Ontario Contractor Deposit Law: No Cap, 10 Days to Cancel

A roofer has quoted your roof and now wants money before anyone climbs a ladder. Ontario law does not cap that amount. We read the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 and its general regulation in full and found no deposit limit of any kind. What the law does give you is a way out. A roofing contract worth more than $50 that you sign in your home can be cancelled for any reason. The roofer then has 15 days to refund you. Below is where each rule lives, and what 26 GTA roofing companies publish.

Ontario sets no maximum deposit

The Consumer Protection Act, 2002 covers home renovations and repairs, including roofing. At the e-Laws currency date of August 25, 2026, its consolidation ran from December 11, 2025. Its general regulation, O. Reg. 17/05, ran from June 10, 2026.

We searched both documents for a deposit limit. The word "deposit" appears three times in the Act. Two are in section 110, about the Director freezing a supplier's assets, and one is in section 123, about making regulations for lease security deposits. It appears zero times in the regulation. The percentage ceilings the Act does set cover written estimates, car repairs, instalment plans for gym and dance style memberships, and credit and leasing disclosure. None of them caps what a roofer can ask for up front.

One part of the Act does ban taking money in advance. Part V is titled "Sectors where advance fee prohibited", and section 50 stops an operator taking payment before it has delivered. Section 48 defines "operator" as a credit repairer, a loan broker, or a supplier of goods and services "as may be prescribed". O. Reg. 17/05 prescribes nothing else, and sets requirements only for loan brokering and credit repair agreements. Roofing is not in Part V.

The Consumer Protection Act, 2023 will one day replace the 2002 Act. e-Laws still stamps it "THIS ACT IS NOT YET IN FORCE. It comes into force on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor." The 2002 Act governs your roof today.

The three different 10 per cents

Ask about roofing deposits and you will hear "10 per cent" three times, from three unrelated rules. Only one of them is about a deposit at all, and it is not a law.

Section 10 (1) says that if a consumer agreement includes an estimate, "the supplier shall not charge the consumer an amount that exceeds the estimate by more than 10 per cent." That limits the last invoice, not the first payment.

Ontario's page on your rights when starting home renovations or repairs, updated August 6, 2026, tells you to "keep down-payments to a minimum (we recommend no more than 10%)". The hiring a roofer page says to "limit the down payment to 10%" if a contractor asks for a large sum for materials. Both are ministry advice. Neither is a number a roofer breaks the law by exceeding.

The third 10 per cent runs the other way. Section 22 (1) of the Construction Act covers each payer on a contract under which a lien may arise. That payer "shall retain a holdback equal to 10 per cent of the price of the services or materials as they are actually supplied under the contract or subcontract". The same subsection holds that money until every lien that could be claimed against it has expired or been satisfied. A lien is a claim registered against your home by someone who was not paid for work on it. Section 31 (2) says a contractor's lien expires 60 days after the contract is completed, abandoned or terminated. If a certificate or declaration of substantial performance is published before then, the lien for work up to substantial performance expires 60 days after that publication instead.

Your 10 days, and when the clock really starts

Sign a roofing contract at your kitchen table and you have signed what the Act calls a direct agreement. Section 20 (1) defines that as a consumer agreement "negotiated or concluded in person at a place other than, (a) at the supplier's place of business, or (b) at a market place, an auction, trade fair, agricultural fair or exhibition". Your home counts, and so does your driveway.

Clause (b) is the one to watch in the GTA, because roofers sell at home shows. A contract negotiated and signed at a home show, a trade fair or a fall fair is not a direct agreement. Section 43 gives you no 10-day cooling-off period on it. Signing at the roofer's own office is outside it too, under clause (a). The test turns on where the agreement is negotiated or concluded. A quote picked up at a show and signed later at your kitchen table is back inside section 43.

Section 41 (1) applies those cancellation rules when your total potential payment obligations, excluding the cost of borrowing, exceed a prescribed amount. Section 34 of O. Reg. 17/05 sets that amount at $50. Any real roof job clears it.

Section 43 (1) is the right itself. A consumer may, "without any reason, cancel a direct agreement at any time from the date of entering into the agreement until 10 days after the consumer has received the written copy of the agreement."

Read that ending again, because it is the part people get wrong. The 10 days do not start when you sign. They end 10 days after the written copy reaches you. If the roofer emails your copy three days later, add those 3 days to the 10, and your window closes 13 days after signing. Ontario's roofer page calls them 10 calendar days.

Cancelling is simpler than most people expect. Section 92 (3) says the notice may be oral or in writing, given by any means. Section 92 (4) says a written notice counts as given when you send it, so keep proof of the date. Section 94 (2) says cancellation takes effect the moment you give notice.

What the contract has to contain

Section 35 (1) of O. Reg. 17/05 lists 15 things the written contract must set out. Among them are the roofer's name, business address and phone number, a description of the work, the total amount payable, and the terms of payment. It must also carry "an itemized list of the prices at which the goods and services are to be supplied to the consumer, including taxes and shipping charges", and the dates work will start and finish.

