GlobeQuest

Where to live in London ON

The rare Canadian rental market that got easier. CMHC's October 2025 survey put purpose-built vacancy in the London CMA at 4.0% — the highest in fifteen years — after record completions, softer international migration and a slower economy; the average two-bedroom sat at $1,651, up 4.1%. That does not make London cheap, but it does mean you can view several places, take a day to decide, and decline a landlord demanding a co-signer on the spot. Three things structure the market. London runs two municipal licensing regimes almost nobody writes about: a residential rental unit licence under by-law CP-19 on small rental properties, and since 1 March 2025 a rental unit repair licence a landlord must obtain before evicting you for a renovation. Ontario's rent guideline caps most increases at 2.1% for 2026, but units first occupied after 15 November 2018 are exempt entirely. And the calendar belongs to Western University and Fanshawe College — the good stock north and east of downtown turns over on 1 May and 1 September, and if you arrive in October you are shopping in the leftovers.

The neighbourhoods

Downtown & Woodfield

CAD 1,350–1,700 / month for a 1-bed

The core — Richmond Row's bars and restaurants, Covent Garden Market, Canada Life Place and Victoria Park, wrapped in Woodfield's grid of nineteenth-century brick houses

CentralWalkableNo carYoung professionals

Commute: Walk to everything downtown; 15–20 minutes by bus to Western, and the VIA station on York Street is a five-minute walk

  • The only genuinely car-free-viable part of the city
  • Covent Garden Market, the Grand Theatre, the Knights and the festivals in Victoria Park all within walking distance
  • New purpose-built towers alongside cheap older stock, so the price range is wide
  • London's street homelessness and drug crisis is concentrated here, most visibly along Dundas Place — walk it at different times before signing
  • The new towers are post-2018 and so exempt from the annual rent cap
  • Parking is scarce and expensive, and the Wellington Gateway construction reshapes the road network each season

Old South & Wortley Village

CAD 1,500–1,900 / month for a 1-bed

Over the river ten minutes south of downtown — the best-preserved late-Victorian streets in the city, with a proper village crossroads of independent shops in the middle

WalkableCharacterProfessionalsFamilies

Commute: 10–20 minutes on foot to downtown across the Thames; buses along Wharncliffe and Ridout

  • The most attractive residential streets in London and genuinely walkable
  • A real village high street — bakery, bookshop, restaurants — rather than a strip mall
  • Close to Victoria Hospital and to the Thames Valley Parkway
  • The clearest price premium in the city: the same flat costs meaningfully less fifteen minutes east
  • Mostly old houses cut into flats — draughts, single glazing and variable conversion quality
  • Very little purpose-built rental, so listings are scarce and go quickly

Old North & Broughdale

CAD 1,450–1,850 / month for a 1-bed, and much less per head in a student house share

Between downtown and the university gates — mature trees, Edwardian houses and a hard, visible line where the professional streets end and the student ones begin

StudentsAcademicsWalk to WesternCharacter

Commute: Walk or cycle to Western and to University Hospital; 20–25 minutes on foot to downtown

  • Walk to the university and to the largest hospital campus in the city
  • Handsome housing stock and the Thames Valley Parkway at the bottom of the hill
  • Well served by buses along Richmond
  • Broughdale is dominated by the student cycle and by an annual street party the City spends real money policing
  • Leases turn over on 1 May and 1 September, so timing is everything
  • Landlords here rent by the room, which distorts what a 'one-bed' listing actually is

Masonville & north London

CAD 1,500–1,900 / month for a 1-bed

Beyond the university — the Masonville shopping district, newer low-rise apartments and townhouses, and quiet subdivision streets running out to Sunningdale

FamiliesNewer stockParkingHospital & university staff

Commute: 10 minutes by bus or bike to Western and University Hospital; 25–35 minutes by bus to downtown

  • The newest purpose-built rental supply in the city, with parking, lifts and in-suite laundry
  • Strong school catchments and the reason a lot of hospital and university families settle here
  • Masonville Place and the north-end shopping is on the doorstep
  • Car-dependent outside the immediate Masonville node
  • Much of the newest stock is post-2018 and outside the rent guideline
  • You are a long way from downtown, and downtown is where the city's culture is

