Rental Deposits in Canada: The Rules in Every Province

Before you get the keys, your landlord can ask you for money that isn’t rent. How much depends entirely on which province you’re in. Quebec doesn’t allow deposits at all, not even a key deposit. Ontario allows a full month, but only as your last month’s rent. British Columbia allows half a month, plus another half if you have a pet. For the same two-bedroom at the average Canadian rent, moving in costs twice as much in Ontario as in Quebec: $4,260 against $2,130.

And if your landlord asks for a deposit the province doesn’t allow, paying it doesn’t make it legal. You can get it back.

What can a landlord legally charge before you move in?

Every province caps rental deposits differently. Quebec allows none. British Columbia, Manitoba and Nova Scotia cap a security deposit at half a month’s rent. Newfoundland and Labrador allows three quarters. Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and the three territories allow a full month. Ontario allows a full month too, but it has to be your last month’s rent.

Two different things called a deposit

Almost every province uses a security deposit: money the landlord holds against unpaid rent, damage, or a unit left dirty, and refunds when you move out if none of that happened.

Ontario uses a rent deposit instead, and the difference matters. A rent deposit can only be applied to your final rental period. It isn’t insurance against damage, and your landlord can’t decide at the end of the tenancy to keep it for a scuffed floor. If there’s damage, they have to claim for it separately, either at the Landlord and Tenant Board during the tenancy or in Small Claims Court after you’ve gone.

Who actually holds your deposit

In most provinces your landlord does. New Brunswick is the exception: the landlord has 15 days to forward the deposit to the Tenant and Landlord Relations Office, which holds it and issues a receipt to both of you. Alberta, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island sit in between, where the landlord keeps the money but has to hold it in a separate interest-bearing trust account rather than mixing it with their own. Alberta gives them two banking days to get it there. In Prince Edward Island, a landlord who misses the 15-day refund deadline owes you double the deposit.

Weekly tenancies are usually capped lower. Newfoundland and Labrador allows two weeks’ rent on a week-to-week lease. New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut all cap it at one week.

Which rental deposits are illegal?

A deposit is illegal when the province’s own law doesn’t list it, and the deposits landlords ask for most often are the ones nobody legislated. In Ontario a damage deposit, a security deposit, a pet deposit and a cleaning fee are all prohibited. In Quebec every deposit is prohibited, including the one for keys. Newfoundland and Labrador allows a security deposit but no separate deposit for a pet.

Ontario allows exactly two deposits

A rent deposit, capped at one month, applied to your last month. And a key deposit, capped at what replacing the key or fob actually costs, refunded when you hand the keys back. That’s the whole list. CLEO (opens in a new tab), Ontario’s community legal education service, says a landlord isn’t allowed to ask for a pet deposit or a damage deposit.

The rent deposit also has a timing rule. It can only be collected at or before the start of the tenancy, so a landlord can’t decide six months in that they’d like one now.

Quebec bans every deposit

Quebec is the outlier, and it’s the clearest rule in the country. A landlord can require the first month’s rent in advance and nothing else: no security deposit, no key deposit, no furniture deposit, and no rent for any month other than the first. The Tribunal administratif du logement (opens in a new tab) can fine a landlord who asks. Post-dated cheques can’t be demanded as a condition of signing either, though you’re free to offer them.

That rule is widely ignored. Éducaloi (opens in a new tab), the Quebec public legal information charity, described the practice in May 2026 as common and illegal. You can refuse, and refusing isn’t a reason a landlord can end your lease.

Pets, keys and application fees

Pet deposits vary the most from one province to the next. British Columbia allows half a month’s rent, Manitoba allows up to a full month, Yukon and the Northwest Territories allow half. Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador allow none at all. British Columbia, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories all ban a pet deposit for a service animal.

British Columbia also bans any fee for accepting, reviewing or processing a rental application.

How much cash do you need before you get the keys?

Statistics Canada put the average asking rent for a two-bedroom apartment at $2,130 a month in the second quarter of 2026 (opens in a new tab), down 3.6% from a year earlier. Here’s what a landlord can legally ask for on that apartment before you get the keys, by province.

Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories both let you pay in instalments. Saskatchewan caps what’s due at signing at half the deposit, with the rest payable within two months of moving in. The Northwest Territories gives you three months for the second half. Nobody advertises this, so ask.

A pet pushes the top end higher. In British Columbia a pet damage deposit takes the same apartment from $3,195 to $4,260. In Manitoba, where the pet deposit can run to a full month, it goes from $3,195 to $5,325.

And none of these figures include movers, tenant insurance, or the utility hookups that come with a deposit of their own. If you’re pulling together a first apartment, the math in our guide to saving for a house down payment works the same way at a smaller scale: a fixed number, a date, and a weekly amount.

Does your landlord owe you interest on your deposit?

Yes, in most of the country, and almost everywhere it’s worth close to nothing right now. Alberta, British Columbia and Nova Scotia all sit at 0% for 2026. Manitoba pays 0.5%. Saskatchewan only pays on tenancies longer than five years. Ontario is the exception among the provinces, and it’s where the money adds up.

Ontario owes you interest every year

The rate on an Ontario rent deposit is the annual rent increase guideline (opens in a new tab), which the province set at 2.1% for 2026 and has already announced as 1.9% for 2027. On a $2,130 deposit that’s $44.73 a year.

Your landlord owes it every year on the anniversary of your tenancy, not as a lump sum when you leave, and if they don’t pay it you can deduct it from a rent payment. Where the rent has gone up, a landlord can keep that year’s interest and put it toward topping the deposit up to your new rent. That’s allowed. Ask for the figure either way, so you know the interest was actually credited.

Two territories set their rate off a market benchmark instead of fixing a number. They land in completely different places. Yukon pays 2% below bank prime, reset each January and July, which with prime at 4.45% (opens in a new tab) is a little over 2% and the best rate in the country. The Northwest Territories uses the Bank of Canada’s posted rate for non-chequable savings deposits, which is 0.01%. On a $2,130 deposit that’s about 21 cents a year.

If you’ve been in the same Ontario apartment for five years and nobody has ever mentioned interest, that’s five years of it sitting unpaid.

What if your landlord doesn’t give it back?

Every province has a tribunal for this, and using it is free or close to it. Once the landlord has missed the deadline in the table above without filing a claim, the money is yours, and you’re only asking someone to enforce that.

In Ontario you file a T1 with the Landlord and Tenant Board (opens in a new tab), which is also the route for recovering an illegal deposit you already paid. In Quebec it’s the Tribunal administratif du logement. British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Atlantic provinces each run a residential tenancy office that does the same job.

Give the landlord your forwarding address in writing, since several provinces start the refund clock from that date rather than from your move-out. And do a written inspection report with photos at both ends of the tenancy. In a dispute about a mark on a wall, the person with a dated photo of that wall wins.

Where the move-in money comes from

Having $4,260 ready is a lot to ask, and most people pull it together over months rather than finding it in an account. That stretch is the boring part of renting, and it’s where a savings goal usually stalls.

Lodavo is a free savings app that gives you something to look forward to while you get there. Connect the savings or chequing account you already use, and every $25 in it earns you a ticket in a weekly cash draw. Prizes run up to $10,000, and at least $100 goes to a user every week. Your money never leaves your own account, so your savings keep earning the same rate as before.

The more you save, the more chances you get. Saving up for the move gets you the apartment either way. Lodavo just makes those months more fun.

Check your province before you pay

If a landlord has named a figure and you’re not sure about it, the row in the first table is the fastest check you can do, and the link beside it goes to where that rule is written down. If the deposit isn’t on that list, you don’t have to pay it, and if you already have, you can ask for it back.

Want a bit of upside while you save for the move? Download Lodavo free on the Apple App Store (opens in a new tab) or Google Play Store (opens in a new tab) and start earning tickets for the weekly draw.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Tenancy rules change, so check your province’s own page before you act on a number here.

Terms and conditions apply. No purchase necessary (alternate method of entry available). Skill-testing question required. Open to legal residents of Canada who are the age of majority. Odds depend on the number of eligible entries received. Full rules and odds at our contest rules.