 60-day calculation in the next step.

Step 4: Check the 60-day minimum against the term-end date

An N8 generally requires at least 60 days' notice before the termination date. In practice, this means two separate conditions generally both need to be satisfied:

1. The termination date must generally fall on the last day of the current term or rental period.
2. The date the notice is given must generally be at least 60 days before that termination date.

If a lease's term ends in less than 60 days from when you're ready to serve the notice, the N8 generally cannot be used for that term-end date — the notice would need to target the next available term-end or rental-period boundary instead, which, depending on the tenancy, could be a full lease cycle later. This timing interaction is one of the more technical aspects of serving an N8 correctly, and double-checking the math against the actual lease dates before serving is worth the extra few minutes. A simple way to check your own math is to work backward from the term-end date rather than forward from today: identify the date the current term or rental period ends, then confirm that date is at least 60 days after the date you intend to serve the notice. If it isn't, serving now and targeting that date is generally not a valid option, regardless of how strong the underlying grounds are.

What happens after you serve the notice

If the tenant moves out by the termination date, the tenancy generally simply ends. If the tenant remains, the landlord generally needs to file an L2 application with the LTB, typically within 30 days of the termination date, to request a hearing and an order terminating the tenancy. At the hearing, the landlord generally bears the burden of proving the ground relied on — for persistent late payment, this usually means producing the specific payment history relied on in the notice. The LTB hearing guide walks through the general hearing process and what evidence tends to matter most.

Common mistakes that cause delay or rejection

The most frequent issues with N8 notices generally involve timing rather than the underlying facts:

1. Setting a termination date that doesn't match the actual end of the current term or rental period.
2. Serving the notice with less than 60 days remaining before the intended termination date.
3. Relying on a single incident rather than a documented pattern for a "persistent" ground.
4. Confusing an N8 with an N5 or N4, which carry different timing rules and grounds entirely.
5. Failing to keep dated proof of service and supporting payment records.
6. Waiting too long after the termination date to file the L2 application.

Because the N8's timing rules interact with the specific lease and payment history in ways that are easy to miscalculate, landlords should generally consider having a paralegal or lawyer review the dates and evidence before serving, particularly where the lease term or rental period boundaries aren't perfectly clear-cut.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related reading

Reviewed by Ryan J. Manilla, BA, JD

Legal Reviewer · Landlord Tenant Ontario