Alberta InnKeepers Act
As times have become tougher for many people something that is showing up more and more often is renting out a furnished or unfurnished room in the homeowner’s property.
On the plus side it can be an easy way to generate an extra $400 to $700 extra income a month that can go towards paying off the monthly mortgage. For some people renting out a couple of rooms is a great way to pay off the entire mortgage each month!
However on the negative side, if you rent out to friends or family you often find yourself in the unenviable situation of having to carry one of them for a few weeks or months if they have financial problems. After all, who wants to evict a friend or family member?
Or if you are advertising on some of the internet sites, you never know what type of stranger you are letting into your home, providing access to your personal items and potentially confidential information you wouldn’t want shared. Renting out rooms in your home can be a big challenge, fortunately though you have the Innkeeper’s Act on your side!
If you rent out rooms in your house, the Innkeepers Act can be your best friend. Not only does it allow you to evict on the spot when tenants breach the rules, you can call the police and they will helpfully escort the problem individual out!
No 24 hour eviction, no 14 day eviction, no need to go to the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service, just have them removed by the police. If you are renting out rooms in your home where you live, you need to have a copy of this act so you can know your rights.
So to make that possible, you can go grab it right here,
Province of Alberta Innkeeper’s Act
It’s only eight pages, so it’s an easy read, and there are some important points in there, like having certain items posted for your tenants to see, so be sure to read it! If you rent out rooms it will quickly become your best friend!
Just one last reminder, the Alberta Innkeepers Act only applies if you live in the premises. I run multiple shared accommodation properties that I do not live in and due to this they fall under the Residential Tenancy Act, so know the rules and be sure you understand what applies to you!
Hi Bill,
If the landlord creates a 6 months minimum agreement does that now fall under the residential tenancy act ?
Hi Stella,
I need more context for this. Is this a shared accommodation situation you are referring too? Or is it just a shorter lease in a regular rental? There are changes under Innkeeper’s if the residency is longer than six months, but you’re still outside the RTA as it doesn’t cover rentals where there is shared space with the landlord. Under the RTA side, leases can be any duration and have a start and end date.
B
Goodmorning
Please I am urgently need help
I have a big issue with my land lord and is extremely urgent to break my rental agreement.
Since I’m in his house she put me on stress everyday with complain . She refuses me too work at home , and also yesterday she refuses me to study at home, to stay at home in the morning also. I have paid her 2 months in advance October and November and deposit .
She put dirty in the bathroom and ask me too clean it when I refuse , she begin to threatening me and is hard I cannot be concentrate to do something right now until have a solution with.
Thank you for your understanding and Also if you have advice for me please share with me . I’m a newcomer without familly here and this situation stress me a lot.
She said if I break agreement rental I will pay her three months.
Thanks in advance.
Hi Amina,
Sorry for urgent issues you should use the consulting service as I get pinged on my phone. I only check comment messages a couple times a week. As for your situation, I’m missing a ton of details. It sounds like you’re renting a room, do you have a signed lease? It should cover the rules of termination of the lease, although many landlords simply use regular Residential Tenancy Act leases which complicates their situation. The lease should contain the rules about what is and what is not acceptable so she may be violating your rights as a tenant in which case you have rights to terminate.
Typically there shouldn’t be restrictions, but it can depend on the type of work you are doing at home or if there are specific hours written into the contract you may have agreed to. Without reading the lease again it’s too hard to see what she may be doing wrong or right.
She won’t however be able to charge you multiple months if you break the lease. She is supposed to actively try to re-rent the space so she may retain your security deposit and/or your November payment for lack of notice. IF she does you would potentially be able to fight it but you would have to a) go to court and represent yourself and b0 if you won there is never a guarantee you ever get paid back. So it’s rather an uphill battle. I’d recommend you try and work something out with her to vacate the unit and even possibly helping her re-rent the space fi that means securing your money back. First and foremost though I’d suggest finding an alternate place to live which may be the biggest challenge right now in this marketplace.
B
Hi,
I am renting one of the rooms in a basement suite while the owners live in the floor upstairs. My rent includes the room and all the utilities. Can the landlord prohibit me from having guests over because I don’t pay the utilities? The owner said that an extra person in the house could mean increased using of lights and water. If not, is there a limit on how long my guests can stay in my room? Thank you…
Hi Danielle,
Issues like this should be covered by the lease, if it’s not “in the lease”, it’s kind of hard for the landlord to come back and change the rules. Now, if it’s a room rental in the landlords main house and you share the upper kitchen with them it gets even more complicated as it also fall sunder the Innkeeper’s Act versus the RTA. If you are an entirely separate self contained suite and rent a room within that suite you move back to the RTA. Under the Innkeepers Act you would have less ability to have guests, under the RTA there are reasonable limits expected and if not set out in the lease it could cause complications, like this.
So bottom line, without more details it’s kind of hit and miss.
B
Quick question, I live in a house with my daughter that would fall under the innkeepers act. Both owners live here, one of the two is a severe narcissist and this was unknown to me until I made the 5 hr move here. Things have progressively gotten worse over time, slamming doors and stomping around at 430 am everyday, slamming doors anytime he’s home, swearing & name calling directed at my daughter, violent outbursts, bringing dirt into the house purposely after I’ve cleaned. I’m exhausted. The other landlord/innkeeper has tried speaking with him and he stonewalls and will not converse. What are my rights in this situation? The peace is not being kept and I am constantly on edge. Please advise.
Hello Anon,
While you do have rights in this situation it’s through the courts as it’s a civil matter and falls outside the RTDRS which handles the Residential Tenancies Act. It’s a fairly formal process and it becomes a he said she said affair where you’d need a ton of evidence to back up your situation and if you won you’d potentially get some rental rebates or at least a judgment, which doesn’t guarantee you’d actually get paid anything. Plus it would likely just cause more hardships at the property, basically if the guys a loon he won’t change.
So realistically you might be better off finding a new place which isn’t exactly the answer you are likely hoping for. Especially in the current tight rental market.
B
I would love for someone to explain the residential tenancy act. I’ve been trying to figure out this act, but I haven’t been too successful in doing so.
Hi Greg,
That’s pretty vague as the Act covers the main rules around Residential Tenancies. Was there a specific part fo the Act you were confused/interested in?
Bill
Hello,
My name is Rachel and I’m doing some research for my Manager. I work at a motel and my manager lives in the motel building however, we have an apartment building owned my the motel company behind the motel itself. The apartment building is technically part of the motel but we do not rent the apartments out to motel guests. Some are rented to people on a month to month basis and some are yearly leases. The motel owner claims that the apartment building falls under the Innkeepers Act even though the resident manager doesn’t live in that building. My understanding from my research thus far is making me think that the motel itself would fall under the Innkeepers Act but the apartment building would be under the RTA.
Could you confirm this or correct me if I’m wrong?
Thank you!
Rachel
Hi Rachel,
I also emailed you directly but from what I see here the apartment would be under the RTA.
Bill
Hello Bill,
I Manage my brothers property here in Fort McMurray it is a 4 bed room townhouse and I rent it room by room we all share the common areas. There are no paper agreement just the verbal agreement or some text massages conversations we had. I recently rented a room to a guy and ever since he moved he has been giving me problems, from taking my wet cloths out of dryer and putting it in a dusty place so i have to redo the laundry. Secondly, we argued before he gave me a damage deposit as he did not want to pay it till I told him to move, I told him the day rent is due but he is trying to tell me otherwise but eventually paid it now I learn to just ignore him totally to avoid any form of argument because every time he talks to him it turns to something and or he start saying I am nasty or inconsiderate.
I am a student and everyone knows I study in the dinning area I have never had any problems as I do not care of the noises and now to piss me of and make me complain whenever I am studying and he see that he start playing music if I tell him to stop the music or lower it he totally ignores me and say he leave here too. No one has ever stopped him from playing music or using any space in the house but every day he is just doing small stuffs that is making me angry or other room mate who are waiting for me to do some thing about it. he is clean and all payed his rent after we revisited the last text message of the dates that rent is required but he is looking for issues ans complaining about everything in the house or blaming other for anything like dishes or cups that was broken in the house and excluding himself. Please what can I do at this point it a small problem but I feel overwhelmed cause of his attitude.
Hi Rita,
Hopefully you’ve recognized the importance of w written agreement after this. You should also consider ensuring you have posted rules in the property and no one ever moves in without the deposit and rent up front or you’re leaving more opportunity for trouble on the table.
At this point if he’s paying on time and clean, you need to start creating a paper trial in case you have to take him to court. If you simply want him out you may want to offer to completely refund his month’s rent and security deposit immediately if he leaves immediately. At least that gives him money to move on.
Bill
hi i have a situation and i need guidance on what my next steo will be,i just signed my new lease for the next 2 years and only mu name is on it,now my husband and i are sepreated,but stil in the same house ,i asked him to leave but he refuses,because he has no were else to go and no money,he asked me to give him time so he can find a job and get money to buy an plane ticket back to his home land,its been 2 months now and no changes have happened i dont want to wait anymore i want him out,what can o do ,can i give him an eviction notice,he i working now,and has never helped me with any bills or shores and im done now, dont want it no more,so he needs to leave asap,please help,
Hi Michaella,
You might fall outside the eviction realm and more into family law in this case, although since your husband isn’t on the lease the landlord can evict him.
You could also talk to the police and see if they may help, although they may simply refer you to civil court. It’s a tricky situation when it involves ex’s and there is a bunch of overlap so it can depend on how long you’ve been together, what’s going on and whether there are legal issues.
Bill
Hello. I’m renting a room in fort mac and my landlord is very nosey. he’s very cheap and if I fall asleep with the TV on he’ll come in my room and turn it off while I’m asleep, but that’s not my problem. I smoke weed to fall asleep. I don’t smoke in the room but I keep it in my room. I think he come in my room while I’m at work/ and I’m sure he knows I have a bit of weed. my question is, can he allow a police officer to come into my room without my permission?
I should mention that its a basement suit and I share it with another friend I
work with. the landlord lives upstairs but he leaves to go stay in a camp maybe 5 days a week.
sorry. one more thing to add. both of our doors have locks. I know he comes in because my TV is off and I also put tape across the crack of the door and the tape gets ripped. I would just move out but I just moved in and gave him a full months rent. do I have any options?
Hey Berman,
It’s pretty unlikely the police will bother showing up over a single bag of weed unless there was some intent traffic or distribute. From there it would get pretty hazy for them to search your private space without consent or some sort of proof of a real crime.
Having said that though, smoking pot is still a crime so there could be minor repercussions. Just to follow up on the second and third comments added, the landlord is in violation of your rights for a private space and should be providing notice, but you don’t fit under the Residential Tenancy Act so you may need to review any lease or contract you signed.
At this point and in the area you live in there should be a ton of potential spaces available, so I would consider getting out of there as quickly as possible if it doesn’t fit your needs.
Bill
I am in a difficult situation. I was living in a work camp run by Noralta Lodge. They threw out some of my things even though I emailed them that I accidentally left them and wanted them back. They refused. There is a copy of the Alberta Innkeepers Act on the wall. I said I would be going to court so that they could “make good”, but they called that harassment and told Syncrude who suspended me immediately and indefinitely. So I have two burning questions: How do I go about filing a claim as mentioned in the Act? and as far as I can tell there is no protection from retaliation, is there?
Hi Billy,
The rules do vary a bit when you work for the company that runs the rental. I think that’s how this is set up from what you explained.
You do still have options, but you have to either go through the RTDRS or the courts to file an application. You can find the RTDRS with a quick Google search and they have the forms to download and file. Theoretically they can’t retaliate, but the issue is proving each sides position.
Bill
Hello Bill,
After splitting up with my now ex-wife, I found myself with a big house, and just me in it, so I decided to take on a renter. I have a large room in the basement that is used as a bedroom/living area, as well as a seperate bathroom downstairs. There is a shared entrance, laundry, kitchen and dining room.
I took in a young couple about 4 months ago. A rental agreement was signed and they moved in on February 1, 2016. It is a six month agreement.
Within the first few days, the young couple had a disagreement, and the female moved out of the house. I informed her that she is still liable for the rent and any other costs associated with the rental agreement.
The male has continued to occupy the room for the past 5 months, but at the beginning of July, the final month of the agreement, he informed me that he did not have money for rent……..period. No alternative plans, or arrangements. He said he would ‘start’ moving things out.
For the first few days of the month, he came and went like nothing had happened, and had little to no communication with me. Now, it is the 10th of the month, and I haven’t heard anything from him since the 5th. I sent him a text on the 7th telling him that I needed him to get his stuff out so that I could clean the place and get it ready for a new renter. I’ve heard nothing.
It doesn’t look like he has much of anything of value, but there is some furniture, bed, couch, entertainment unit, etc.
So here’s my question…..what can I do with his stuff? Sell it to recoup the rent for this month? Do I put it into storage and sell it at a later date? Do I have to allow him in at any time to get it. As I mentioned, I haven’t heard from him, so I anticipate him just showing up whenever to slowly move stuff out.
I can’t even begin to look for a new tenant until his stuff is out and I can clean. He also has damaged a couple doors in the basement too.
I also have an alarm system that he obviously has the code for. Can I change the code and let him know via text or e-mail, and tell him that he is no longer authorized on my property until the rent is paid?
I am gone most of the day during the week, and I don’t even like to think of him coming in when I’m not here, especially since he has access to all of my personal possessions too.
Thank you,
L.R.
