Co-operative housing (a co-op) is a type of non-profit housing where the property is owned by a non-profit association made up of all the tenants. Once you become a tenant, you are made a member of the co-operative association. This means that the tenants as a group own the building and act as the landlord. Individual tenants are still considered tenants under the law and are covered by the RTA; co-ops are also covered by the Co-operative Association Act.

Most associations have an executive council made up of some of the co-op’s tenants, and this council runs the building together. Different co-ops can have different leadership and governance structures. Co-ops typically also set different rules and regulations, some of which often include setting aside a portion of everyone’s rent and putting it into a trust fund that tenants can access to do repairs.

Everything in the RTA applies to co-op housing except for the following:

• To be evicted from a co-op you first must have your membership revoked by the co-op association according to the process prescribed in your co-op’s mandate.

• A co-op can set a common anniversary date for all tenants for the purposes of serving notice of rent increases. All other rules around rent increases still apply - so even if you have a common anniversary date your rent cannot be raised twice in a 12 month period or above the legislated rent cap.