Old East Village & the east end

CAD 1,200–1,550 / month for a 1-bed

The old east commercial main street on Dundas — low brick shopfronts, a brewery, coffee roasters and the year-round Western Fair farmers' market, running out towards Fanshawe College

BudgetWalkableCultureStudents at Fanshawe

Commute: 10–15 minutes by bus to downtown along the new East London Link corridor; buses out to Fanshawe College

  • The cheapest walkable address in London by a clear margin
  • Genuinely interesting food, coffee and the best market in the city on a Saturday
  • The East London Link rapid transit corridor runs through it, which is the point of the construction
  • The visible edge of the city's housing and drug crisis sits along this corridor — this is the neighbourhood to walk at night before deciding
  • Older housing stock, much of it cut into small rental units, so the licence question matters most here
  • Dundas Street has been a construction site in phases for years and service does not start until late 2027

Byron, Riverbend & the southwest

CAD 1,450–1,800 / month for a 1-bed, with very little purpose-built supply

Across the Thames on the west side — the old village of Byron, newer Riverbend subdivisions, Springbank Park along the river and Boler Mountain's ski hill above it

FamiliesSpaceNatureQuiet

Commute: 15–25 minutes by car to downtown; buses along Commissioners and Oxford, slower than the map suggests

  • Springbank Park, the Thames Valley Parkway and a ski hill inside the city limits
  • Strong schools and the largest houses within a sensible commute
  • Quiet, low crime, and the closest London gets to a suburb people are proud of
  • Almost no purpose-built rental — listings are basements, condos or whole houses
  • Car-dependent in a way the core is not
  • Parts of the river flats are in a regulated flood plain, which affects insurance and what you may build

How renting works in London ON

Tenancies are governed by Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act and disputes go to the Landlord and Tenant Board, whose backlogs are long enough that both sides prefer to settle. Ontario's standard lease form is mandatory for most private residential tenancies. The 2026 rent increase guideline is 2.1%, with at least 90 days' written notice and no more than one increase in twelve months — but units first occupied for residential purposes after 15 November 2018 are exempt from the guideline entirely. Ontario allows a rent deposit only, applied to the last month; a damage or security deposit is not lawful, and neither is a pet deposit. After the fixed term the tenancy continues month to month automatically; the tenant then gives 60 days' notice ending on the last day of a rental period. On top of all that, London adds two municipal licences that most Ontario cities do not run — one on the rental unit itself, and one the landlord needs before renovating you out.

  1. 1

    Ask to see the residential rental unit licence

    By-law CP-19 requires a licence for most small rental properties — buildings containing four or fewer rental units where the registered owner does not live there, and multiple-unit dwellings even where the owner occupies one. Apartment buildings, townhouses and stacked townhouses are exempt, and so is an owner renting to three or fewer people in their own home. A new licence requires a property standards inspection and a fire inspection; renewals do not. The licence lasts a year and must be posted inside the unit near the front entrance. It is the closest thing to a free quality signal you will get on a converted house, and no listing site shows it.

  2. 2

    Understand the rental unit repair licence before you hear the word 'renovation'

    Since 1 March 2025 a landlord serving an N13 notice — eviction to do extensive repairs or renovations — must already hold a building permit and must apply to the City for a rental unit repair licence within seven days of issuing the N13, supported by a report from a qualified professional stating that vacant possession is genuinely necessary. The application costs $600 per unit and lasts six months. Your right to move back in afterwards at the pre-renovation rent is part of the scheme. If you are served an N13, the first question is whether the licence exists.

  3. 3

    Use the 4% vacancy rate rather than bidding against yourself

    This is the loosest London's purpose-built market has been in fifteen years. That means viewing several units, taking a day to decide, asking for parking or a month free, and declining a landlord who wants a co-signer, a year of post-dated cheques and a decision in the room. Newcomers arriving with a Toronto-shaped mental model sign the first thing they see and never learn they did not have to.

  4. 4

    Time your search around the university and college calendar

    Western and Fanshawe drive the turnover. The best stock north and east of downtown lists in February and March for a 1 May start, and again in June and July for 1 September. Arriving in October means shopping in what did not let — which is exactly when a soft market is least useful to you. If your move date is flexible by a month, move it.