Hi Leon,
The good news is you don’t fit under the Residential Tenancy Act, the bad news is the area you fit in is incredibly vague…
With situations where you are renting out a room or space in a home that is shared with the landlord it’s really important to have a good contract in place breaking out all the rules and what ifs, the prenup of the rental so to speak. This is because the majority of the time if there is any confusion these rentals often end up falling under contract law and the rental agreement in place is the contract.
I often see landlords use regular rental forms for this which often say they default to the Residential Tenancy Act rules and that can cause some problems, but they’re not insurmountable.
At this point I’d give him a firm date to be out, let him know that you will be changing the locks and the alarm code after that date and that any items left behind after that point need to be coordinated with you for pickup and/or after x amount of days you will sell anything left to try and recoup lost rent. Also point out nay re-entrance after that time without you there would be trespassing.
Now part of this is a bluff, as he does have the right to take you to court to fight this, but to do that is a lot of work and a lot of potential costs, so he’ll likely simply move on, you just need to have a good understanding of where he is at. If he’s desperate, or vindictive, he may proceed down the court route which he may lose right away at depending on your contract and other factors. If he understands he is in the wrong, he moves on.
Hope that gives you some ideas.
Bill
Hi,
I live in a rented accommodation, I am the only person signed on the rental agreement.
I have a roommate that refused to sign a rental agreement that I made with her and now she just gave me 12 days notice before rent is due that she is moving out. She refuses to pay the next month rent and utilities/damage deposit from this month.
What are my rights in order to get her evicted ASAP!
Also what are my rights in regards to having her pay utilities/damage deposit for the place? and next months rent?
With such a short time period you don’t have many options but to either wait it out to ensure she does leave or you can file in the courts for a hearing to determine damages which you may never get paid for. In all likelihood the hearing won’t be for several weeks in which time they will be gone anyway and now you’ll also be out the $100 filing fee.
By letting her in without a signed agreement it makes it tough for you to prove anything as it becomes a he said she said scenario. You can deduct any outstanding moneys from her security deposit, and she may have to come after you if you withhold all of it to cover lost rent and outstanding utilities, but you’ll want to be sure you give her a statement breaking down what you withheld, under the RTA you are required to do that within ten days, under a room rental scenario it’s not specifically stated, but if you follow similar guidelines you should be fine.
Moving forward I’d suggest you get a quality lease to cover you off and so you don’t run into future issues. I do sell them via this site under the lease menu section or you can find free, generic versions that often don’t protect you adequately in multiple places on the web.
Bill
Hi Bill, I wanted to send you a message but can only seem to reply to other messages, sorry. So my situation is I rent a house in Calgary, and I rent out rooms (sublet) with the verbal permission of my landlord (who is my ex bf that I shared the home with for 1.5 yrs, prior to us splitting and him moving away). I rent out rooms at a fixed mnthly rental fee to each individual, nothing changes or fluctuates in the mnthly rent for the room renters regardless of how many people are in the home. Everyone just pays the rent that they agreed to when signing a room rental agreement with me. We share the kitchen and bathrooms.
My situation is that a guy who rents my basement and is moving out next wk on June 30th, is complaining and wants monetary compensation because my current bf is staying temporarily (in my room, not occupying another bdrm in the house). My bf has been in the home for 2 wks and once he has dealt with personal issues such as finding a job in the city, he will be moving out on his own. BUT in the mean time this room renter “Chris” expects to me compensate him and return some of his rent for June because of “Joes” presence in the home and because I didnt let him ( Chris ) know that “Joe” would be staying in the home for a few wks. Does he have a “leg to stand on”? BTW “Chris is moving out June 30th, he gave notice as required and only has one more wk in the home.
From my experience and everything I have read through the Alberta government sites, he is owed nothing because of “Joes” presence in the home. The room rental agreement does not state how many people will be living in the home.
Also, how long do I have before I have to return his damage deposit? Each person who rents a room, pays a deposit, to me, Not my ex bf (who is my landlord). My “landlord” allows me to sublet and has Nothing to do with renters accept ultimately He is paid the mnthly rent. This has all been left to my discretion, as far as who lives in the house with me. I just want to know if “Chris” has rights to reimbursement of any June rent AND how long I, as the renter on the lease agreement with the landlord, have to return his Damage Deposit. I really look forward to hearing back from you! 🙂 Thanks
I am SO glad I came across this site! My stress level has been drastically reduced.
I have a friend of about 15 years living in the finished basement (two bedrooms, a living room area, and a full bath, plus a parking spot in the garage) of the house that I own and reside in. He shares my kitchen and laundry facilities with me on the main floor. He moved in 25 April 2016. This person also has a dog and this is where the problems start.
His dog is not fully house trained and urinates anywhere on the main floor he can. I do not deem this as acceptable! I asked – about two weeks ago – that he restrict the dog from the main floor until he is better trained. This resulted in a fit of rage, raised voices, and ultimately a threat to burn my house down with me inside it.
We have nothing written such as a rental agreement since this person was a respected friend… until about two weeks ago! Since our disagreement, he has neglected to pay the verbally agreed amount for June (basically, enough to cover the increase in utilities – which is to say, *well* below market value). The money is not important, and I really don’t care if I ever see it. What concerns me are the threats and the potential damage from his dog.
My questions: I’ve used your helpful link to the Innkeepers Act, but i don’t see anything about having the RCMP escort this person (and hopefully his belongings) off the property. They will do so if I ask? Legally, is this person considered a house guest, not a tenant? Do I need to give him notice, written or verbal? If so, how far in advance?
Forgive me, I’m confused and frightened, and if I can get this person off my property and get the keys returned without further threats or even violence, I will be eternally grateful and never let ANYBODY stay here for more than a single night ever again!
Hi Keith,
The way the police tend to deal with Innkeeper/Residential Tenancy Act issues is to defer where ever possible to the courts these days. This does change if the tenant is especially aggressive so if your tenant reacts with another threat to the property, call the police immediately.
I believe the problem is so many people have misinterpreted the rules and try twisting them to their benefit that the police have been backing off more and more as it fits under civil law versus the criminal code which they enforce.
If he’s aggressive, then I’d recommend calling them right away as when they arrive they will be much more inclined to help you out right then to avoid future problems.
In the meantime I’d start by giving him written notice to vacate by say the middle of the month or the end of the month citing the lack of payment, the dog problems and the threats if you still want to make this easy. Best case he leaves, worst case you create a path of evidence if it does end in court. Any discussions you have document and follow up with written notice/emails so again you have a paper trail.
You may end up having to go through the courts to get rid of him eventually or you could simply warn him that the locks will be changed at the end of the month and if he wants to try and fight it he can fight it after the fact in court, but due to the threats, the non-payment and the other issues he’ll be throwing his money away.
Bill
Thank you so much for taking time out of your weekend for your reply. Your advice is extremely helpful and very appreciated! If I ever rent out to anybody ever again, I will definitely be using your lease forms. And I will be recommending this site to everybody. Thanks!!!
Glad I could help Keith, good luck,
Bill
Hello and good evening!
I own the house and currently rent out two rooms upstairs, as I live in the basement and we share the kitchen and living room. My roommate told me last night (the 1st of June) that he is moving out of province on the 10th of June (9 days notice). He seems to think that he is still gets his damage deposit back. I don’t think that he will have enough money to pay his share of utilities and other bills before he leaves. He doesn’t have much regarding furniture or other assets, but he does own a car worth a few thousand. It’s situated on my property and it doesn’t run.
What are my options? How do I get my money for utilities and other money owed? Does he have to give 30 days notice to get the damage deposit back? Is there anyway I can get value out of his car?
Thanks for reading this and helping me out. I am fairly new to this, so it’s greatly appreciated!
Hi CJ,
What does your lease say about this? Does it mention notice terms? If it doesn’t you are getting into gray areas, but if you’re renting by the month it would be assumed a month’s notice.
If you have a security deposit you can apply that against anything outstanding. If there is money owed above and beyond that and it’s less than two thousand dollars it’s probably not even worth the hassle (welcome to being a landlord).
Just document what it is being applied for. Also, has he paid for the full month already, a portion of that may be applied to the outstanding amount and the rest of the month for breaking the lease early.
Bill
Hello,
We had a roommate living with us move out of a large room in our home. He left a ton of stuff, a futon, computer desk, dressers, tables, the list goes on. We shared the kitchen and bathrooms so I understand we are not under the RTA.
When he moved he wanted to store his belongings at our home for one week. He texted us saying he’d pick it up. The day before he said he’d be there he told us he couldn’t make it. We told him it wasn’t any rush yet but let us know when you are picking it up.
It’s now been 3.5 months since he’s moved and stopped paying rent here. We have asked him a few times to pick up his stuff but sometimes he ignores us or makes an excuse that he can’t make it.
Do we have any options here? We have no idea what to do. He knew we needed it out as soon as possible.
We were thinking about giving him a weeks notice to pick up his stuff, as it’s been months. We can’t give him a written notice as he wont give us his address and he lives in another town. I read the IA, but i didn’t understand or find a clear answer.
Steven
Hi Steven,
The general rules with abandoned goods are that if they are in excess of $2,000 you need to document everything and can hold it for 30 days. After that point you are supposed to auction it off to pay any of your bills owed first and the remainder is to go to the former tenant.
If the items are worth less than $2,000 you are supposed to be able to dispose of the, but I highly recommend inventorying everything in case he comes back.
This is more of the ruling for the residential tenancy act, but it does often carry over to rooms, so understanding this, ramp up the pressure on him and let him know he has 30 days if you believe his goods are worth more than $2,000 or offer him less time if they are worth less. Make sure he knows they will be disposed of after that point and see how it plays out. Again just make sure to document and inventory everything so you can show you gave him notice and he received it and that it has dragged on, just in case.
There is always a small chance he can come back later and drag you to court to get compensated, but if it sat there for so long he probably doesn’t care too much for the items.
Bill
Hi, Bill.
Firstly, thank you for such an informative site. It’s been quite an education, reading through it.
I wonder if you could make some suggestions on my situation.
I am not a landlord. I don’t WANT to be a landlord. I’m just someone who was stupid enough to believe friendship meant something.
Two and a half years ago, I offered to share my mobile home with a married pair of longtime (30+ years) friends when their financial situation got so bad they were going to be out on the street. This was caused partly by health issues and partly by ignoring it until they were out of options. I offered them the space (two rooms their own, kitchen, den and bathroom shared) free for a year, then they would be expected to pay half the rent and expenses. In return, I asked only that they clean up their own mess and find somewhere else to be for one afternoon or evening a month so I could have some solitude. Far less solitude than I need, but still workable.
All verbal, of course. My own fault, and I should have known better, but those two conditions seemed pretty reasonable to me.
They won’t leave. They won’t leave even for a few hours. The boxes and stuff they brought in and stuffed in every corner is still exactly where it was dumped two and a half years ago. They won’t clean. The female can’t do much physically, the male is an alcoholic and will spill soup and walk away. They won’t go away so I can clean. Their cat defecates everywhere. Twice now, I’ve come home to discover the toilet seat, floor, and bath rug covered in feces when one of them has had an episode of the runs then just gone off to bed. They don’t keep any kind of schedule.
I can’t deal with this any longer. They were told a year ago to get themselves on Calgary Housing’s waiting list, as neither can work and both only have small pensions. They did. They were verbally given 6 months notice to vacate which ran out March 31 and which they ignored. I’ve given them a written second notice to vacate as of May 31, and informed them that I will have them physically removed and/or go through the courts if they, and their possessions are not gone by then.
They paid their half of the expenses for the first year and a half, and their free year is up this month. I don’t want them to start paying rent again. I don’t want damages, I don’t want money, I just want them to GO AWAY and never return. This is causing me near-suicidal depression.
If I can ever get my solitude back, nobody will be allowed across my threshold again, ever.
Hi Val,
Sounds like you already understand your mistakes here, although the big one will be the lack of a lease. Start documenting the issues, make sure they have them and understand the repercussions if changes aren’t made. You technically need a valid reason to evict them, but the problems you’re describing may suffice.
going forward you can try and evict them on your own, or you may want to consider bringing in a professional eviction company. Either way will cause conflict and the professionals will be more costly, but when it gets complicated like this, (no lease, shared living, free rent arrangements) it often ends up being easier to let the pros handle it.
Bill
Hello,
I rented a room to a family renting an apartment. I did not sign a contract; I just have text messages that I gave her damage deposit and one month rent. I’ve been asking for my damage deposit back but was told that they had moved out of the apartment and used my damage deposit to pay the fine for not giving enough notice. Could you please advise what I can do to get my deposit back? Can I report her to CRA for undeclared additional income? Thank you.
You can file an application with the RTDRS disputing your deposit, but you need to track them down to serve them and from the sounds of it you likely won’t get paid anyway, although they could have a judgement against the affecting their credit.
Problems being you need to know where they live now to serve them in person and you have no signed paperwork confirming they actually have your deposit. You can report them to CRA, but it will be likely be ignored as it’s too much work to try and collect the extra $50 in taxes they may not have paid when there are bigger fish to fry.
Bill
Hi Bill,
I am a tenant in a shared accommodation with the landlord.
We originally agreed on a month to month lease, however when I arrived on possession date (after moving from out of town) I was handed paper work with a year lease to sign.
The room I am renting has no window thereby making it non compliant with the Alberta Building Code Act.
Are you required to provide notice to the landlord or is this suitable for immediate termination of the lease?
In a shared accommodation with a landlord is there any other other acts/regulations that would provide a tenant the ability to dissolve a lease agreement?