Item 11 is the one to look for first. The contract must carry a cancellation notice "in at least 10 point type, except for the heading which shall be in at least 12 point bold type". It goes on the first page, unless page one carries a notice in at least 12 point bold type saying where in the agreement the statement appears. So a pointer on page one is allowed, and finding one does not make the contract defective. The regulation prints the exact words that notice must use, and they include this line: "If you cancel this agreement, the supplier has fifteen (15) days to refund any payment you have made ..."

If you never get a copy that meets those requirements, section 43 (2) gives you a full year to cancel instead of 10 days. A roofing contract is normally also a future performance agreement, which the Act defines as one where delivery, performance or payment in full is not made when you sign. That type has its own one-year right in section 23, but you do not get to use it here. Section 17 of O. Reg. 17/05 says sections 22 and 23 "do not apply to a direct agreement that is also a future performance agreement", unless it is also a time share or personal development services agreement, which a roof job is not. For a contract signed in your home, section 43 (2) is your one-year right. Section 93 (1) goes further. A consumer agreement is not binding on you unless it was made in accordance with the Act and the regulations, and section 93 (2) lets a court order you bound only if it would be unfair not to.

What happens to your deposit if you cancel

Section 96 (1) (a) of the Act says the supplier shall refund any payment made under the agreement. Section 79 (1) of O. Reg. 17/05 sets the deadline: within 15 days after the day you give notice.

There is one exception, with two conditions that both have to be true. Section 83 of the regulation applies only if you solicited the work, and you asked for it to start within 10 days of signing. If both are true, the roofer is entitled to reasonable compensation for services already received, and for materials that cannot be taken back because they were used up, perished, or became an integral part of your house. Section 83 (2) counts only what you received before the earlier of the 11th day after signing and the moment you gave notice. Section 83 (4) lets the roofer deduct that from your refund. If you did not ask for an early start, or the roofer approached you, section 83 does not apply. Ontario's roofer page states the exception without those conditions, so read the regulation before accepting a deduction.

Two more provisions matter. Section 7 (1) says the rights in the Act "apply despite any agreement or waiver to the contrary", so a contract clause cannot sign your cancellation right away. Section 98 (1) lets you demand a refund of any amount charged in breach of the Act, within one year of paying it. Section 84 of the regulation gives the supplier 15 days to pay it back.

Who your deposit actually protects

Money you hand a roofer is not held for you. Section 8 (1) of the Construction Act covers all amounts owing to or received by a contractor on account of the contract price of an improvement. Those amounts "constitute a trust fund for the benefit of the subcontractors and other persons who have supplied services or materials to the improvement, who are owed amounts by the contractor or subcontractor". Section 8.1 (1) puts those funds in a bank account in the trustee's name, with written records.

So your deposit is trust money, and the people it is held in trust for are the roofer's subcontractors and suppliers, not you. A full roof replacement normally counts as an improvement, because section 1 (1.1) defines a capital repair as any repair intended to extend the normal economic life of a building, while excluding maintenance meant to prevent normal deterioration. A patch on three shingles may not qualify.

What GTA roofing companies publish

We checked 26 GTA roofing companies against one question: does the site state what deposit the company asks a homeowner for? Nine do. Seventeen publish nothing of their own, and several of those 17 publish advice about large deposits.

Only four of the 26 publish a figure. Avenue Road Roofing is the most specific, and its tiers are worth quoting as printed: "Projects under $2,500 - no deposit required. Projects over $2,501- 10% with order. Custom Products/Projects: Minimum 30% with order". The same page adds that terms are "to be discussed on large value projects, (typically requiring progress payment schedule)". RoofLife requires "a minimum deposit of 10% of the total contract price", in terms its own page scopes to "roof rejuvenation services". Royal York Roofing publishes 10 per cent on signing, but only inside its six-month payment plan, with 30 per cent on completion and 60 per cent spread over six months.

TilTop Roofers is the fourth, and its figure needs its condition. Its storm relief programme for insurance work publishes a "Programme Deposit: $999", which it calls "100% Refundable under insurance claim". The "no deposit required" line that runs in its footer belongs to its free drone estimate, not to the roof job.

One company says it takes nothing. Mint Roofing writes that it "will not take deposits for residential projects".

One wording is worth checking against the Act. RoofLife's terms call the deposit "non-refundable unless specified in the cancellation policy below", and let you cancel "within 10 days of signing". The Act runs that clock to 10 days after you receive your written copy, which can be later. Under section 7 (1), where a contract term and the Act disagree, the Act wins.

Before you hand over any money

Ask for the estimate to be written into the contract, so section 10 (1) binds the final bill. Check page one for the cancellation notice, or for the bold pointer saying where it is. Check that the itemized prices include tax, because the regulation requires that. Pay by a method that leaves a record. And if you want the roof started next week, know what you are giving up: asking for an early start is one of the two conditions that lets a roofer keep money when you change your mind.