The N12 is the notice a landlord uses when they, a purchaser, or a close family member genuinely intends to move into the unit. It is also the notice most often misused, which is why the penalties attached to it are severe.
Who it can be for
The landlord, their spouse, a child or parent of either, or a person providing care to one of those people. It cannot be for a sibling, a cousin, a friend, or a tenant paying more.
What a valid N12 requires
At least sixty days' notice, with a termination date on the last day of a rental period.
A genuine intention to occupy. The Board tests good faith, and an affidavit from the person intending to move in is required at the hearing.
Compensation of one month's rent, or an offer of another acceptable unit, provided by the termination date. This is required on every personal-use N12.
The correct form, properly completed. Errors on an N12 are common and a defective notice is void.
You do not have to leave because you got one
An N12 is a notice, not an order. If you do not agree, do nothing beyond taking advice. The landlord must then apply to the Board on an L2, and a hearing follows where you can test whether the intention is genuine. Plenty of N12s do not survive that hearing.
Genuine: an owner selling their own home and moving into the rental, a parent relocating to be near family, a purchaser who has sold their previous house.
Suspect: an N12 served days after you asked for a repair or disputed an increase. A landlord who has served N12s on other units. A purchaser who lives out of the country. An N12 that arrives immediately after you decline a large voluntary rent increase.
Bad faith
If the person does not move in, or the unit is re-rented within twelve months, the Board can order compensation to the former tenant of up to twelve months' rent, plus moving and increased-rent costs. Since 1 July 2026 the maximum fine for an offence under the Act is $100,000 for an individual and $500,000 for a corporation, double what it was.
Even after you move out, you can bring a bad-faith application within one year. Keep the N12, your correspondence, and a note of the address. Checking the listing history of your old unit a few months later costs nothing.
Get help before responding to an N12. Tenant duty counsel at the Board and community legal clinics both assist at no cost, and this is exactly the situation they exist for.