Thank you,
Hi Cory,
You may have an immediate out as the unit is an illegal bedroom. If it doesn’t have a window, it’s not a bedroom and if you bring this up with the landlord it should allow you out.
Having said that, if they are renting a room out as a bedroom without a window they probably aren’t too concerned about you and are just in it for a buck. This means they will fight you tooth and nail to retain your deposit and any additional rent paid up front.
Your obvious option is to threaten reporting it to the city or filing to invalidate the lease in the courts, although it may just make things worse going forward. The positive being it would shut down the illegal rental at least temporarily.
Bill
Hi Bill,
I have a roommate who is consistently late on paying his rent. I’ve been fairly flexible in that regard. However, he decided to take off for a month long vacation to a foreign country and only gave me a day’s notice. He has not paid the rent for the month of January and the deadline for February has come and passed.
On the day of his departure, I asked him if he was going to pay for the month of January rent as well February in his absence since his stuff was occupying a room. He and I had a verbal agreement that he would transfer a portion of January’s rent several days after his departure and the rest upon his return. He has failed to do that. I emailed him asking the status of paying the rent, he claimed that a friend was supposed to deliver the money for him and he will contact his friend.
At this point, I’m having a hard time believing him. Most of my family and friends said to evict him, change the lock, throw his stuff in storage and make him pay the January and February rent before letting him recover his stuff. I’m not sure if that’s legal or not. I did some Googling around and it appears that the Alberta Innkeepers Act will allow it but I’m no lawyer. Do we even give him notice that we’re going to evict him and place his belongs in storage until he pays the rent for both January and February?
Thanks,
H
Hi Hunter,
You’re really going to have to put your foot down going forward with late payments. Once you accept it as “ok”, it becomes the new normal and since there are no repercussions, what’s the problem?
As you’re renting a room out of your private home you don’t fit under the Residential Tenancy’s Act and the Innkeeper’s Act is sort of a stop gap solution, but is becoming less dependable as times goes on and the rules aren’t definitive. Having said that you do have options.
Worst case you end up in a court hearing, so you need to take steps showing you tried to work with him. I’d start by writing a formal email/letter to him informing him that if rent isn’t paid by say next Monday you will prepare to move his items out into storage, you’ll be changing the locks at his expense and until the rent, lock costs and storage costs are paid you will retain his goods and/or sell them to cover the debts.
Include details about how he was supposed to pay earlier, the friend etc and see what happens. It might spark him into action, it may end up his buddy comes by and cleans out his stuff during the day getting rid of one problem and worst case you may have to carry through. If you do end up storing it and moving everything out it may leave you open for him to take you to court, so just make sure you warn him thoroughly, document all of the items you move and be aware that you need evidence showing you tried to work with him.
Having details like non-payment covered in your lease can make a big difference in situations like this and even the current wording in your lease may affect the ultimate results. Worst case a court hearing would default to contract law which involves the lease you use and all the pertinent details.
Hope that helps,
Bill
HI Bill,
I have a bungalow where I rent the rooms. I do not live in that house.
Recently there was a fight between two tenants and Police was called in. Police also called me and gave me the file number after talking with the Police I gave a 24 hour notice to one tenant. The 24 hours are over yesterday 6: pm. What should I do now? The house is in Edmonton.
Hi JG,
Since you fall under the Residential Tenancy Act your next step if they haven’t vacated is to proceed to the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service (RTDRS) and get a court ordered eviction so you can lock him out. At this point, unless he has vacated, you can’t change the locks or do anything yet.
Depending on circumstances the other tenant may be able to get a restraining order, but that will also take some time, so best to proceed immediately to the RTDRS and get an application in and a hearing date set. Hearing dates can be two or three weeks down the calendar, so time is of the essence.
I have put together a guide explaining all the steps and intricacies of the RTDRS that includes exactly how to fill out everything, what to include to have the best chance to succeed and how to ask for what you want so the courts don’t decide to let the tenant stay for another month or two until he finds something else.
You can order it here, An Eviction Guide For Landlords and since it’s an electronic download you’ll have the information in minutes and can get started right away.
Regards,
Bill
Hi Bill!
I took over managing my mother’s property. The current tenants had a year lease that was set to expire this June. The tenant recently asked if he could end his tenancy early as he wanted to move to a different area due to employment reasons. He told me today, that he possibly wants to leave Feb 1. I just wanted to make sure what my options are if he is unable to find a tenant to replace him? For instance does he forfeit his damage deposit if it stays vacant? I understand I have to do what I can to try and find a new tenant, but if I am unsuccessful, what are my fall backs? Thank you
Any advice you could give would be appreciated.
Hi Brianne,
You’e getting into a complicated area and the rules seems to change from time to time depending on the market conditions and what is discussed.
Ultimately the landlord is responsible for keeping their property rented, if the tenant is helping and the market is slower you may be able to retain the deposit without issue as they have broken the lease, but you won’t be able to get additional judgments for the outstanding part of the lease or if you have to lease to new tenants for less.
If the market is good and you retain the deposit, it’s very likely you will be ordered to return it if the tenant files for a hearing for the reason that it shouldn’t be hard for you to fill it and you can even potentially rent it for more.
In this situation I’d make sure you work everything out with the tenant to keep the property in good condition for showing, be available to work with you for showings and make sure the transition is as short of a time period as possible.
I’ve worked with tenants who have been fantastic and we were able to do a three hour transition from one tenant to the next and I’ve also worked with tenants who were unclear on the process and it’s caused a weeks delay as I’ve had ot go in and clean up and prep a property. So make sure expectations are clear.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hi Bill,
I have been renting out a room in my home to an individual and her cat for the past 12 months with a lease agreement that stated she may have one cat. In the past year, the cat has urinated and stooled on the carpets in my house and as a result, the tenant has chosen to lock the cat in her area in the basement with a baby gate. I have text messages documenting warnings that the cat would not be able to stay if he continued to cause damage. She has also agreed 3 times in the past year to have the carpets cleaned but has failed to do so. The cat has been unable to enter common areas due to the baby gate in the past few months so no new damages in the common areas, have occurred. However recently I asked that she have a dress dry cleaned that was previously damaged, and after a great deal of push back from her, I informed her that her cat would no longer be able to stay in the house. This has resulted in her giving notice. My questions are:
She is now refusing to have her cat leave the house until she moves and I am wondering if she can legally refuse to do so?
The baby gate is actively scraping paint off of a wall I painted in July (approx a 2 inch scrape is present) and she is refusing to find an alternative and is calling it general wear and tear. Do I have any rights regarding this?
She plans to rent a carpet cleaner, but I am concerned that she will do a sub par job. Can I request that the carpets be cleaned professionally and deduct it from her damage deposit?
To make matters slightly more complicated, I have a cat of my own. She is now insisting that my cat has damaged her couch by scratching it. The couch is located in her area where her cat is kept. My cat can jump over the baby gate, and therefor has access to it too. However, I have documented texting conversations regarding her cat scratching my stairs.
Legally, can she blame the damage on my cat?
Additionally, although she previously accepted responsibility for her cat urinating and stooling in the house, she is now trying to refute this. I have numerous texts documenting that the damages happen when he is in the house or has pushed through the baby gate. I have watched him poop on the carpets but have never actively viewed him voiding. Legally, what further proof do I need?
I appreciate your advice in this matter!
Hi Jelena,
The problem you have here is by the time you get a hearing to have her evicted or her cat removed she will likely already be out, or the judge will potentially allow her the extra few days to keep the pet there until she is out.
At the same time, if you don’t start the process, she could delay indefinitely, so it may depend on how serious she is about leaving.
General wear and tear can be fairly all encompassing and in hindsight the gate should have beens et up differently, would you get compensated for it, possibly, but possibly not. And as for the carpet cleaning if it is subpar that is where you could apply the security deposit. Since you are not under the Residential Tenancy Act she could come back after you in the courts for anything you held back, so you will need to prove it was subpar which can be harder than her proving she did it.
Same goes with the couch, she will have a much harder time proving it was your cat if you have evidence of her cat scratching other items.
If you have text conversations great, video would be better, but admissions are huge even in a text. Going forward if you intend to re-rent your space I’d make sure you have a thorough understanding of what to watch out for going forward and you set up some very clean and clear rules about the property, pets etc and just stay on top of things.
going forward with this tenant, make sure you document everything as well and if you can sense things are going sour you may have to move to a court hearing as quickly as possible.
Bill
Bill
Hi there, I have been reading the comments trying to find something that pertains to my situation.
Last month I decided to rent a room in my home. I own it as well as live there. The tenants, a married couple, were great for the first couple of weeks. now, they are nutritiously late on their rent (by a week). They had asked to store 7 boxes in my garage to which I agreed to, but they failed to mention the 2 dining room sets, 4 dressers, bed, 2 night stands and more. I have an alcohol cupboard that was almost full that I use on holidays for guests, they drank $400.00 (8 bottles) of my alcohol without permission.
I have been telling them for 2 weeks now that I want their stuff out of my garage and I want the money or replacement of alcohol immediately. They keep telling me they are “trying”, and can afford to go out all the time, but not replace what was taken from me.
As they are only renting a room, and sharing the kitchen and shower, what are my rights as the live in homeowner?
Yes I have learnt my lesson!
Hi Shannon,
Do you have any sort of written contract? You fall outside the Residential Tenancy Act as you reside there and share the common area. That places you firmly in the gray area which defaults to the Innkeeper’s Act and contract law and somewhere in between.
With a written contract that might over rule some aspects of either area. Without one, it gets even grayer, but either way you have to put your foot down.
I’d suggest jumping completely into Innkeeper’s Act and proceed forward under it’s rules. There is always a possibility that may get over ruled, but it will require going to court. And most tenants renting rooms are in a precarious position to begin with and either can’t afford court or realize they will lose anyway.
I’d give them a written deadline to pay, to reimburse you or to be out. And make it within a few days. Explain there will be repercussions if they don’t and move forward.
If you need more details I’d suggest you take advantage of my consultation services which you can access on the front page of the site and I can go through in detail the steps and pitfalls you need to be aware of.
Hope this gives you some guidance and direction.
Bill
HI Bill,
Thank you so much for your prompt response.
There is no written agreement. It was all verbal. I do have confirmation in text messages that they owe me for the rent, alcohol, and me asking repeatedly for then to get their stuff out of the garage.
I mistakenly put my trust in them as I still believe there is some good in the world. I was wrong. Thank you for the advice, if I have any further issues, I will be in contact for your services.
I really appreciate what you’re doing here trying to help people.
Hello,
I have signed an innkeepers contract with my landlord (roommate) and have completed the first 6 months. I signed another 6 month lease and at the time I asked if I could go month by month, my request was denied. I have recently been offered a job opportunity in the states and would like to leave in the new year. If I was not able to fulfill my contract would I have to pay a full months rent along with my damage deposit? My question is am I obligated by law to fulfill this agreement?
The suite I rent has a washer/dryer in the bathroom, full kitchen, LR, bedroom with no windows! Can you tell me if there is a difference between the In-keepers Act and the Landlord and tenant agreement?
Thank you!
Sheila
Hi Sheila,
As you’ve explained it, you fall under the Residential Tenancy Act as your suite is entirely separated from the landlord’s space. If you shared the landlords kitchen upstairs then it would be Innkeeper’s act, but you are separate and that is the distinction.
Because of this you are obligated to the contract you signed, but only to a degree. If you give the landlord proper notice and sufficient time to get someone else into the suite you may be liable for a portion of the security deposit that has to go to advertising costs and if even with advertising the landlord can’t fill the suite before you leave potentially your security deposit would be applied to one additional month of vacancy while it is empty, but I have not seen the tenants become responsible for paying a full month and forfeiting their deposit, usually just either or.
And either way the landlord has to be actively trying to fill it, he can’t just let it sit. Final note, if the bedroom has no window, it’s not a rentable bedroom, I’d suggest you use that as leverage. If they are renting an illegal suite with an illegal bedroom, having it reported will be bad news for them. NEVER rent a unit where the “bedroom” doesn’t have a window as it is not legally a window and you have no exit in case of fire.
Bill
We rented a basement with a bedroom to one guy who then asked if his brother could stay there. It was supposed to be a short stay. The one brother left end of November and told us Dec. 2nd he wasn’t coming back and he’s not paying for December rent. His other brother is still in the house. I would like to evict him. We share laundry facilities and we don’t have anything in writing and we did not ask for damage deposit (big big mistakes on our part). Does this fall under Innkeeper Act and can we evict with one month’s notice. Please advise. Thank you Kathleen
Hey Kathleen,
Great to hear you learned the first mistake and are aware of it (that being no damage deposit). Unfortunately you haven’t provided any reason for eviction which is the big problem. Maybe it’s just not clear, were they splitting the rent and now only half is paid, was the one brother who left paying all the rent and now none of it is paid? If the issue now is only partial or none of the rent has been paid you can start an eviction, but you have to go through the RTDRs or you could try a 14 day eviction notice.
Depending again on what the situation is and knowing that even if you give an eviction notice it doesn’t mean the tenant has to leave until they get a court ordered eviction date via the RTDRS.
So bottom line, you need a valid reason for an eviction, then you need to decide whether to go via the RTDRS (the faster way) or to use an eviction notice (the cheaper easier and less successful way which can possibly grant the tenant an extra two free weeks of rent).
Bill
Hello and thanks for the great site,
I currently am the landlord/home owner of a detached house, and rent a room to a friend of mine. He has been staying there for 3 months now, and when he moved in he was well aware I owned two dogs, and said that he was tolerant and they would not be a problem .