  5. 5

    Ask what the heat is and what last winter cost

    London averages around 194 cm of snow and a great deal of the older stock is century housing cut into flats, some of it on electric baseboards. The difference across a snowbelt winter is hundreds of dollars a month. Ask what the system is, whether heat is included, and what the previous tenant actually paid — the electricity distributor is London Hydro, which is municipally owned, and a previous bill is easy for a landlord to produce if they want to.

  6. 6

    Insist on the Ontario standard lease and read what has been added

    The standard lease is a mandatory fixed form for most private residential tenancies. Extra terms go in an appended section, and terms conflicting with the Residential Tenancies Act are void even if you sign them. A 'no pets' clause is void in Ontario. So is a demand for a damage deposit or an automatic late-payment penalty beyond what the Act allows.

  7. 7

    Budget first and last month's rent, and nothing else

    Ontario permits a rent deposit of up to one month, applied to the final month of the tenancy — the 'last month's rent' everyone refers to. A key deposit is allowed only up to the replacement cost of the key. A separate damage or security deposit is not lawful. If someone asks for one, they are either uninformed or testing you.

  8. 8

    Give the right notice, in the right form

    After the first fixed term the tenancy continues month to month automatically. A tenant gives at least 60 days' written notice ending on the last day of a rental period — not 60 days from whenever you decide. Use the Board's form, and diarise the deadline the day you sign.

Upfront cost

First month's rent plus a rent deposit of up to one month, applied to the last month of the tenancy — commonly quoted as 'first and last'. A key deposit is allowed only up to the replacement cost of the key. Damage deposits, security deposits and pet deposits are not lawful in Ontario. There is normally no agent fee to the tenant. Budget separately for a London Hydro account, which usually wants a deposit or a credit check from someone with no Canadian file.

Where to search

Kijiji and Facebook Marketplace, which carry most of London's private, basement and converted-house listings — and most of the scamsRentals.ca and PadMapper for purpose-built buildings and the newer north-end towersRealtor.ca for condo and whole-house listings handled by agentsWestern University's off-campus housing service and Fanshawe College's equivalent, both useful well beyond studentsThe larger local apartment owners' own sites, which is where the pre-2018 rent-capped stock isThe City of London's residential rental unit licence pages, to understand what a compliant small rental looks likeThe Landlord and Tenant Board and the Ontario standard lease page, for the rules, the forms and the current guideline

Insider tips

  • Ask for the rental licence number on any house, duplex or converted flat. A landlord who does not know what you mean is telling you something.
  • If you are ever served an N13 for renovations, check whether the landlord holds a City rental unit repair licence — since March 2025 they must apply for one within seven days of serving it.
  • Ask when the building was first occupied. Post-15-November-2018 means no annual rent cap at all, and in London that is mostly the new downtown and north-end towers.
  • A 'no pets' clause in an Ontario lease is void, and there is no such thing as a lawful damage deposit here. First and last month's rent is the whole of it.
  • Walk the Dundas corridor and the downtown core at night as well as in the afternoon before committing. The difference is real and no listing will mention it.
  • Check whether a riverside address sits in a regulated flood plain — the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority maps them, and it affects insurance and permissions.
  • Verify the landlord actually owns the property before transferring anything. The pattern is always the same — a below-market listing, an owner conveniently out of the country, and pressure to secure it today.

Avoid these

  • Renting a converted house without asking whether it holds the City rental licence it is legally required to have.
  • Accepting an N13 renovation eviction at face value without checking the repair licence.
  • Signing in a post-2018 building without realising the annual rent guideline does not apply to it.
  • Paying a 'damage deposit' or 'pet deposit' that Ontario law does not permit.
  • Arriving in October and treating the leftovers as evidence the market is tight.
  • Assuming a bus route on the map is a bus route in service — the rapid transit corridors are construction sites until 2027 at the earliest.
  • Giving notice 60 days from today rather than 60 days ending on the last day of a rental period.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.

Find your feet in London ON

Globe Quest gives you a free, AI-personalized plan — where to live, the setup steps, and a community of people making the same move.

Full London ON relocation guideCost of living in London ON →