Toronto's New 26°C Cooling Bylaw: What Landlords and Property Managers Must Do Now (2026)

The new Toronto cooling bylaw changes the rules on indoor temperatures.

As of June 1, 2026, the City's long-standing Heating Bylaw has been renamed the Indoor Temperature Standards Bylaw (Toronto Municipal Code, Chapter 497), and it now includes cooling requirements with real enforcement teeth behind them. If you own or manage rental buildings in Toronto, here's what applies to you today, what's coming next year, and what to do about it before enforcement — or a tenant complaint — finds you first.

What the Bylaw Requires Right Now

1. If your building provides air conditioning, you must run it — and it must actually work.

Where air conditioning is provided by the property owner (in-unit or central), it must be operated from June 1 to September 30 and maintain an indoor temperature of no more than 26°C. Owners are also required to keep existing air conditioning systems in good working condition. You can't shut the system off mid-heatwave to save on hydro, and "the AC is broken" is not a defence — it's the violation.

2. If your building is in RentSafeTO and doesn't provide in-unit cooling, you now need a cooling space.

Apartment buildings in the RentSafeTO program (generally purpose-built rentals of three or more storeys) that don't provide air conditioning in units must keep at least one indoor amenity space at or below 26°C from June 1 to September 30. There's an exemption where meeting the requirement would require construction under the Building Code — but if a portable or existing cooling solution can do the job, the obligation applies. Building owners must also post the location of the cooling space and the nearest publicly accessible air-conditioned location on the tenant notification board.

3. What the bylaw does NOT require (yet).

Owners are not currently required to install air conditioning where none exists. There is no maximum temperature requirement for individual units that don't have cooling. And the winter rules haven't changed: a minimum of 21°C from October 1 to May 15.

The Penalties Are Not Trivial

Non-compliance with the Indoor Temperature Standards Bylaw is an offence. Owners issued a summons and convicted can face fines of up to $100,000, plus daily fines of up to $10,000 for each day a violation continues, and potentially an additional special fine to claw back any economic gain from the violation. Tenants can trigger an investigation with a single call to 311, and City bylaw officers conduct inspections.

Put plainly: a neglected rooftop unit or a chiller that limps into July is no longer just a comfort complaint. It's a compliance problem with a price tag.

What's Coming in 2027: A Maximum Temperature for Every Rental Unit

This summer, Toronto City Council fast-tracked the next phase. The City Manager has been directed to bring a full maximum indoor temperature bylaw — covering all rental units, including buildings with no existing air conditioning — back to Council by June 2027, with an implementation plan. Council is also pushing the Province to recognize cooling as a vital service under the Residential Tenancies Act.

The details aren't final, and timelines can shift. But the direction is unmistakable: Toronto is moving toward mandatory cooling in rental housing. Buildings with no cooling infrastructure — and there are a lot of them, particularly older towers — are facing a retrofit conversation whether they start it now or have it forced on them later.

There's one more change already in force: as of July 1, 2026, Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act explicitly allows tenants to install their own window or portable AC units where the landlord doesn't provide cooling, as long as they're installed safely. That shifts electrical load, window safety, and liability questions onto buildings that never planned for hundreds of plug-in units.

What the Toronto Cooling Bylaw Requires Right Now

Confirm your existing cooling can actually hold 26°C. A system that "runs" isn't the same as a system that performs. Dirty condenser coils, low refrigerant, failing compressors, and clogged filters all push supply temperatures up — often just enough to blow past 26°C on a 33°C day. A mid-season inspection now is far cheaper than an enforcement file in August.

Designate and equip your cooling space. If you're a RentSafeTO building without in-unit AC, get a proper heat-load assessment on your chosen amenity room. An undersized portable unit in a west-facing common room with a wall of glass will not hold 26°C in a heatwave — and the bylaw measures results, not effort.

Document everything. Keep maintenance records, service reports, and temperature logs. If a bylaw officer shows up, documented preventive maintenance is your best evidence of good faith — and it's also what protects manufacturer warranties.

Start the retrofit conversation before June 2027. If your building has no cooling, you have a window to evaluate options — packaged terminal units, heat pumps, central plant additions — on your own timeline, potentially with utility incentive support, rather than in a post-bylaw scramble when every contractor in the GTA is booked. Cold-climate heat pumps deserve a serious look here: one retrofit can address both the winter 21°C minimum and the coming summer maximum. (See our guides on commercial heat pumps in Toronto and 2026 Ontario HVAC incentives.)

Condo boards: check your rental exposure. Where condo units are rented out, the landlord (the unit owner) is responsible for compliance — but common-element cooling systems maintained by the corporation are often part of the equation. Boards should confirm their central systems can support the buildings' obligations.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Do Toronto landlords have to install air conditioning in 2026? No. The current bylaw only requires owners to operate and maintain cooling where it already exists, and RentSafeTO buildings without in-unit cooling to provide a cooled amenity space. A broader bylaw that could change this is due before Council by June 2027.

• What temperature must a Toronto rental be in summer? Where cooling is provided, no more than 26°C from June 1 to September 30. There is currently no maximum for units without cooling.

• Does this apply outside Toronto? The Indoor Temperature Standards Bylaw is Toronto-specific. Mississauga has a similar rule — where cooling equipment exists in a rental unit, it must keep the unit at or below 26°C — but most other GTA municipalities and the Province have no maximum-temperature standard as of mid-2026. Always confirm current local requirements.

• What are the fines for non-compliance? Tickets carry set fines, and a summons conviction can bring fines up to $100,000 plus daily fines up to $10,000 while the violation continues.

Get Ahead of Compliance — and the 2027 Deadline

Burban Air Systems helps Toronto landlords, property managers, and condo corporations keep cooling systems compliant: preventive maintenance to hold 26°C through a GTA heatwave, amenity-space cooling assessments, and retrofit planning for buildings with no existing AC.

Book a cooling system assessment now — before the next heat event tests your building for you.

This article is general information about City of Toronto bylaws as of July 2026, not legal advice. Bylaw requirements can change — confirm current requirements with the City of Toronto or a qualified legal advisor.

Burban Air Systems Ltd. provides commercial HVAC service, maintenance, and installation across Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area from our base in Scarborough, Ontario.