As of late, the dogs have recently become a problem to him. One being a puppy, she is in the process of training/classes, and sometimes she barks at him, but that’s really the extent of it. I told him this behavior should not come as a surprise, and while I am working to correct it, it will not stop overnight. As of late he told me (rather angrily/rudely) he wanted absolutely nothing to do with the dogs, and that he does not want to be left alone with them anymore (impossible when I work, dogs are also kennel trained).
Obviously this makes me question his ability to co-exist with myself and my fur babies. I do believe we both would be happier if he went elsewhere. Ideally, I would like to give him a months notice to vacate, if it is legal to do so. I haven’t spoken to him about it yet, but I wanted to get the facts straight before having the conversation.
When he moved in I made up kind of a ‘make shift’ “short term tenancy agreement” between us, and we agreed on a month-to-month periodic tenancy. Being a new landlord, I was unaware the Innkeepers Act even existed, and somewhere in the “short term tenancy agreement” I stupidly put something along the lines of “any disagreement between this agreement and the RTA, the RTA prevails,” thinking it would cover me. The RTA states that a tenant on a month-to-month tenancy must be given 3 months written notice. Does this apply to my roommate in this situation?
Could his chronic complaining and intolerance be considered a breach of the lease somehow? Could his angry text messages about the dogs be considered a disruption/breech?
How much notice am I legally required to give him for eviction?
Being a month-to-month periodic tenancy, if I choose not to renew the tenancy for next month, is this the same as eviction?
Thank you in advance.
Will
Hi Will,
I’d start by explaining this isn’t working out to him and since the dogs aren’t going, it may be best for him to move on. Then make it work!
His complaining and angry text couldn’t really be called breaches, just examples of it not working. Because you’re in that gray area of stating you want to follow RTA rules you would really need to provide 90 days and you would need a valid reason to evict.
So back to focusing on it not working and how you will arrange a full refund to be given on the day he moves out as long as the room is basically left as it was when he entered. Otherwise you will hold onto it for the mandated ten days and he can get it after that once he moves out.
Bill
Hi
I have just moved out of my rented room (roommate/landlord) situation that i was in for just over 2 years.
I am currently having some difficulties getting my damage deposit back, my landlord is saying that the carpets needs to be steam cleaned (although i am not sure why – she just said there are some spots on it) and she is in the process of obtaining a quote. She vaguely estimated it will cost between $25-40, however, so far she is holding back on 100% of the $950 of the damage deposit and she is saying that she has 30 days to return it.
The roommate agreement doesn’t say anything on returning the damage deposit – but i would have thought 10 days to be the limit (granted she can still hold the approx $40 until she has a firm price for the carpets) – is the 30 days standard in the innkeepers act (or is there another act I should be referring to?)
Ho long does she have to return the damage deposit?
Also, another thing that has bothered me for a long time was when she increased the rent after just 6 months, from $950 per month to $1100 per month, and she gave me just under 6weeks notice. We had a month to month agreement. (I objected but she insisted saying she is not bound by the tenancy act and that it is her house and her rules and i was free to leave if i didn’t like it. For personal reasons i was forced to stay and just accept it- but i always felt aggrieved by it, that it wasn’t fair, but i was a new immigrant and didn’t know what to do) – so according to the innkeepers act (or any other relevant act) – what were my rights in this situation?
Thanks
Hi Justine,
The 10 day limit is more of a Residential Tenancy Act rule, although I believe the Innkeeper’s Act refers to timely return of deposits as well. Worst case you have to file at court to get your deposit back and it should be fairly clear cut. The only issue is how long it may take to win your case.
Then the issue is you will have a judgment which doesn’t guarantee payment, although it can cause her credit issues, plus she will incur some court costs.
So, if you want to accelerate the process offer to let her keep $100 for now, and once she gets an actual price she can return the leftover. In the meantime she can refund the rest, or you’ll have to take her to court which will cost her more and affect her credit as it could leave a judgment on her credit history.
Bill
I am renting a room in a house with a standard rental agreement, for such conditions, valid for 6 months.
The owners are now saying they would like me to move out one month earlier as they want to rent the room to a friend, plus for the month of December to increase the rent by $100.
I made it very clear to them when I moved in I was looking for long term and they stated the same to me.
I understand that they cannot increase the rent, as I have a signed contract with the rent included in it, and should they refer to let me stay for december, if i refuse to pay the extra, it would be tantamount to blackmail.
But what i would like to know is would I have the right to in essence ask them to ‘buy the remaining period of rent off me’, as it were?
I was going to ask them to pay for my moving costs, $200, as I would not have moved here had I known it was only for a short period of time.
What would the laws be governing notice periods, etc. I presume it has to be in writing and signed, but for what period?
For the Innkeepers act to even vaguely apply, they have to have it on display which they have not.
I realise I fall into the grey area of tenancy, I am just wondering what you or other people have found from past experience.
Thanks
Hey Bob,
First they can’t increase the rent, that’s the good news, they can only increase the rent once every 365 days, since you’re only six months in at the end of the lease, it has to be another six months before they increase it.
Having said that, they also don’t have to renew your lease at the end of the six months term, so however this goes, you are done in six months. Technically for fixed term leases they don’t have to give notice, although they still have to go through the eviction process to get you out and that will likely give you an extra few weeks or even a month (although it can give you a black mark on your credit and cost you more financially).Bottom line they have indicated they want you out, but it’s in their best interest to confirm they aren’t renewing (and you might want to take a look at your lease to see if it defaults to month to month at the end of the term if no notice is provided as that changes everything!).
Of course this is all based off of Residential Tenancy Rules, so depending on the room setup (whether it’s shared with the landlord or a separate suited are shared with the other tenants) it can change. The Innkeeper’s Act is more of a guideline these days rather than hard and fast as there is no specific rules for room rentals in Alberta. So the aspect of having the act on display is also gray although a bets practice.
Ultimately if you are in the gray it comes down to the contract you signed. Since most landlords have no clue about their lease or the rules look for anything in the lease that says it defaults to Residential Tenancy Act rules as that may also protect you.
You’re always free to negotiate with the landlord as well. If they want you out early and you’re willing to negotiate to leave early for $200 and they agree, all is good, if they don’t, they are bound by the contract or the RTA or the gray area….
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hi
I have a tenant who lives in my home renting a room. I informed him at the beginning of the month that that the house was being put up for sale. He did not respond favourably and told me if i could not guarantee in writing that he would have 3 months left (on his month to month agreement) I was in violation of the “tenancy act” and he would not need to give me 30 days notice. I pointed out to him as he lived in my home he didn’t fall under the tenancy act. I also told him as the house was on the market I would need him to leave his room accessible at all times, he has been using a lock on the door handle that I do not have a key to. I have never made an issue of it as I could care less about going in there, but I have just checked and he hasnt removed the lock. What are my options if he continues to not leave his door accessible to potential buyers?
Hi Christine,
Ideally you would get him to move out prior to selling the property as it makes everything so much easier. But that’s not always possible.
In your case though, you don’t fit under the Residential Tenancy Act, so his response of being in violation of the tenancy act doesn’t hold true. Having said that, the gray are you are in does borrow heavily from the RTA so you want to make sure you are covered.
First he should have provided you a key to the lock. I’m definitely not the first landlord to see irony if having the tenancy having the run of my property worth several hundreds of thousands of dollars, yet they are hesitant to provide a key for emergencies because they have hundreds of dollars worth of items in their room. In the big picture, by not getting this right away, you’ve created a situation for yourself. It doesn’t mean it’s not correctible, but the tenant who will have to leave anyway has very little incentive now to make this easy for you.
Second, if he still refuses to remove the lock or provide a key you may be able to find him in breach of the terms of your written agreement. If that’s the case, it may be in your best interest to move forward with having him vacate. Again, since it’s not in his best interest to assist you selling, what’s to say he doesn’t subtly sabotage the sale? This could be as simple as leaving his room a mess, leaving it smelly and/or simply not cleaning up when applicable making the property show a bit worse than it should.
Finally, if you can get him to cooperate, get something in writing that it’s ok for realtors to show his room ruing certain times and/or with certain advance notice at other times that may interfere with his schedule. If you can’t, then you’ll simply need to move forward with ending the tenancy.
Bill
I own a motel, and one of my employees is renting out one of the rooms in my motel. However, recently he decided to quit the job but he is not leaving the rooms he rented. I want him out since he is causing bad influence over my other employees while working. Also, he hasn’t made a room payments. What action should I take in order to kick him out?
Hi Jay,
You fit under a subsection of the Residential Tenancy Act that deals with employees and you’ll probably want to be come more familiar with this to prevent future issues. If you look up the Alberta Residential Tenancy Act under section 11 it talks about Notice to terminate tenancy of employee.
It refers to the termination period being equal to the period of notice of termination of employment under any laws applicable in Alberta, the period of notice of termination of employment agreed upon by the landlord and the tenant or one week, whichever is longest.
This may also depend on the lease or employment agreement you have in place, so you may want to review those to see if you have any clauses in there affecting this period. Going forward, if you don’t it should be something you add!
Hope that helps,
Bill
My ex is not allowed, as per the Rcmp to be on my property. We are going through a separation. However, while I was away she came to my property and showed my landlord ownership papers to a vehicle of “hers” that was parked in my driveway. I say “hers” as the ownership papers appear to be in her name, but there is an ongoing legal battle to be settled in court as this vehicle is “common property”. She was told of she came to my property she would be charged with trespassing. Is it still trespassing if got permission from my landlord?
Isn’t that a question for the police?
It doesn’t actually seem like an eviction question, and I’m not sure if you’ll see my answer as you used a fake email address and a different name?
Bill
Hello,
I have a house that I only stay in occasionally. If I want to rent out 3 of the 4 room and keep the 4th room for self-use sometimes, does that still put me under the Alberta Innkeeper’s Act?
Thanks,
Roj
Hi Roj,
Maybe? But even if it does it may involve going to court where it would be decided. If it’s not your primary residence it may get thrown out and dealt with as if it’s under the Residential Tenancy Act.It’s also important to understand the Innkeeper’s Act is not uniformly enforced. It is enforced differently from area to area and circumstance to circumstance, so you can’t depend on it these days to solve the problem all the time it may still require a court hearing.
More and more it is coming down to the contract between the landlord and the tenant, so make sure you have all your bases covered, no contract or lease leaves it very vague and vague rarely works out in the landlords favour.
Bill
I rent a 2 bedroom apartment and this guy rents a room off me.He is not on lease.He paid a first and last,and told me August 18 he will be leaving at end of August.This is not 30 days notice and he is demanding I give him his last month back.I told him he forfeits that as giving 13 days notice is not ok and that we agreed on 30 days notice,thats the idea of first and last. I explained to him the concept of “first and last”.I contacted the police and told them I have an unwanted guest in my home,but they refuse to respond.But that’s funny because a few years ago it was the opposite and I was renting a room and the guy I was renting from wanted me out after an arguement and the police came and escorted me out right away.Why wont they respond now?I also already have a new person ready to move in September 1.What is my recourse if the first guy refuses to go?Do I have to pay him,or does he have to take me to court for his money?
Hi Rick,
How the Innkeeper’s Act is enforced has really evolved over the years. Currently it seems unless there is some true distress going on, where the tenant is threatening or out of control, it’s far more common for the police to defer it to the courts.
If everyone’s calm and collected, they tend to make sure it stays that way and leave it up to the courts to decide, which is what may be happening in your situation. I’m assuming back when it occurred to you they were enforcing it slightly differently and you may have been a bit more upset and hence antagonistic?
At this point, you have a couple options, since you already have someone coming for September 1st, it isn’t really fair to hold all of his money, is it? I’d suggest you negotiate it to something that works for both of you and in this case it could be as little as $50 for advertising and inconvenience costs or perhaps zero so it just ends and you can get on with your life.
In the meantime, I’d make sure you get some type of lease or rooming agreement in place for this next tenant with specific rules spelt out and gone over explaining the end of tenancy protocols and hopefully this doesn’t occur again.
Hope that provides some ideas,
Bill
P.S. Sorry after I replied I realized I didn’t really answer your last two questions. If he doesn’t leave depending on what type of agreement you have in place you may, or may not be able to evict him. You may end up in court to get a legal decision on this, which is why giving him all or most of his money back is the easy out.
Second, if he does leave and you don’t give him his money back he would have to go to court to get it and due to the way you set it up as first and last month’s rent, you will lose. In Alberta you need to do it as a security deposit and there are specific rules about how it can be refunded and what can be deducted. My additional concern is that if you don;t return it, he could take it out on the space causing you even more headaches, especially if he feels he will never get it back and you are in the wrong, which you may well be if you already have it rented and won’t be out of money…
Hi, I live in Calgary and I am the only tenant named on the lease and renting out a bedroom to my adult son. His behaviour has been unruly with drunken rages involving yelling at me late at night for hours and has of late caused damage to a shelf on the fridge door that he still hasn’t fixed. When he is in this state I am afraid for my safety but he hasn’t touched me but has in the past punched a hole in my desk.
I have told him to leave but he is refusing to. He is not late with his rent.
The landlords live upstairs and at this point they have not talked to me about his behaviour but I am sure they will soon.
The police have been called at our previous residence (I kicked him out from there and he went willingly at that time) but the police told me then that I couldn’t get them to help me remove him permanently without going through the legal eviction process even though they knew I was renting out a room to him and his name was not on the lease. They never mentioned the Innkeepers Act.
Yes, I made a terrible mistake in letting him live with me again as he promised to get help, blah blah blah.
