What staying put is worth: rents by the year the tenancy began

What staying put is worth: rents by the year the tenancy began

Housing surveys publish an average rent for a city. Listing sites publish an asking rent. Neither can say what renters pay by the year their tenancy began, because neither asks. FairRent's rent check does ask, and as of 16 October 2026, 1,602 accepted submissions from Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver are enough to answer.

The table groups reported rents for a 1 bedroom and a 2 bedroom by the year the renter moved in. Each cell is a median, rounded the way every range on the site is rounded. When there are too few reports to publish a figure, or they are too alike, the cell says so.

In Ottawa, renters who moved into a 1 bedroom in 2026 report a median rent of $1,950. Renters whose tenancy began before 2020 report $1,450. The gap is 34%.

In Toronto, renters who moved into a 1 bedroom in 2026 report a median rent of $2,200. Renters whose tenancy began before 2020 report $1,600. The gap is 38%.

In Vancouver, renters who moved into a 1 bedroom in 2026 report a median rent of $2,350. Renters whose tenancy began before 2020 report $1,600. The gap is 47%.

Why the gap exists

In Ontario and British Columbia the yearly rent increase for a tenant who stays is capped for most homes: 2.1% in Ontario for 2026 and 1.9% for 2027, 2.3% in British Columbia for 2026 and 2.2% for 2027. The cap follows the tenant, not the home. When a tenant leaves, the landlord can set the next lease's rent freely, and that is where years of capped increases catch up at once.

Part of the gap is the homes themselves. Long tenancies are more often in older buildings, and an older building rents for less than a new one whoever lives in it. Our reports do not yet record the age of the building, so we cannot say how much of the gap is the cap and how much is the building.

Long tenancies are a minority of what we receive: 11% of reports in Ottawa, 13% of reports in Toronto, 13% of reports in Vancouver describe a tenancy that began before 2020. A renter who has just moved has more reason to check their rent than one settled for ten years, so the true gap could be larger still.

• Ontario rent increase guideline
• BC rent increase limit
• Update or remove a report

If your lease is coming up

• Compare the cost of staying with the cost of leaving. The provincial cap limits the increase if you stay; a move puts you in the table's newest column.
• Read the increase notice. In Ontario and British Columbia there is an official form and a minimum notice period. The rent rules pages explain them and link the government source.
• If you move, compare the same type of home across two or three areas before signing. The neighbourhood pages show an estimated range for each.
• Report your new rent, then come back once a year. The result offers a private code to update your report and a yearly reminder for your calendar.

How we counted

• Every figure rests on at least 5 reports. A group with fewer, or one where too many reports give the same rent, is not published, and the article says so.
• Medians are rounded to the nearest $50, like every range published on the site.
• Rents are self-reported. An accepted submission is not a verified lease, and two reports can describe the same home.
• The groups compare different homes, not the same home at two points in time. A gap between two groups is not an increase.
• Areas are the ones renters choose on the rent check, not official boundaries.

• FairRent figures: 1,602 accepted whole-unit rent submissions as of 16 October 2026, grouped under the publication rules