Can Your Landlord Refuse to Provide AC in Canada? Tenant Rights by Province

Across every province and territory, the legal foundation is remarkably consistent, and it comes down to two duties that your landlord cannot sidestep. First, they must keep your home in a good state of repair and meet health, safety, and housing standards. Second, they must supply the essentials, and heat sits firmly on that list while cooling, in most places, does not.

Ontario's own guidance for new tenants captures the principle cleanly: landlords must keep rentals in a good state of repair and cannot cut off or interfere with vital services like heat, fuel, and water, as the province's Landlord and Tenant Board explains in its tenant information materials. Air conditioning simply is not classified alongside those vital services, which is why no landlord is obligated to add it.

There is an important flip side, though, and it works in your favour. The moment a landlord does provide cooling, whether it is written into your lease or built into the building, it becomes a service they are responsible for maintaining. A broken AC that your landlord supplied is not your problem to absorb; it is a repair they owe you.

If you want a fuller picture of how these duties divide up between renters and owners, our province-by-province guide to landlord and tenant responsibilities lays out the broader relationship.

Almost every point of confusion about cooling comes from blurring two very different questions, so let us separate them clearly.

The first question is whether your landlord has to provide air conditioning. The answer, everywhere in Canada, is no. There is no legal duty to install a system that is not already there.

The second question is whether your landlord can stop you from installing your own unit at your own expense. This is where the provinces diverge, and where the news has been changing. Ontario has become the leading example of a jurisdiction that now protects a tenant's right to install, while Quebec still treats it as something you generally need permission for. Understanding which question you are really asking, and in which province, is what turns a vague worry into a clear next step. And if you are weighing whether to push for cooling or simply add it yourself, it helps to know what you are getting into financially, which our overview of what central air conditioning costs in Canada breaks down.

Rules shift not just between provinces but sometimes between cities within them, so here is a quick map to orient yourself before we get into the detail. Find your province, then read the fuller explanation below.

Ontario

Ontario is the jurisdiction everyone is talking about, and for good reason. Cooling is not a vital service here, so the Residential Tenancies Act does not require landlords to provide it. But a significant change landed on July 1, 2026: a new section 36.1 of the Act, added through the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, 2023, now gives tenants an explicit right to install and use a window or portable air conditioner in a unit where the landlord does not already supply cooling, as set out in the legislation itself.

The right comes with a few sensible conditions. You need to give your landlord written notice before you install anything, the unit and its installation must not damage the property, and the setup has to comply with municipal bylaws and any other applicable law. If a local property-standards bylaw prohibits a particular installation, you cannot override it. And if your landlord pays for your electricity, you are expected to share information about the unit's energy efficiency. What your landlord cannot do, in most cases, is refuse a compliant installation simply because they would rather you did not have one. The Act only lets them prohibit it in specific "prescribed circumstances," and none have been written into regulation yet.

At the city level, Toronto adds its own layer. Under the city's Indoor Temperature Standards Bylaw, if a landlord provides air conditioning, it must be operated from June 1 to September 30 to keep the unit at no more than 26°C, according to the City of Toronto's indoor-temperature standards. Newer for this cycle, RentSafeTO buildings that do not cool every unit but have an indoor amenity space must keep that shared space at or below 26°C during the same season, which gives some tenants a right to a cooled common room even without in-suite AC. Mississauga takes a similar approach through its Adequate Temperature By-law, capping cooled units at 26°C, though only where an AC system is already in place.

For a closer look at how the new provincial rules and electricity costs interact, see our report on how Ontario landlords can now recover AC electricity costs.

British Columbia

British Columbia does not require landlords to provide or maintain air conditioning, even during the kind of heat wave the province has come to know well. What it does require is that any AC promised in your tenancy agreement or advertising be kept in good working order, as the province's Residential Tenancy Branch spells out in its guidance on air conditioning units. If a landlord advertised a cooled suite or wrote AC into your lease, that promise is enforceable.

There is also a forward-looking shift. The 2024 update to the BC Building Code requires newly built residential units to include at least one living space that can stay below 26°C. It applies to new construction rather than existing rentals, but it signals where the province is heading. If cooling problems in your unit go unresolved, the Residential Tenancy Branch offers a formal dispute-resolution process under the Residential Tenancy Act.

Alberta

Alberta keeps things narrow. Landlord obligations cover minimum heating standards, and there is no legal requirement for cooling or air conditioning in rental units. The province's general duties around health, safety, and habitability still apply, so a home that becomes genuinely unsafe is a different matter, but cooling itself is not something a landlord must supply.

Quebec

Quebec approaches temperature through the lens of habitability rather than a fixed number. There is no maximum indoor temperature written into law, but if the landlord is responsible for heating, they must ensure you enjoy an adequate ambient temperature whatever the time of year, as Quebec's official guide to the rights and obligations of lessors and lessees describes. That habitability duty is the anchor tenants rely on when a dwelling becomes dangerously hot.

Installing your own unit is where Quebec differs sharply from Ontario. A wall-mounted, and often a window, air conditioner is treated as a modification to the dwelling, which means you generally need your landlord's consent first. A landlord may refuse if the installation would alter the structure, affect the building's appearance, or complicate maintenance. If you do get the go-ahead, a written agreement covering who pays, who maintains it, and whether it must be removed later will save you grief. Disputes go to the Tribunal administratif du logement, formerly the Régie du logement.