But I do not want to continue in this situation and want him out.
I called the police non-emergency line and they advised that I cannot kick him out without going through a legal process and getting a Civil Enforcement Order and told me to call the Calgary Legal Guidance centre. I called the Legal Guidance centre and had to leave a message with their recording said it would take 2 to 4 business days to return messages and then I have to go in person to meet with them, etc.
However, after seeing this website, and looking at the Innkeepers Act, can I legally kick him out immediately and get cooperation from the police to help get him out as they haven’t cooperated previously?
Why are the police not aware of the Innkeepers Act and do not cooperate in this situation to evict an unruly roommate?
Hi Sandy,
It sounds like you’re in a tricky situation and the way the Innkeeper’s Act is enforced is part of your issue. The issue of the Innkeeper’s Act and renting out rooms seems to becoming more and more muddy. It’s not the official set of rules for renting out rooms, but it’s the closest we have to rules and often what it ends up falling back on.
Because of this, it leaves a gray area for law enforcement. It’s civil law which is enforced by the courts versus criminal law which is enforced by the police. Because of this if they act incorrectly they can be at fault and it’s why they often defer it to the courts.
Having said that, if there is a situation where the tenant is being threatening, abusive or simply out of control, they will typically step in and assist.So if things are calm at the moment, your only option is the courts. If he spins out of control, I’d suggest immediately calling the police and having them assist you in removing him.
It will all come down to how informed you are and how unruly he ends up being and almost ends up being case by case.
This may not be the answer you wanted, but hopefully it provides some guidance.
Bill
I own a townhouse of which, my tenant has this months rent, although I have a damage deposit.
The tenant sent a Interac of which he canceled, stayed away from the residence for a period of 3 weeks, allegedly he was travelling, and was responding to emails about how he would pay once back.
I’ve been unable to show the room because he put a lock on the room rented without providing a key.
Thus hindering me from potential income.
He hasn’t responded to attempts at communication, and now only comes to the residence while I’m away at work.
Although I’m not worried about my safety, I however don’t want to come home to my place emptied out, as he’s moving things out while I’m away.
Seeing as he hasn’t paid rent and I’m still unable to show the room and less than a month’s notice has been given.
What are my options to someone I don’t trust in my place of residence, and hasn’t paid, I’m unsure if changing my locks for the sake of peace of mind and safety of property is an option, seeing as I’m not getting response anymore but seeing signs someone is coming in my house, while I’m away.
Hi Davido,
I’m assuming from this he is just renting a room from your residence? If that’s the case you can start laying down some ultimatums.
I’d post a notice and copy him via email that he needs to pay in full by say the 21st, which is this Friday or you will be bringing in a locksmith (which he will be responsible for covering the cost of) to remove his lock and remove his items. Cite the numerous attempts to contact him, the cancelled Interac and the outstanding rent on both. Also, let him no any access after that date will be viewed as trespassing and charges will be laid where applicable.
Much of this is just providing a paper trail in case things do go sideways and partially bluffing, but you need to make sure he is serious and you will be able to go after him for some of these issues, if you can track him down, or at least be able to use his security deposit to reduce your out of pocket expenses.
After this you may change the locks (and you can potentially do it prior), although depending on your lease/agreement and other circumstances he may have grounds for taking you to court, although typically any time someone is renting a room the odds of them actually using court is pretty low. It’s common to receive threats about it, but the follow through is pretty low.
Bill
Hello and thank you for the site.
I am a renting a room in Calgary, and having difficulty with the landlord. I always pay my rent on time, mind my own business, and half the time I’m not even here due to my work. I work non-standard hours.
The landlord now turns off the stove from 10pm to 6am in the morning and says no cooking is allowed during those hours (kitchen and bathroom are shared). Is this even legal. We do not have a written agreement and am month-to-month. I have always paid my (overpriced) rent on time, never have any visitors over, and have created no problems at so ever. I am frustrated and wondering what my rights are. Thank you so much for reading…..
Hi Sam,
However this works out, your priority should be to simply get out of this situation. The landlord seems to have some control issues and I’m sure there are some alternatives that may be a better fit for you. Now there may have been issues int he past, but this seems a little extreme.
As for the legality, I don’t believe it’s illegal, but I’m not a lawyer. It just doesn’t seem like it’s worth fighting for when there are so many more options opening up out there. Vacancies are increasing, landlords are becoming more flexible and you should be able to find something that works better for you.
Bill
Thank you for your reply Bill.
We were trading baby-sitting (3-6 hours/2 days per week at most) to a friend. After about a year she turned into a different person. Now she’s left the country and we are trying to sell the house and move. We’ve texted her because she still has all her stuff here and we told her she had until the end of the month to get rid of it. She texted her cousin who lives here to tell us we will just have to wait until she comes back. She won’t say when she is coming back. We did not have a lease or signed contract, but I suspect the verbal agreement carries some weight in a court of law. Other than putting her stuff at the curb (which could potentially haunt us finacially in a lawsuit) how do we remove her “abandoned” belongings. Can we take them to her relatives homes? She has lots in town. Apparently they don’t want her living with them either.
Hi Cam,
After a certain period property is deemed to be abandoned, this is typically after a month. If the value of the property exceeds $2,000 the landlord is supposed to auction it off with any debt to the landlord paid first and the remainder goes to the tenant.
If it’s less than $2,000, then it can be disposed of. So give her fair warning, if she can’t make arrangements within 30 days, it goes away.
Bill
Hi, Does any of this apply, if my brother has been living in my house for free since1987, but now I’m selling my house, so I need him gone? Do I need to give him any kind of eviction notice at all? Or can I just ask him to leave?
Have you tried asking him to leave? It might be the easiest, especially if you explain why.
Bill
I am renting out my room in my basement. She shares the kitchen, living area in basement and the bathroom. We are not getting along, we have a month to month agreement. How can I get rid of her? The fastest and easiest way.
Hi Dawn,
Start by asking her to leave, that’s the easiest, then negotiate to get her deposit back fully and completely if she leaves ASAP, if there are delays ti may delay getting the full deposit back etc.
There is no magic bullet.
Bill
I am renting rooms in my home, sharing common areas with my tenants, and I was told by the landlord and tenants act people that I do not fall under their act. My house is in foreclosure and I am in the process of stopping it. My tenants that I have in my house have been causing a disturbance, and recently money was stolen from my room, which has a lock on the door. While I am not sure which tenant stole the money, it is obvious that because they were the only ones present between the last time I say the money, and when I went to grab it to deposit into the bank, it was one of them. Another one of the tenants has falsely accused me of theft. Needless to say I want to evict them.
They are saying that because my house is in foreclosure I have no power to evict them. I am wondering if this is true. I live in Calgary, Alberta
Hi Leesa,
I’ll send you a direct email, I have some additional thoughts on this one due to your circumstance.
Bill
Bill:
I have a rental property where my son lives in one of the rooms. We rent out the other four to students. Over the last two years we have had no problems. However this year a renter fell behind in payments for four months. We were lenient and worked out a repayment schedule for when he got a summer job. He has now bought a car and other items without first paying us his owed rent. To top things off he parked the unregistered vehicle in the driveway (no parking privileges were included in the rental agreement). From my understanding because my son is living there we fall under the Innkeepers Act rather than the RTA, what do you think? The tenant is now causing other problems (taking property into his room without asking, leaving a mess, causing friction with the other renters, etc and we want him gone.
Hi Bob,
If your son is the active manager, it would fit closest under the Innkeeper’s Act. Remember, the Act doesn’t specifically cover this situation, but rather they tend to lump it in here, but it varies form area to area.
At this point it likely won’t get better, take action, give him a written notice to be out perhaps by the end of the month and then from there move forward.
If he gets aggressive, call the police to control the situation, if he stays extremely passive you may have to go via the courts to get him out. Make sure you document everything and give him written notices regarding any verbal conversations you have. This will build up evidence if you do go to court.
Bill
Hello Bill,
I rented out my property to a tenant and with my consent, my tenant can sublease 2 of the rooms to a sub-leaser Which act does it falls into? Like between me and the firsthand tenant would be Residential Tenancy Act and between the the firsthand tenant and the sub-leaser would be Innkeepers act?. Is there a liability or issue in here in terms of property insurance?
Thanks,
Tony
Hi Tony,
Your tenant falls under the Residential Tenancy Act and your tenant fits somewhere in between the Innkeeper’s act and contract law since there isn’t any specific laws for this situation. Much of it depends on the lease he uses (most people default to a Residential Tenancy style lease muddying the water), the wording in the lease ( if it’s standard lease and infers that it defaults to the Residential Tenancy act rules then he may be bound to the same rules you are) and any specific rules or specifications he has for the rental, the ads and for the tenants.(and yes I do sell roommate/innkeeper leases on this site)
Can it affect your insurance, possibly, you’d need to contact your insurance company. If it’s deemed a rooming house then they may not even insure it and it will require you to get additional coverage elsewhere. If it’s just one roommate that the tenant is subletting to, it may simply fit under your standard rental insurance or it may just require an additional rider.
You also need to be aware that if you don’t make your insurance company aware, they could deny coverage or payments int he future if there is an issue. So you could be paying them just for fun, rather than for actual coverage and insurance.
Bill
Thank you Bill for this valuable advice. I have contacted my insurance right away and they told me that they cannot cover my situation and that I need to get “Rented Dwelling Insurance” instead unless I will not permit subleasing. Thank you again!
Tony
Glad I could help Tony. The question you might want to look at now is how much more is the rented dwelling insurance? If it works out to be $25 more a month, maybe this still works if you bump his rent up $50 or $100. He gets his rent offset with the sub tenant and you make a little more money, so you both win.
Bill
Hi Bill !
Thanks a lot in advance for the time you give me.
So I currently rent a room in a house where the home owner lives and shares space with me (Innkeeper’s act). She evicted me on May 15 and gave me 45 days notice. She is saying I need to pay rent for all of June. I have started packing my things and she has said I may not keep any of my belongings in her home and they must be moved immediately (boxes of my belongings). I made sure there were no tripping hazards and a safe walking path. She has taken my food out of shared fridge and freezer and left it on my boxes. What rights do I have? Can she force me to pay rent for June (I am moving out on May 23)?
Hi JDW,
If she’s evicted you for the end of June, but you are going to be out this week, why would you even pay for June? She can’t force you to pay, she may try to take you to small claims court, but if you’re leaving the room in fine condition and giving her the opportunity to re-rent it, the onus is on her to rent it.
She’s obviously making it difficult, so it’s great you’re getting out. I would not make any June payment though. The down side is she may try and retain your deposit if you have one, which may mean you need to go to court to get it back, unless it’s not worth the hassle.
You’ll have to evaluate whether it is worth it depending on your circumstance. It’s not that hard to apply for a hearing, the important part being take plenty of photos and have lots of evidence to back up your part of the story.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hello, i have a question about holding a seciurity deposit by my landlord.
i rented a room in a house where kitchen and bathroom is shered by me and landlord. its month to month lease (i didnt sign anything actually)
I payd rent on 1 of may. And give also a damage deposit of same amount. now i have to mouve out (will work out of town) i said that she (landlord) can keep the rent for the month of may. but she want to keep seciurity deposit too. so my question is she can do that and keep my seciurity deposit.
Thank you for your answer.
Mike
Hi Mike,
You’re caught in that gap where there isn’t a lot of rules on paper. Many of these situations if they escalate only get settled in a court. Under a situation with shared space it gets muddier and usually defaults to the lease, but in this situation there is no written lease so it’s even muddier.
You’ve got a couple options, you can try and work things out with the landlord, negotiate to offer to help advertise, keep the place clean and make it easy to rent out again quickly so that there is basically zero vacancy for them.
Or failing that you can suggest that if she is keeping the deposit you then don’t have to worry about keeping anything clean or tidy leaving a bunch of extra work for them once you move out. This is a little underhanded, but sometimes when people refuse to negotiate you have to wake them up.
There should be a fair middle ground that works for both parties instead of strong arming one side like it sounds like they are doing to you. Yes you didn’t provide enough notice possibly, but things change, so if you help them fill it quickly it should be no harm no foul. At least in my world.
Bill
Hi Bill!
My mother owns and rents out a town house that falls under the RTA. She has her own home in a nearby town. She manages it on her own but unfortunately has become ill and no longer manage it. I stepped up and said that I would take care of it. I asked for the lease that they signed so I could review it and all other paperwork. Unfortunately the lease is not up to par, but my main concern is the tenants are not happy about me becoming the new person taking care of the place. They are pushing that since the lease was signed by my mother they should have to deal with her and not me. Their lease was just renewed and is not up for renewal again until April 2016. She doesn’t say anything in her lease about someone else can possibly represent her….
How can I go about amending this situation?
Hi Brianna,
It’s pretty common for landlords to have agents or property managers look after their properties and it’s not a requirement that it is in the lease.
You might need to take a hard line with them, explain the situation and if they don’t like it let them know you have no problem with them breaking the lease. In this case it’s better for them to be gone and you get to start fresh with someone else rather than banging your head trying to get them to work with you.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hi Bill,
I am a new home owner with a 3 bedroom townhouse. I am going to live there as my primary residence and would like to rent out 2 of the rooms. Where in the Innkeepers Act does it state “No 24 hour eviction, no 14 day eviction, no need to go to the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service” as in the description on this page. I realize the wording will be different but would still like to know where as I have read all 8 pages but have seen no sign of that clause.
Thank you so much for your help and all of your information.
