Apartment buildings are assessed as their own tax class in Ontario, separate from the houses and condominium units MPAC treats as residential.
The multi-residential tax class
Buildings with seven or more self-contained rental units fall into the multi-residential tax class, taxed at its own rate. A newer multi-residential class also applies in some municipalities, alongside the general multi-residential class. Which class your building falls into affects the rate applied to its assessment.
How MPAC values apartment buildings
MPAC values apartment buildings with the income approach, built from the rents the units actually earn: market rent by unit type and size, an allowance for vacancy, the building’s operating expenses, and a capitalization rate that reflects the building’s age, condition and location. Comparing MPAC’s rent and expense assumptions against your own rent roll and operating statement is the starting point on any multi-residential file.
BrookLex works on multi-residential rental buildings. We do not take on individual condominium units or houses. If that is what you own, MPAC assesses it as residential property, which we do not handle.
The building’s age and condition feed into the capitalization rate MPAC applies, the same way they would for a buyer weighing what to pay for the property. Rent levels in older buildings are also shaped by Ontario’s rent control rules, which limit how quickly in-place rents can rise. That is part of the market MPAC is supposed to reflect, and it is worth confirming that the rent MPAC assumed for your building matches what your units are actually achieving, rather than a rent that is only possible on full turnover.
PIER for apartment buildings
MPAC mails the Property Income and Expense Return to owners of rented apartment buildings each spring. In 2026 it was mailed May 27 and due July 22. Filing is mandatory, and the numbers you report feed directly into how MPAC sets rent and expense assumptions for multi-residential property. Our income and expense return service handles that filing.
A portfolio of apartment buildings can also mix the multi-residential class and the new multi-residential class within the same ownership group, each carrying its own tax rate. Confirming each building’s class is correct is worth doing before looking at the value of any one of them.
Filing fee at the Board
The Assessment Review Board’s filing fee for a multi-residential appeal is $318 per roll number, $10 less if e-filed. Owners with a portfolio of buildings, each with its own roll number, should budget for this when planning appeals across more than one property. See our fees page for how BrookLex bills its own work.
If your building’s rent, vacancy or expenses do not match what MPAC assumed, our assessment appeals service takes the case forward. For the mechanics behind the income approach, see our guide on how MPAC values income properties, and for deadlines see our key dates page. Owners with several buildings may also want a portfolio review.
The March 31 deadline to appeal the current assessment, or to file a Request for Reconsideration with MPAC, applies to multi-residential owners the same way it applies to commercial and industrial owners. A change, amended, supplementary or omitted notice carries its own 120 day deadline from the notice date, which matters most for buildings that were recently built or renovated.