Manitoba

Manitoba requires landlords to keep rentals in a good state of repair and to meet health, building, and maintenance standards. Cooling is not mandatory, but the province is refreshingly explicit about supplied services: a landlord is responsible for maintaining any service or facility they provide, and Manitoba's tenancy guidance lists air conditioning right alongside appliances, parking, and laundry, in the Residential Tenancies Branch's repair policy. So if your Manitoba unit came with AC, keeping it working is on your landlord.

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan follows the same logic. Landlords must keep the premises in a good state of repair and fit for habitation, including all services and facilities provided under the tenancy agreement, according to the province's guidance on requesting repairs. There is no duty to install cooling, but a provided system must be maintained, and unresolved repair disputes go to the Office of Residential Tenancies.

Nova Scotia

In Nova Scotia, maintenance, heat, and utilities are core landlord responsibilities, and landlords must follow health, safety, and housing standards under the Residential Tenancies Act, as the province's residential tenancies guide explains. Air conditioning is not a required utility, but a unit still has to be kept safe, heated, and in good repair, and extreme heat can be raised as a health or habitability concern.

New Brunswick

New Brunswick has no AC-specific requirement, and the familiar baseline applies: landlords owe general habitability and repair duties, and heat must be maintained. If cooling becomes a serious safety issue or a provided system fails, the place to turn is the Residential Tenancies Tribunal, administered through Service New Brunswick, as outlined in the province's landlord and tenant legal information.

PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Territories

Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the three territories round out the picture, and none of them mandate air conditioning. The same principles hold: heat is required, cooling is not, and habitability and health-and-safety standards govern when a home becomes unlivable. Newfoundland and Labrador, for instance, requires landlords to keep premises in a good state of repair and to maintain safe temperatures during the heating season, under the province's Residential Tenancies Act. Some municipalities, including in Newfoundland, are debating maximum-temperature bylaws, so it is worth checking your own city and confirming the current position with your provincial or territorial rental authority.

You will see 26°C come up again and again, and it helps to understand what it does and does not mean. Where these rules exist, they are almost always municipal bylaws or building-code provisions rather than province-wide laws, and they typically kick in only where cooling is already provided. A city like Toronto is not forcing every landlord to install AC; it is saying that once AC exists, it has to actually keep the place at or below 26°C through the summer.

The number itself is not arbitrary. Federal health guidance points to 26°C as a meaningful threshold for protecting vulnerable residents during heat events, noting that living spaces should be able to hold an indoor temperature of no more than 26°C, as Health Canada advises in its guidance on upper indoor temperature limits for older adults. In other words, 26°C reflects a health basis, not just a comfort preference, which is exactly why more cities are looking at it as heat waves intensify.

Our coverage of the extreme heat warnings sweeping Ontario and much of Canada shows why this conversation keeps gaining urgency.

Even in a province with no AC rule at all, you are not without options, because habitability is a lever that works everywhere. If a unit becomes so hot that it is no longer fit to live in, that can cross a legal line regardless of whether cooling is specifically required.

In Ontario, for example, tenant-facing legal guidance notes that while a landlord generally does not have to provide an air conditioner, temperatures high enough to make a unit unfit for habitation, or that amount to discrimination under human rights law, may give tenants legal options, as the CLEO Steps to Justice resource on air conditioners explains. That human-rights angle matters most for tenants whose health conditions make extreme heat genuinely dangerous. Framing the problem as a habitability or safety issue, rather than simply a request for comfort, is often what moves it from a favour you are asking to a duty your landlord owes.

It is also worth knowing your broader obligations and protections as an occupant, which our guide to what you are legally responsible for as a homeowner touches on from the ownership side.

When the heat is already unbearable, a calm, documented approach tends to get results faster than a frustrated phone call. Here is a practical path to follow.

Start by keeping a simple record. Note the indoor temperature at different times of day, jot down the dates, and photograph a thermometer if you can. This kind of log is exactly what tribunals look for, and it turns your experience into evidence.

Next, put your request in writing. A clear, dated message to your landlord describing the problem creates a paper trail and, in Ontario, written notice is also a formal step if you plan to install your own unit. If your landlord provided the AC and it is broken, ask specifically for the repair they are obligated to make. Our checklist on what to check when your AC is not working can help you describe the fault clearly, or rule out a simple fix.

Finally, protect yourself in the moment. During an active heat wave, use municipal cooling centres, spend the hottest hours in air-conditioned public spaces if you can, and check on neighbours who may be more vulnerable than you are. Your rights matter, but so does getting through the next 48 hours safely.

It is worth naming why this issue carries real weight, because extreme heat does not affect everyone equally. Older adults, people with disabilities or chronic illnesses, and those taking certain medications are far more susceptible to heat-related harm. Low-income renters, who are least able to absorb the cost of a unit or a spike in the electricity bill, often face the greatest exposure. And the building itself plays a part: top-floor apartments and west-facing units can run dramatically hotter than the outdoor temperature would suggest.

This is the human core of why cities are adopting 26°C standards and why Ontario moved to protect the right to install a unit. Cooling is increasingly a matter of health and equity, not luxury. If you or someone you care for falls into a higher-risk group, that is all the more reason to document conditions early and to lean on the habitability and human-rights framing when you raise concerns.