Hi Nick,
It’s not so much that it specifically states this under the Innkeeper’s Act, but under the Residential Tenancy Act it states that tenants are not covered by the RTA in shared rental situations where the landlord resides on the premises.
Also, since I originally wrote that there have been some more clarifications and changes to how it’s interpreted. Because the Innkeeper’s Act and the Residential Tenancy Act are both civil law matters more and more often the police are preferring to not get involved (and can you blame them with all the negative press they get).
So unless there is immediate danger or an aggressive situation they are often walking away from it. This varies from police district to police district and from officer to officer and even situation to situation so it can change dramatically.
So at this point the IA is something you can fall back on and often quite successfully, but it’s not a guarantee, instead focus more on having a solid lease you can use that specifies allt he rules, situations and reasons for eviction or termination.
Bill
Bill
Hello Bill,
I had a question about the Innkeeper’s Act Section 2(2). My friend has evicted her tenant from her house after living there for 2 months without paying more than half of the first month. She detained his possessions telling him that when he pays, he can retrieve his items. His 30 days to repay his landlord are up at the end of this week so she will be able to sell his belongings until she reaches the amount that he owes her. What kind of restrictions are there for how the items need to be sold? The innkeeper’s act says by public auction with a publishing in the local newspaper, however our small town does not regularly hold open auctions. Our area with surrounding small towns have a trade site similar to kijiji or craigslist where locals can post items to sell. Would a site like this be acceptable to post the tenant’s possessions for sale?
Hi Courtney,
Some of the rules and laws were set up when things were different and processes like auctions were the only way to do things. With the addition of the internet and sites like Kijiji, the rules are slowly evolving, but the rules themselves don’t change.
If you don’t have auctions as a solution, make sure you document everything, give the tenant notice of what is going on and itemize the contents that will be auctioned or sold off for the tenant with the option for him to recover. It may not be the perfect solution, but if it does bounce back you can show you tried the avenue of making the tenant aware and used the options available.
without warning the tenant again you may be open to them saying they didn’t know.
Now as a final warning, this isn’t specific legal advise and following this doesn’t mean there aren’t avenues for the former tenant to come after you, but showing you tried to deal with them and they were uncooperative and/or didn’t try to work with you goes a long ways to making sure there are minimal or no repercussions.
Bill
Hi Bill !
Thanks a lot in advance for the time you give me.
So I currently rent a room in a house where the home owner lives and shares space with me (Innkeeper’s act). We signed a paper saying that I will stay from January 1st to June 30th. Unfortunately, I have to go back to my hometown, which is not in the same province. I notified him that I will have to leave on april 30th. He wants to charge me for may and june, months I will not even be using his house anymore. My question is: Do I have to pay him even though I gave him a notice and I won’t even be there for those two months ? What happen if I don’t pay ? Can he drag me into court to try to get this money ?
Thank you
Hi Mark,
You’re falling into that gray area that isn’t really covered anywhere. When it comes to Innkeeper’s Act situations it often defaults to the contract signed between the individuals or a variation of the Residential Tenancy Act or somewhere in the middle.
It might be better to look at this from the landlord’s side. If you leave, you’ve left him in the lurch but not on purpose. He could possibly be vacant for the next several months at a loss, but if he fills the space up right away it might require some advertising money and a bit of extra time to put someone in and do showings.
Alternatively if he tries to go after you in court to get paid he may or more likely may not win and will have wasted more time and energy and possibly money if he uses a lawyer. So the best option for him is to try and get it filled again as efficiently and painlessly as possible. Which is where you come in.
If you just leave there is a very good possibility he will keep any security deposit to cover the next month but it’s unlikely he will get any extra money from you. If you consider this worth it, it may be worthwhile to tell him you won’t be paying for the additional money and take your chances if the landlord tries to pursue you through court.
If you want to try and work it out amicably, why not offer to help show the space, offer to cover the advertising (if he runs ads on Kijiji or Craigslist they are free anyway, other online sites are $30-60 approximately) and negotiate that if you can find a suitable replacement, you can get your security deposit back less advertising costs or if you’re a good negotiator completely.
You’d need to keep everything clean, shiny and presentable and be open to out of the blue potential showings, but you may be able to keep your deposit and not have to worry about a potential court case. Make sense?
Bill
Hi BIll,
I feel as though i should give a better break down than in my last comment.
The house i have bought is a bi-level with 5 bedrooms, 3 up and 2 down.
I will be using a bedroom upstairs (has a bathroom ensuite)
There are 2 Full bath, 1 up and 1 down. ( both for use by everyone)
(The kitchen is up stairs and will be shared with everyone).
2 living room areas 1 up and 1 down and the 1 down stairs is for comfort and entertainment of all the renters both upstairs and down stairs.
laundry is down stairs. ( shared by everyone)
The rooms in the basement may have locks on the doors but, There is no separate entry to the down stairs. and no door separating the upper floor from the downstairs.
Do i fall under the Innkeepers or the RTA?
I am sorry for the bother but this is the first time i will be renting to multiple renters and in my home and i want to absolutely sure and cover all my bases and know where i stand. I have also already purchased your basic room rental package and am just going through it now. 🙂
Thank you very much in advance Bill
Terry
Hi Bill,
I’ve been renting out a room in my apartment for the last 2 years and it has been great. i have not had any problems until recently when the current renter came home drunk and pestered me all night and then woke me up in the morning just to pester me more and for no reason at all but to pester. i repeatedly told him to be quiet as my girlfriend was sleeping and had to work that day. I kept my cool until i realized my girlfriend had awoke and then i let loose on him and told him what i thought of his behavior. I now realize that nothing stays perfect forever and there will always be that one renter. He claimed he remembers nothing after sleeping it off and said he felt ashamed and i said id let him stay until the end of april and that we would make a written agreement for that time which states he can not come home under the influence or create a disturbance until the end of his tenancy. He signed this agreement and my girlfriend signed as a witness. The agreement also states that if he breaches either condition that he will be asked to leave immediate and forfeit his rent to cover rent cost for the remainder of the month. There is no damage deposit. Can i actually do this?
Also, my girlfriend and i have bought a new house and are taking possession in May and its 2 beds upstairs and 2 down stairs that i will be renting out while we live there and the kitchen will be shared upstairs and the laundry downstairs. There will be a living room downstairs but not part of the rent. its for entertainment and comfort only. And there is a bathroom down stairs as well. No separate entrance.
Does this mean we would fall under that innkeepers act?
And also, is there a way to have the basic innkeeper/room rental agreement package mailed to me?
Terry
Hi Terry,
Just reading through both of your comments here. First thanks for picking up the basic package, hopefully you’re getting some good info out of it. To expand a little bit your situation will NOT fit under the RTA, it may not also fit under the Innkeeper’s Act.
The Innkeeper’s act is just sort of a stop gap for a hole in legislation that is currently out there and while it sets a guideline as to where and how the rules work, more and more it seems to vary on how it’s enforced from city to city, police district to police district and town to town.
Part of the problem is people try to cherry pick the best parts for there use and by people I mean landlords. Ultimately it will fall back to the contract you have in place and the rules you get the tenants to sign off on. Then depending on where you reside and how the local police feel about the Innkeepers Act and how they deal with it as to how problems can be dealt with.
Hope that helps answer your questions.
Final note for you, no tenant either under the Innkeeper’s Act or the RTA should ever get keys until after the first month’s rent and the security deposit have been paid in advance!
Bill
Hello,
I really need some help, I rented out two rooms in my home with no contract or agreement, these two just pay rent and I pay utilities. Recently they have been extremely rude and disrespectful. They’ve taken batteries out of the fire detector, they leave dishes, lights on, they’re cats tear the house out. I need them out, they said end of march, but now they have become ever worse knowing that they have to leave. Is there anything I can do??
I have a quick question. I rent out a couple rooms in my home, I live here too. I had a guy rent a room from me, but then wanted to move in early. I figured why not, he seemed decent (after the last roommate who I had, who turned out to be an addict and thief, I was hoping that this one would be decent and was willing to help him out a bit). He moves in Feb 21, totally takes over my house, and has yet to pay rent. I asked on the first, he had an excuse, I asked this past friday, yet another excuse (none of which make sense) and said he gets paid this coming friday and I’ll get it then. I have informed him rent is due on the 1st of the month, no exceptions,
My question is this, if he does not pay his rent on Friday (this will have been 3 weeks he’s been here now), am I legally allowed to tell him he has 24 hours to either pay up or move out? I have keyless entry here so I can very easily delete his door code and he can’t get in the house. If he doesn’t move out, am I still able to delete the code and either put his stuff out in the front yard or hold it until he’s paid for the time he’s lived here for? I do not think I’ll have a way to track him down if he moves out in order to have him served if I decide to sue him. I know he works as a baggage handler at the airport for an airline but I doubt the airline will give me his info so I can have him served so my hands are a bit tied. I think I’m at the point that even if he does pay me, I’d like him to move on. Not a good first impression to make, moving in early and then paying rent 3 weeks late and I doubt he’ll have enough to pay the damage deposit either at once, which I’d like because he also has a dog and I’d like to make sure I’m covered in case the dog does any damage.
What are my options here? Am I allowed to pack up his stuff and leave it on the front step for him to come get after work? Or lock him out until he pays what he owes (with notice of course, I plan to give him 24 hours). What are my options of finding him if he leaves and I want to sue him? I am planning on getting his license plate # so at least I’ll have that, but not sure if that can help track him down if he decides to take off.
Thanks,
Janet
Hi Janet,
I think you’re learning some costly lessons here. First, you need to figure out how to screen your tenants better. If you’re running into addicts and people not paying, a better screening process will stop 99% of those types from getting in. I offer a free screening course you can find here, Learn to Properly Screen Tenants.
Part two, and I can’t believe how often I have to say this, NO ONE gets into your property until the first month’s rent and the security deposit are paid up front. In cash! Or at least bank draft or money order. If you take the screening course and get the money up front it will make your experience considerably easier going forward.
As for what to do now, write him a formal letter explaining what will be happening if he doesn’t pay. Since you’re renting rooms out of your home, you fall closer to the Innkeeper’s Act than anything else, but it isn’t uniformly followed across the province. Even within the cities it can differ depending on which police station or group of officers you talk to.
You can call into the closest police station and see if they understand the Innkeeper’s Act and how it relates to rental properties. If they don’t like to get involved as it is a civil matter you can do one of two things, you can file through the courts to get an immediate eviction, and depending on the exact scenario it can work quite well or you can follow through with your written notice to lock him out on X date.
If you lock him out, he has the option to also file for a hearing for an illegal eviction, or breach of your agreement, depending on the scenario. Which brings me to the next point, when you’re renting out rooms, you need to make sure you have a solid contract that is not a residential lease. even though it may contain much of the same information.
Since room rentals end up being a contractual agreement, what you have in your contract dictates the rules. If your contract is a standard residential tenancy lease it may lock you into following standard residential tenancy rules which will not be in your favour.
So there’s your extended lesson in renting out rooms.
End result, give him written notice of what you’re going to do (or go through the courts), then move forward accordingly. Typically if he leaves, you won’t find him again, or the cost to find him will far outweigh the money owed.
Bill
Hi Bill!
Just got a few questions I am looking to have answered if you don’t mind!
My boyfriend was living in a split level house (him and two buddies lived upstairs and the landlord downstairs) and because of this they were advised that they fell under the Innkeepers Act, even though the only thing shared between them was the laundry. Each unit had separate living spaces as well as kitchen and bathrooms.They were only entitled to use the laundry on certain days and each unit and a locked door separating them. They also however signed a lease for 6 months and paid a damage deposit. My boyfriend has since moved out and his two buddies got a new roommate. However, the landlord is refusing to return my boyfriends portion of the damage deposit to him and telling him that he has to take it up with the other two roommates. We however, feel like since the previous lease was terminated this should be dealt with between my boyfriend and the landlord. It would then be the landlords responsibility to collect a new damage deposit in regards to the new lease, would it not?
Any insight would help! Thanks so much
Nicole
Hi Nicole,
First, from what you described this situation does not fall under the Innkeeper’s Act, but instead is under the Residential Tenancy Act. They don’t share a common area other than laundry and there is a locked door separating each unit so this puts them firmly in th camp of the Residential Tenancy Act.
The second issue gets more confusing.
Your boyfriend may indeed need to get the deposit from his buddies. Depending on how the lease was terminated and how the new lease was written it may come down to negotiating with his buddies to get the new guy to pay him the deposit portion to take over his space. But this should have been negotiated right away.
I can only assume with the first termination it was to allow your boyfriend out of the lease and the new person in? That would have been the perfect time to swap deposits. It may also come down to whether the landlord received a new deposit from the new tenant, and this also should have been determined earlier.
So right now without these extra details it’s hard to tell. I would suggest your boyfriend talk to the buddies, determine if an additional deposit was paid to the landlord or not. If it was, then the landlord does indeed owe him the money, if it wasn’t then the deposit needs to come from his buddies, or more realistically the new guy.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hey
I was renting a room and me and the landlord had a disagreements on the move out date,i never wreck the place the place was always tidy at all times.
I gave my 30 Days notice on Feb 3 so i had to be out Feb 28, and never gave me my full damage deposit she said the rest of clean the room, which was a lie the room was emaculant.
What do I do
Hi Mike,
I think you’re saying she kept some of your deposit as she felt the room wasn’t clean? If that’s the case it’s up to you to how much you want to fight it and what evidence you may have to help you win.
If you don’t have pictures and/or witnesses to show you left it in immaculate condition, you might as well just walk away, it will be very hard to win.
