Skip to main content

What temperature must a London landlord maintain, and when?

Verified against the linked bylaws on 25 August 2026

The short answer

London is the only municipality on this site to combine a day-night split with a season. Its Vital Services By-law PH-6 requires the heating of the unit, on and between September 15 of one year and June 15 of the following year, to a minimum of 20 degrees Celsius between six o'clock in the morning and eleven o'clock in the evening, and to a minimum of 18 degrees at all other times. Heat is defined as one limb of a broader "adequate and suitable" vital services standard that also covers cooking, dishwashing, toilets and washing.

Daytime heat
20 °C (68 °F) between 6:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m.
Overnight heat
18 °C (65 °F) at all other times
Season
On and between September 15 and June 15 of the following year
Heat is one limb
The same definition also covers cooking, dishwashing, toilet operation and washing
Instrument
Vital Services By-law PH-6, s. 1.1

Two numbers and two clocks

Section 1.1 defines "adequate and suitable" in reference to vital services as sufficient to enable, among other things, "the heating of the unit on and between the 15th day of September of one year and the 15th day of June of the following year to a minimum temperature of 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) between six o'clock in the morning and eleven o'clock in the evening of the same day, and to a minimum temperature of 18 degrees Celsius (65 degrees Fahrenheit) at all other times".

Ottawa also splits day from night, but runs at all times with no season. London does both at once, which makes it the most specific heat obligation in this set — a landlord has to get the temperature, the hours and the calendar right together.

The overnight figure of 18 is higher than Ottawa's 16.67, so London's setback is shallower. A building holding 20 around the clock satisfies both; a schedule tuned to Ottawa's floor would not satisfy London's.

Heat sits inside a wider definition

London's drafting folds heat into a list. The same definition requires the vital services to be sufficient to enable "the refrigerating, freezing, preparing and cooking of food for human consumption", "the washing of dishes and utensils used for food", "the operation of a toilet", and cleansing.

That framing matters when something other than the furnace fails. A unit at 21 degrees with no working toilet or no hot water for dishes is not delivering adequate and suitable vital services under this bylaw, even though the heat limb is satisfied.

The by-law also defines "Act" as the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, and is drafted to sit alongside it rather than to replace it.

A note on the source

London publishes PH-6 as a web page rather than a PDF. The page is the office consolidation and carries the full operative text, and London's own disclaimer notes it is an unofficial electronic reproduction.

For operations that is the reference to use; for a hearing you would want the certified copy from the City Clerk.

Because the heat figures are inside a definition rather than in a numbered heat section, a search of the by-law for the word "heat" will not land on them directly. Read section 1.1 in full.

Tyler knows which calls cannot wait

No heat in London in January is a repair obligation, a vital service and a municipal offence at the same time. Tyler files it as an emergency the moment a resident reports it, pages your team, and timestamps every step so the response time is a record rather than a memory.