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.