If you do have evidence and pictures now it’s a matter of how much time it takes to get the money back. The next step would be to file at the court house to get the money which means the time to prepare a filing, time off to file during the work week, time to serve the landlord and then typically a full morning or afternoon to attend a hearing.
If you get paid $15 and hour and all this takes about ten hours to do, five of which involve losing work hours if it’s less than five hours at $15 ($75) that was held back, you’re wasting your time. If it was more then it may be worth it but you have to put a bunch of time in and there is still no guarantee you will win.
So it is a bit of a tight rope you just need to decide where you fall!
Bill
Hi Bill,
Very informative site.
I have a few questions about responsibilities in a shared accommodation setting. My daughter is renting a room in a house that the landlord does NOT live in (so RTA applies). During the showing, she was promised a specific room and bed. She was also told that the landlord would be having female students upstairs and male students downstairs. She signed a lease based on this information. (There are two bathrooms – one up & one down.)
When she arrived on move-in day, she was told that a new male room-mate, that she had not met, would be living on the same floor as her. She was also no longer entitled to the bed that she had previously been told she could have as it was for the new room-mate instead. Are any of these things significant enough to be breaches of her lease agreement? They were verbal discussions, but presumably they should hold. Should the rent change if the room is not furnished at all anymore?
Since my daughter didn’t know the other person renting, she asked if she could have a lock provided on her room door for personal safety and to ensure her belongings would be secure. The landlord said it would be her responsibility to provide one if she wanted one. Is there anything in the RTA about this? If she puts a lock on the door, I understand that she has to provide the landlord with a key, but can she remove the lock when she leaves – replacing it with one that was originally there (landlord told her she had to leave it behind)?
As part of the walk-through, the landlord had an inventory list of items that she expected to be present & in good condition when my daughter moved out (furniture, cleaning implements, pots & pans, etc.). These items were located throughout the house – some even in bedrooms of other occupants. Can she legally be held responsible for items in someone else’s room – especially given there are no locks on any of the doors?
Also, the walk through included the state of all the common areas of the house implying that she would be responsible for any damage in any of the common areas including the basement where she likely won’t be often. If an issue arises, there is the potential of her word against another person’s as to whether or not she did the damage. Is this legal? Is there some way to protect her from this happening?
Also, there is a cleaning list that my daughter signed along with the lease. It included cleaning common floors, bathrooms, etc. Basically, it’s a full house clean (besides other bedrooms) before she leaves. The house was in a reasonable state of clean when the walk through was done, but not when she was first saw it so it is likely not to remain clean and it may not be her fault. Presumably because she signed the cleaning list, she is responsible for it all, but is that a reasonable expectation? If she does have to clean, presumably it is just to the state it was in when the walk through was done. Is this an accurate statement of what can be expected? (I took pictures of a few spaces. The current and future room mates may not all be leaving at the same time.)
Also, is there anything about providing fire extinguishers? There is one that needs to be charged in the house, but the landlord says she won’t replace it. She said my daughter can buy one if she wants one (and leave it behind). Perhaps this is nit-picky, but shouldn’t the safety of the tenants be a priority here? A fire extinguisher is a $40 item and the rent per room ranges from $500 to $650/month.
This is my daughter’s first renting experience and I am concerned about the potential risks here -especially given the apparent difference between what is said & done and the bias toward the landlord. Is there any way she can get out of the lease BEFORE there’s a problem?
Denise
Hi Denise,
I see a lot of red flags here. The landlord has set everything up to protect themselves and doesn’t seem to be doing anything to make the property work for the tenants. Switching rooms and/or furnishings would be a real issue for me and then charging the same amount for an unfurnished room is simply bait and switch tactics which are illegal in normal advertising. Even if it was all verbal.
The only exception I could see is if your daughter made no commitment and they operate off of a first come first serve basis. I have a similar set up with my furnished rental properties and I warn everyone first one to take it gets it and I won’t hold anything for more than a day without some kind of deposit.
As for the lock, if she places a lock on the door and provides the landlord a key as long as she puts the original handle back on and there are no modifications she doesn’t need to leave the lock. Although I am always amazed when landlords in these situations don;t have locking rooms for the protection of their tenants.
The landlord may have a hard time enforcing who is responsible for damage or missing items if there is a common area and without secured areas. However, as you’ve explained it, it’s hard to prove one individual took anything from the common space, but that wouldn’t stop the landlord from retaining a portion of the deposit to cover anything missing even if they can’t prove it. Your daughter’s recourse would be to take the landlord to the RTDRS where she would get a judgment for the withheld amount nine times out of ten. Again because it’s to hard to prove. Now just because she got the judgment, it wouldn’t guarantee she would get paid.
Cleaning is also an issue for shared properties, it can fluctuate due to the types of tenants involved. When you have the right tenants it almost becomes self policing where they let each other know who is slacking. But this can lead to more conflicts.
I don’t know the specifics about fire extinguishers, but a quick call to the fire department people may answer that for you. Again though, for the tenants safety it should already be dealt with, especially with the rent the landlord is charging.
Right now the rental markets in Alberta are loosening up due to the lower oil prices and slowing economy, so there will be more rental options out there. If I was your daughter, I would skip this property if at all possible. If suitable places aren’t readily available I would consider it, but only on a short term option such as a month at a time while I feverishly look for a better situation!
Hope that helps,
Bill
P.S. sorry posted this before I answered your last question, if she locked herself into a term lease she may get dinged for a full month by the landlord, but she can’t be held to the full term. From the sounds of it though, she would have to get this money back via a hearing at the RTDRS as it doesn’t sound like the landlord would readily refund it.
Hi Bill–Just following up as you missed my previous question I think.
Thanks
Krista
What about the tenant(s) who are thieved from and then tossed out because of this act. Where is their protection? This law should fall under the RTA. If you’re renting a house, suite or room in a residence, the RTA should apply to protect all equally, not solely the person receiving (and in most cases not declaring) the funds for space and basic services.
I’m going through this procedure right now and wondering why am I’m receiving substandard living conditions, a few of which I’ve not only offered to, but repaired at a cost of my own on top of my monthly payment. Why I should be evicted for disturbing the peace to demand the basic living conditions as agreed and be repaired in a reasonable time frame?
This is only a money grab for homeowners who choose to circumvent the RTA.
Before you judge, I used to be a home owner and landlord before the financial fall of 2009.
Well Jake, it seems like you certainly have an opinion.
So you ask, where is their protection? It’s in the courts, much like the RTA is covered. If they feel they have been wrongly evicted, they can go tot he court and apply to be reinstated or to potentially get refunds. Note this only applies to shared space where the landlord resides and not suites as you included.
As to why you’re receiving substandard living conditions the question back at you is why do you choose to stay there? I understand vacancy rates are still extremely low and options are limited, but the only way operators of substandard properties can be put out of business is by people such as yourself reporting the properties to the proper authorities and to go to court to stand up for your rights.
Your acting indignant here (along with your other four posts which I will deal with one by one), but you need to step up and take some action rather than complaining here about how unfair it is without really understanding it. If you feel you’re being evicted unfairly don’t complain on a site that helps good tenants and good landlords with bad situations, but figure out your steps. I’d also email you directly, but I’m assuming the email you left is fake as it doesn’t match up with your name which seriously affects your credibility here as well.
Bill
I have been renting rooms on the main floor of a house for a number of years. I am the main renter of the upstairs unit. about 6 years now and live there as well. I have had many people come and go. However I ended up renting a master bedroom to my girlfriends mother, both who live in the same main floor unit. things have become problematic as the mother does not maintain here shared duties that are assigned to each individual. she cleans maybe once a month and has to be pushed to do it. the front porch are littered with cigarette butts that have collected over winter and again she wont lift a finger to clean them. she bought a cat without getting my approval. the house is non smoking but from time to time she tends to start moving into the house and smoke. example first with the door open, then with the door open a crack and then sometimes she hides in her bedroom and smokes. the house is pungent with cigarette fumes. I have taken pictures of the deficiencys from time to time and they are adding up. i have warned her over and over but it still persists. My girlfriend and I just want to live together alone finally. I want to give her 5 months notice due to those reasons. but mostly because my newly common law girlfriend and I just have had enough and want to live alone without renting anymore. is it feasible to use those as reasons in this situation. I am trying to do this without causing to much friction between my girlfriend and her mother. btw she does not have a lease nor any documents that we agreed to or signed when she moved in. nor did she pay damage deposit. thanks
Hi Steve,
You’re outside the bounds of the Residential Tenancy Act in Alberta from what you described. If your lease outlines the duties she is to perform and includes references to no pets, no smoking and any other breaches she has performed, you have numerous reasons to evict her.
Hopefully your warnings have also included written notices as it is always easier if things get nasty to have hard copies of warnings etc if it does end up in some type of court hearing. I would shorten that notice period up significantly and provide her a month maximum due to all the breaches and depending on the severity even less.
The longer you wait, or the longer period you provide just make it harder if things do go sideways. Depending on where you reside or the familiarity the police may have with the Innkeeper Act they may assist you in removing the lady or defer you to the courts where it could be several weeks to get a hearing to get her out.
Err on the side of safety and get her out sooner before you discover your whole house has gone up in smoke due to an errant cigarette.
Bill
Thanks bill. ive been in this boat before but not with in-laws. will let u know how it goes.
Hi Bill,
I had a roommate living with me for the month of December (just renting a room) long story short, the police were called; I then found out that he had multiple arrest warrants out for him. The police advised me to change the locks and not let him in the house without a police escort, not even to pick up his belongings–as he was considered very dangerous. The police advised me not to let anyone else in the house to pick up his belongings either, I was told to keep it for the 30 days (if I thought it was worth more than $2000), if not to throw it out or sell what I could to repair the damages done to my house. He has since been apprehended and is in police custody (jail). Twice now someone has come by my house knocking on the door (to which I did not answer and once I wasn’t home) and left notes both times. The first time attempting to pick up my old roommates belongings (this was before he was in jail), and the second time leaving a note on my door. He is now saying that some of the belongings are his and he can charge me with theft if they’re not returned.and that he has my old roommates authorization to come in and pick them up. The police know he stopped by the first time and told me to not respond to him, I gave the police his phone number and license plate information.
Under the innkeeper act it states “No innkeeper is liable to make good to any person who is not
registered as an occupant of a room or rooms in the innkeeper’s inn
any loss of or injury to property brought into the innkeeper’s inn,”—So I don’t have to give this person anything or let them in, correct? I don’t feel safe allowing them into my house or contacting them at all, I don’t want them to have any of my information. Most of the stuff has been thrown away or given to good will as I just wanted it gone–afraid that some of it was stolen goods.
Thanks
Krista
Hi Krista,
Sorry I thought I had replied to this one. The number of queries I’ve been getting has been overwhelming so far this month, my apologies for letting this slip by.
You can’t return anything to anyone other than the individual who the items belonged to or to whom you believed they belong to, which in this case was the person in that room. If you did, it could result in other issues for you where the former tenant could complain you gave away something of value for which you could be liable. So you did the correct thing by not handing any of the goods over.
Fast forward and as the police told you, if the value of the items is less than $2,000 you can dispose of it, if it’s over you’re supposed to hold it for 30 days and then you can auction it off with any outstanding amounts to you paid off first and the remainder held for the tenant. This is really an RTA ruling, but it seems to carry over to the IA as well.
The only thing I would have suggested is to inventory either via a list or a list and combination of video/photos everything you took out, just in case he came back later claiming you gave away his collector comic book collection that was worth $50,000.
hope that helps,
Bill
Hi, I am trying to access the Basic Innkeeper/Room Subletting Package however the file will not load. Is there a way to have the forms or link emailed to me? I’ve tried on two different computers.
Hi Tamara,
I just tried to access it and it seems to work fine on my end which suggests it’s either a script being blocked by either your work servers or your browser or the domain is an unapproved site by the server at your work. Since we can’t really get around that if you are trying this from work, we can try a different route.
On the front of the Alberta Eviction site down the right column at the bottom you will find a donate button. If you click on the button and donate the price of the Basic Innkeeper/Roommate package, I’ll see that and can then email you the package to the email address you used here to leave your comment, or a different address if you prefer.
I am only at my desk until approximately 11 this morning, but will be back by 4 and can forward it on at that point if we miss each other this morning.
Regards,
Bill
Hi. I am currently subletting the bssement of a house where I have my own room and living room, but share thr kitchen. I did not sign a lease but the landlord is aware that I am living here as a tenant, and we have had a fair amount of correspondence over text.
I did not sign a lease with the tenant or landlord, and just reading about the innkeepers act I a, concerned that I could be evicted without notice by the tenant and have no recourse.
Is this the case??? What protections or defenses would I have???
Hi Basement,
This is an example of where not having a lease can both help and hinder you. While you fall closest to the Innkeeper’s Act a lease with written rules would potentially take precedence over some parts of the Innkeeper’s Act.
Now having said that, if you were evicted without reason, you could fight it in court and likely win, or if the police were brought in and you understood your rights without being aggressive or argumentative they would likely refer the landlord (the main tenant in this case) to deal with this via the courts.
So bottom line, you should have a lease, next bottom line, you don’t have as many rights in this situation as you may have presumed.
Bill
I have a guy renting my spare room in a townhouse I own. I am planning on moving in with my boyfriend who also owns a house. I would like to rent my full townhouse out to new tenants as my current roommate could not afford the total house rent and can not find roommates. I talked to him and said I would like him out by the end of February if he can not find roommates, and he said that he would try but he does not know if he will be out by then. I would like to give him written notice 30 days before the end of February and have him be out by then. Is this legal? I called the landlord tenant board and they said they could not help me because it is shared accommodation and not their jurisdiction. I feel like 60 days verbal and 30 days written notice is very generous, but I can’t find any information regarding whether this is a valid reason for eviction or not.
