Alberta landlords have no cap and a three-month notice. BC landlords have a 2.3% cap, a three-month notice and a mandatory form. Ontario landlords have a 2.1% guideline, a 90-day notice and a mandatory form, unless the unit is exempt from rent control entirely.

Three provinces, three regimes, one shared failure mode — the increase is unenforceable if the paperwork misses.

Alberta: no cap, strict timing

Alberta has no rent control — you set the amount.

The 365-day rule: at least 365 days must pass since the tenancy began or since the last increase, whichever is later. The clock starts there, and it resets with every increase. There is no increase during a fixed term — the rent stated in a fixed-term lease holds to the end of the term.

• Week to week — 12 full tenancy weeks notice
• Month to month — 3 full tenancy months notice
• Any other periodic tenancy — 90 days notice

No form is prescribed. The notice must be in writing, dated, signed, and state the effective date.

On rent control proposals: the Alberta Law Reform Institute has an active review of the Residential Tenancies Act as of early 2026. Nothing has been enacted — treat commentary about coming Alberta rent control as speculation until a bill passes.

British Columbia: 2.3% for 2026

The cap: 3.0% for 2025 and 2.3% for 2026. BC sets it at the 12-month average consumer price index for the province, having abandoned the older CPI-plus-two formula.

Notice: three full calendar months, on Form RTB-7. Use of the approved form is mandatory — an email, a text or a letter of your own drafting is not a valid notice, and the tenant keeps paying the old rent until a proper notice has run its full three months.

Timing: once per 12 months, and never within the first 12 months of a tenancy. An increase you skip is gone — you cannot bank an unused year and add it later. No rounding up: use the RTB's rent increase calculator and take the number it gives you.

Additional rent increases still exist above the annual cap. ARI-C covers capital expenditures, on Forms RTB-53-P1 through P3 — the expense must have been incurred within 18 months, the work completed, and the item not recurring for at least five years. The increase is capped at 3% per phase on top of the annual cap, with rollover across up to three phases. ARI-E covers operating expenses and unforeseeable financing costs, on Form RTB-52, filed in person only. Either application costs $300 plus $10 per unit, to a maximum of $600.

Ontario: 2.1% for 2026, with a large exemption

The guideline: 2.5% for 2025, 2.1% for 2026, and 1.9% already announced for 2027. Ontario sets it from the provincial consumer price index measured June to May, capped at 2.5%.

The exemption doing the heavy lifting: units in buildings or additions first occupied for residential purposes after November 15, 2018 are not subject to the guideline at all. Neither are community housing, long-term care, or the rent on a newly vacant unit. A landlord with a 2020 purpose-built rental sets the increase freely — a landlord with a 1975 walk-up next door does not.

Notice: 90 days in writing on Form N1, once per 12 months per tenant.

Above guideline increases run on Form L5, with three grounds: extraordinary municipal tax increases, which are uncapped; capital expenditures, which need a useful life of five years or more, completion within an 18-month window ending 90 days before the increase, and full payment before filing; and security services costs. Capital and security increases are capped at 3% above the guideline per year, phased over up to two further 12-month periods. Since July 1, 2026, above-guideline document service tightened to seven days, with a certificate of service within five.

Rent deposit interest: Ontario pays interest on the last month's rent deposit at the guideline rate — 2.5% for 2025 and 2.1% for 2026.

The comparison at a glance

• Alberta — no 2026 cap, 3-month notice for periodic monthly tenancies, no mandatory form, 365-day minimum interval, no above-cap route needed.
• BC — 2.3% cap for 2026, 3-month notice, mandatory Form RTB-7, 12-month minimum interval, ARI-C/ARI-E for above-cap increases.
• Ontario — 2.1% guideline for 2026, 90-day notice, mandatory Form N1, 12-month minimum interval, Form L5 for above-guideline increases, with units first occupied after November 15, 2018 exempt from the guideline entirely.

Four errors making an increase unenforceable

• Using your own letter in BC or Ontario — both provinces prescribe a form and both mean it.
• Counting from the wrong date — the interval runs from the last increase or the start of the tenancy, whichever is later. Landlords who inherit a tenancy on purchase often reset from the closing date, which is wrong.
• Rounding up — a 2.31% increase in BC is invalid at 2.3%.
• Raising rent inside a fixed term — the rent in the lease holds to the end of the term in all three provinces.

The practical habit

Set a calendar reminder 120 days before each unit's anniversary. The lead time leaves you a month to decide the amount, generate the right form and serve it with the full notice period intact.

Landlords who miss increases rarely miss them by choice. They miss them because the anniversary date lives in a lease PDF nobody opened.

LuxOasisOS tracks each unit's tenancy anniversary and last increase date, so the notice window arrives as a prompt rather than a discovery.