Buying a Retirement Home in Ontario: The RHRA Licence, Controlling Interest and Timing

By Jatin Dua · Broker of Record, RE/MAX Quantum Realty · Updated 29 September 2026 · 11 min read — why the licence ends when control changes, the fees and notices, what the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority reviews, residents’ tenancy rights, and the documents that show what a home really earns.

What counts as a retirement home

Under the Retirement Homes Act, 2010 a retirement home is a residential complex occupied primarily by people aged 65 or older, occupied or intended for at least six people who are not related to the operator (O. Reg. 166/11, s. 3), where the operator makes at least two care services available, directly or indirectly. Care services include help with bathing, dressing, feeding, continence care, personal hygiene or ambulation, administering drugs, providing a meal, and health care from a regulated professional.

If a building meets that test, it must be licensed: “No person shall operate a retirement home unless the person is licensed under this Act to operate that specific home” (s. 33). Before you value anything, confirm the property you are looking at is actually licensed, and for how many residents. The RHRA’s public register lists each licensee, its capacity, the care services, whether there are sprinklers, and summaries of inspection reports (s. 106).

The licence ends when control changes

Three sections of the Act decide the structure of every deal:

• Section 45: “No person may transfer any interest in a licence, including a beneficial interest.”
• Section 48(1): a licence terminates when a person ceases to have, or acquires, a controlling interest in the licensee.
• Section 48(2): if the licensee applies for a new licence before the old one terminates, the old licence is deemed to continue until the new one is issued or a refusal becomes final.

The RHRA says it directly: licences “do not transfer as part of a sale of a home or a sale of a company that owns a home”, and “prospective owners or operators must apply for and obtain a licence before acquiring and operating a retirement home.” A share purchase is not a way around the regulator. It is a change of controlling interest, which ends the licence just as an asset sale does.

Fees and timelines

The RHRA fee schedule effective 1 April 2026 sets:

By my arithmetic, a 100-suite home would pay $12,500 to apply ($10,000 plus 100 × $25) and $18,276 a year in annual fees (100 × $15.23 × 12), before any expediting or assessment fees.

On timing, the licensee must give the Registrar written notice at least two months before a person acquires or ceases to have a controlling interest, or as soon as practicable (s. 109). If the home will close, or transfer to an operator who is not licensed, the seller owes the Registrar a transition plan at least 120 days before (O. Reg. 166/11, s. 7), which the RHRA describes as four months. The RHRA’s application page does not publish a standard processing time, so build a conditional period long enough to get the licence, or pay to expedite.

What the RHRA looks at

Section 35 of the Act says the Registrar issues a licence if the applicant, the people with a controlling interest, and the directors and officers are competent to operate the home responsibly and can provide or arrange care services, and if their past conduct gives reasonable grounds to believe the home will be run lawfully, honestly and without prejudice to residents’ health, safety or welfare.

The RHRA’s acquisition checklist includes the most recent fire safety plan approved by the local fire department, a food handling certificate if meals are served, proof of extra expense insurance, any municipal licence, the three most recent public health inspection reports, the information package, emergency plan and zero tolerance policy, and evidence of the applicant’s and any management company’s experience.

The extra expense insurance is a licensing condition: a policy that pays for reasonable alternate accommodation and care for residents for no less than 120 days if the home becomes unusable (O. Reg. 166/11, s. 5.1). Get a quote early. If you have no seniors-care track record, a management company with one is usually what makes the application credible.

Residents, tenancies and staff

Residents are not just customers. The licensee must have a written agreement with every resident (s. 53), and where the home is also a care home under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, that Act’s tenant protections continue to apply (s. 52). You are buying into existing tenancies, so rents and increases follow those rules, not whatever the new pro forma assumes.

You also cannot quietly cut services after closing. A licensee must give residents at least 90 days’ written notice before reducing care services (O. Reg. 166/11, s. 6). For staff, section 9 of the Employment Standards Act means employees you keep bring their service with them, unless you hire them more than 13 weeks after the earlier of their last day with the seller and the sale date.

Asset sale or share sale, lenders and HST

Either structure needs a new licence, so the choice usually turns on tax, liabilities and financing. A share purchase inherits the corporation’s history, including past inspection orders and employee claims. An asset purchase lets you pick liabilities but means re-papering resident agreements, suppliers and staff.

Lenders get a special rule: exercising a security interest in a licence does not transfer it if the lender gives the Registrar notice and a management plan within 15 days (s. 46). Your own lender will care about that clause.

On HST, section 167 of the Excise Tax Act allows a joint election on the sale of a business where the buyer acquires substantially all the property needed to run it, but it is not available if the seller is a registrant and the buyer is not, and the tax treatment of residential real property needs its own advice. Talk to your accountant before you set the price allocation.

What a retirement home is worth, and the documents to demand

No Canadian primary source publishes sale multiples or per-suite prices for retirement homes, so I will not quote one. Ask the seller for:

• the RHRA licence, conditions and public register entry, including inspection summaries and any orders;
• a current rent roll with suite type, rent, care package charges and move-in date for every resident;
• resident agreements and the care services price list;
• three to five years of financial statements, with occupancy by month;
• staffing schedules, payroll, agency costs and any union agreement;
• fire safety plan and fire department approval, fire inspection reports and sprinkler records;
• public health inspection reports and the food handling certificate;
• the extra expense insurance policy and claims history;
• management agreements and any non-arm’s-length service contracts.

For the building itself, see my companion post on retirement home property, zoning and fire code. The same licence-first logic applies in buying a daycare and buying a funeral home.

Where I fit

I work with buyers and sellers of commercial and investment property across Toronto and the GTA. On a retirement home I help separate the real estate from the operating business, test the building against zoning and fire code before you spend on diligence, and plan closing around the RHRA licence. Legal, tax and care-operations advice belong with your lawyer, accountant and operator. Book a call or phone 833-330-1925.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Retirement Homes Act, 2010 — e-Laws — ss. 33, 35, 45, 48, 109
• O. Reg. 166/11 (General) under the Retirement Homes Act — e-Laws — six residents; extra expense insurance; notices
• Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority — Fee schedule effective 1 April 2026
• Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority — How to apply for a licence — acquisition applications
• Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority — If you’re planning to sell a home — licences do not transfer
• Employment Standards Act, 2000 — e-Laws — s. 9, sale of a business and continuity of employment
• Excise Tax Act, section 167 — Justice Laws Website — joint election on the sale of a business

Related reading

• Retirement home property in Ontario
• Buying a funeral home in Ontario
• Buying a private school in Ontario
• Buying a daycare in Ontario
• Buying a physiotherapy clinic
• Cap rate calculator
• Book a call with Jatin