Register a rental apartment building

The Rental Apartment Buildings By-law requires owners of rental apartment buildings to register your building and renew annually if your building has both:

  • Two or more storeys, and
  • Six or more residential units that share a common area

If you don’t register by December 31 every year, you could be fined up to $100,000.

You must also create and implement specific plans and processes.

Quick reference guide

This guide summarizes your requirements under the Rental Standards Program, as enforced through the Rental Apartment Buildings By-law.

Apartment building owner's quick reference guide

This program doesn’t apply to:

  • Condominiums
  • Long-term care homes
  • Licensed retirement homes
  • Housing co-operatives

How to register or renew

Complete the registration form

For first-time registrations, send us the building address and the name and email address of the person who will complete the form to rental.standards@mississauga.ca. You’ll receive a unique registration form and instructions from us by email.

For renewals, before the renewal deadline, we’ll:

  • Email you an electronic registration form
  • Mail you a physical invoice

Send in the completed registration form

Follow the instructions on the form and email it to rental.standards@mississauga.ca. Include all required supporting documents.

Pay the fee

Follow the payment instructions on the invoice.

The registration and renewal fee is $20.55 per residential unit.

No HST is charged on registration fees.

Post your registration certificate

We’ll email the registration certificate to the email address on the registration form or invoice. You must print and post a physical copy of the registration certificate in your apartment building.

What happens next

Create plans and processes

You must create and implement all plans that address owner obligations included in the Rental Apartment Buildings By-law.

Owner obligations

Once registered, owners must make sure their rental apartment buildings meet minimum standards and practices for:

  • Cleaning
  • Electrical maintenance planning
  • Preventative pest management practices
  • Record-keeping
  • State of good repair planning
  • Tenant assistance documentation
  • Tenant notification boards
  • Tenant service request processes
  • Use of certified tradespersons
  • Vital services disruption planning
  • Waste management planning

Read the Apartment Building Owner’s Reference Guide for more details on the by-law requirements.

Building inspections

Once your building is registered, City staff will conduct regular on-site inspections to assess your maintenance standards and practices. We’ll assign an evaluation score which will determine when your next inspection will be. You’ll need to fix any issues found by the compliance date.

If your building scores:

  • 91 to 100%, your next evaluation is in three years
  • 76 to 90%, your next evaluation is in two years
  • 61 to 75%, your next evaluation is in one year
  • 0 to 60%, an audit will be scheduled

Building evaluation scores, enforcement actions and completed and uncompleted service requests are posted on the City’s interactive map.

Audits

We will conduct an audit if your building receives an evaluation score below 61% or if your building receives two consecutive one year evaluation scores. An administrative fee and inspection fee will apply for all audits.

An audit involves an inspection and assessment of the building’s:

  • Accessible areas (within and around the building and property)
  • Electrical, HVAC, and plumbing systems
  • Inside units (when requested by tenants)
  • Physical condition
  • Site components, such as the foundation, doors, windows, roofs, walls, floors and landscaped areas

Audits also include a tenant engagement process. You must notify building residents by posting a Notice of Audit on the tenant notification board 30 days before the audit date that contains how to report an issue to the City about the building or unit.

Once the audit is complete, we’ll give you a list of any violations and the timeframe to fix the issues.

Contact us

If you have questions, call 311 (905-615-4311 outside city limits).