Hi Shelby,
As you’re outside of the Residential Tenancy Act, you fit closer to the Innkeeper’s Act, but there is no guarantee it always gets interpreted that way. Much of it depends on how you set your agreement up. If it refers to the Innkeeper’s Act versus the Residential Tenancy Act it puts you in a better position.
Realistically if it’s not outlined in your agreement, it makes it tougher, but 60 days verbal notice should be enough (although you should have given it written as potential future evidence) along with the 30 days written. Now you just need to stay on top of him to get this moving forward.
Bill
I rented a room out to a woman in my apartment.I went away on vacation for 3 weeks and when I returned she had moved out and stole numerous items and also left without giving keys back.I called police and they came over and told me there is nothing I can do as I had given her the keys.I mentioned the innkeepers act and was told this only applies to hotels.They told me this is a civil court matter.I have this woman’s information and want her charged with theft of the keys as well as the property of mine she stole.Should I contact police again or what is my recourse here?
Hi Mike,
If she’s moved out, then definitely change the locks. You can press charges for theft, but you have to prove she took it and you did give her keys which makes it interesting… Even if it was under a rental situation.
The Innkeeper’s act also typically gets applied to situations like this in hearings as it is the closest legislation, the most binding part is the lease which they signed as it sets the contract under which they stay. Yes it is a civil matter, but if the roommate/tenant is extremely difficult or aggressive they have the right to step in and remove them. When someone has moved out and stolen things it is entirely different.
Bill
Hi there..
Are there any rights of the lodger – who has paid until the end of the month and without any notice 10 days before the end of the month, the person renting the room takes all the belongings of the renter and puts it on the porch – advising the lodger he is no longer welcome. There have been no disagreements. Rent was paid in full. No rules were violated. The person renting just appeared to have changed their mind about renting the room out. no refunds were given. The lodger had no place to go. This was done after 9 pm on a Saturday night, Any advice for the lodger?
Hi Confused,
You would have the right to take them to court to recover the rent you paid that wasn’t refunded and possible additional costs you incurred, but it would depend on many other factors. Some of these would be any specifics for the termination, the lease you have and the specific set up of the rental.
Bill
Hello!
I am renting out a room in my house and I live here as well. We share kitchen and living room. I did have the tenant sign a 6 month lease however I am putting my house up for sale so I am not wanting to have a tenant in here anymore. In the lease agreement he signed, it said giving 30 days written notice would be sufficient. I did just that and then he told me he was taking me to court as this was illegal to do. I left my house for a few days and returned to my counter tops being damaged to the amounts of around $2,000. I then requested he be out within a week and again, he threatened to take me to court. There have been other things going on .. like he ate my food, drank my booze. I paid him $200 to stain my deck and that never got done, etc…
My question is, can he file any legal action against me for requesting him to leave earlier than the 30 days notice? As well, since he paid me Decembers rent in full would I be required to pay him back for the days he wont be residing here?
Any advice on this would be great.. this has been a terrible experience.
Hi Bree,
In an Innkeeper’s situation, which it sounds like this is, the lease dictates most of the terms as part of a contract. It just can’t supercede any of the rules in the Act itself as the lawful Act takes precedent.
With the tenant causing damage, you have significant latitude now to move forward to evict him. Depending on your lease (if it’s a standard lease it probably refers to the Residential Tenancy Act), you may be stuck going through the courts. Even if it does specifically lay out you are under the Innkeeper’s Act, sometimes it is hard to enforce and may still require going through the courts.
It’s pretty unlikely he will take any legal action against you as 90% of the time this is just bravado on the tenants behalf to buy more time or stall you. With the damage normally you would have the option to accelerate the eviction to a 24 hour notice, but if this happened several days ago, it would be too watered down.
I’d suggest you talk to the tenant, explain he has until X day to vacate which will allow him to walk away or you will either a) bring the police in to remove him, or take him to court and file to evict him along with filing for damages caused by him which will grant you a judgment. then you will have to see where it takes you.
Sometimes the police will be very cooperative, sometimes not so much as th eInnkeeper’s Act and the Residential Tenancy Act fit under Civil Law which the police don’t enforce. If the tenant becomes agitated or combative when they come by, it does tend to provide you with more value in them removing him.
Bill
Hi,
I had a roommate move into my place November 1. His agreement was for a year, until October 31, 2015. Last Monday (December 8) we got into an argument and we both agreed that he would move out at the end of the month and he would get the damage deposit back. I’m going away to Vancouver December 28-January 1 so I wouldn’t be here when he moves out. Last Wednesday (December 10) I told him I wasn’t going to be in town and he asked what he should do with the keys. I told him I would find someone to get them. On Friday (December 12) I asked if he knew what time he would be moving out on the 31st and he said he was going to move out earlier and then said he might be able to move out before I leave. He said he’s moving in with a friend but that his friend works a lot so he’s not sure what day he’s moving. I’m not sure how his friend working should affect when he’s going to move in with him because he’ll be getting keys to the place. I’ve asked for advice from other people and everyone keeps telling me I can’t ask him to leave before the 31st. I don’t feel comfortable leaving with him still living in my place and was wondering if I can tell him he needs to move out before I leave for my trip?
I wasn’t sure which of your comments to reply to, so I chose the last one…
Hi Eleni,
If you’ve already agreed he could stay until the end of the month, you may be tied to that agreement, if he gets out early great. If he doesn’t you made a verbal agreement previously that that was ok. You’ve got a few complications, depending on the type of lease you used, you may have locked yourself into a longer term as there are some complications with leases in “Innkeeper” setups that are longer than six months. Thee could be multiple other issues depending on whether your lease is designed for an Innkeeper’s situation.
Bill
Hi, I started renting a room in my condo November 1. The agreement was until October 21, 2015. My roommate and I had a disagreement and we agreed that he would move out at the end of the month and he would get the damage deposit back. I’m supposed to be going away from December 28- January 1, so I’ve asked my neighbour if they could get the keys back. I told my roommate that I’m going away and he said he’s probsbly going to be gone before I go. I told him to let me know as soon as he knows which day he’s going to leave so I can get the keys back and he can get the damage deposit back. Well it’s been a week and he still can’t tell me when he’s moving out. I don’t feel comfortable leaving without knowing when he’s moving out and I don’t want to cancel my trip. Do I have the right to ask him to leave before the 31st?
Sorry I meant the agreement was until October 31, 2015.
Hi, I have a dilemma. I have been renting rooms in my rented house since 2008 and have lived in the same house since 2001. I had a girlfriend leave me with thousands in unpaid bills and I slipped behind pretty badly on my rent between the ex girlfriend and problematic tenants (the ex was also a hoarder, so it was hard to get quality tenants).
Well fast forward to the past few weeks, my new ex girlfriend had shared an e-mail from my landlord with my tenants, showing I’m six months behind, and despite it not being true she alluded to them that I’ve been just taking their money and not paying my landlord anything, which is not true.
So now my tenants are angry, accusing me of lying to them, I’ve endured an aggregate of probably about 3 hours of being shouted at by one of them (who gave her notice, by the way). While they are not covered by the RTA because they share a kitchen and bathroom with me I by and large try to follow the RTA rules as a guideline.
The “she” tenant gave verbal notice on December 5th, and I advised her she needed to give me one months’ notice from when she pays her rent in order to get her security deposit back. I beleive she is either going to move out on or before rent day, and expect her deposit back, using “proof” that I am behind with my landlord as an excuse to flout the rules.
The “he” tenant is not sure whether he intends to leave but indicated he may have difficulty paying. He is quite close with the other tenant which has often caused problems. For example I had a conversation with him and one of his friends, there were multiple incidents with the friend (literally being naked common areas in the house) so I told the both of them face to face that he was not to come over for three months. The “she” tenant later that day ccame home from work and screamed at me “for” the “he” tenant.
My landlord and I are talking about the debt and he is not proceeding with any eviction.
My question is this. I am under the assumption that as a sublettor with written permission, these tenants of mine are entirely my responsibility to provide the rented room, and use of the common areas of the house. As the master tenant and sublettor, I am responsible for any rent (paid or unpaid) to my landlord. Therefore I beleive that my arrangements with my landlord are none of their business and should have no impact on their tenancy with me.
The “she” tenant is quite litigous and I fully expect her to try to use her knowledge that I am behind with my landlord to some sort of financial gain or to flout the rules, my guess is that she is going to move out without proper notice and demand her damage deposit back while not paying her rent.
The “he” tenant I beleive may withhold money again until he sees “proof” of something.
Hi Taylor,
Ultimately they are your tenants, whether you are paying or not and they have a responsibility to pay you. Whether they have information confirming or denying you are paying is irrelevant as they are responsible for their payments.
If you fail to pay your landlord and they get evicted, their recourse is to sue you.
By following the RTA as a guideline you are muddying the waters for yourself and could cause issues later if you try to leverage the Innkeeper’s Act. You really need to reverse that and follow the IA.
In the end though you likely need ot get rid of both of these tenants whether you simply let them leave or evict them for non-payment.
Bill
Hi Bill,
I have purchased a large home and its near a college. I need to supplement my income so would like to rent out 4 spare rooms. to 4 separate students. I will also live there with my family, upstairs. the 4 rooms are in the basement.
Most insurance companies are declining me. What are my options. Can you recommend some insurance companies which deal with this.
Its not like a rooming house because I live here and just want to rent more then 1 room and there fore the issue. please any advise.
Hi Will,
You may need to find a good insurance agent who will do some leg work for you to find an insurance company that will help. Agents typically have access to multiple insurers and can typically find someone who will accept it, albeit at much higher rates than typical insurance.
Bill
Bill, what an excellent resource. Thank you for the information. My husband and I rent our basement to a friend who has a signed lease that runs until Jul 15, 2015. He is looking to move out in less than a month. What is he obligated to pay us for breaking this lease 6+ months early? We are unsure whether it would fall under Residential Tenancy Act… Thank you for your feedback!
Hi Lauren,
Thanks and I’m glad you’re finding it useful! Situations like this are kind of a catch 22. When a tenant vacates or breaks a lease early, the onus is on the landlord to fill the unit as quickly as possible. So due to the high demand for rental space currently it should take nearly zero time to fill it.
However at the same time the tenant is breaking the lease saddling you with extra expenses such as re-advertising the property and potentially a lost week, two or maybe even a full month depending on what needs to be done to the unit to get it ready again to re-rent. This is something he would be responsible for.
Since he’s a friend, and I’ve done this with several tenants as well, I’d negotiate with them to allow the unit to be shown early and while he is still there so you can get it filled ASAP and possibly with near zero vacancy time. He may still be responsible for ad costs, but if you run it on Kijiji or Craigs list or other free sites, it may work easier and more cost effectively for both of you.
Now as to which act or possible act you fit under, the key issues would be if his unit is self contained. If he has his own suite with a locking door, then it is under the RTA, if he has a space he rents downstairs maybe with one locking room and he shares the kitchen and living room with you, then it is Innkeeper’s, or at least that is the closest legislation it fits under.
The important distinction is the shared space. Some landlords who have their own suite upstairs, but share the laundry and perhaps some storage space in the lower suite feel it fits under the Innkeeper’s Act, but it does not.
Hope that clarifies things,
Bill
Hi Bill,
I own a home with a large basement. I live on the main floor.
Basement has 4 rooms and all 4 rented to separate persons.
Basement is not a legal basement as such. Because its a older home.
I am concerned for any legal issues coming my way and need some guidance.
It has a separate entrance as well as a entrance from within the house. Is this considered a Inn keeper situation or RTA type?
If someone gets hurt in a fire situation, do I go to jail. What should I be doing?
If the city inspector visits, will they kick out tenants on the spot? Will I have some time to rectify the issues. Please advise.
How much trouble am I in?? This is making me concerned for roommates safety and my potential legal troubles.
Please advise.
Will.
Hi Will,
The legal issue you’ll need to be concerned about most is the windows. There are specific regulations for how big the openings of the basements windows need to be for any bedrooms and this varies by city and town, so you may need to check with the local zoning where you live to confirm what you need.
You’ll also want to make sure you have adequate smoke detectors installed for the property. Again depending on local bylaws, this may need require a hard wired smoke detector to cover you.
There are several question before it can be determined whether it is legal or illegal as well. These cover zoning for the area, bylaws regarding occupancy limits, cooking facilities and more.
So if you get caught with an illegal suite for instance the tenants aren’t evicted on the spot, but usually they are given a short time frame to either be out or for you to have the property fixed to appropriate standards. This can’t always be done depending on the local city or town bylaws where you are at.
If it’s not zoned properly and you have a suite set up, you may be required to remove all counters and cabinets along with cooking facilities from the space and won’t be allowed to put them back in. This could affect how you rent it or whether you can even rent it.
If someone gets hurt due to a fire you can be liable for some pretty serious fines and potentially jail time. There are dozens of variables and you may have to call the local zoning and bylaw folks for guidance.
Bill
Hi Bill,
Right now I own and reside in a home and rent out the 2 rooms in the basement. We share the kitchen and living room so we are under the Innkeepers Act and I have a written month to month agreement with my tenants. I now wish to buy another property, reside in the new one, and the current tenants would like to stay and rent the whole house from me, which is obviously ideal as they have proven themselves as trustworthy tenants. When I do move out, how do I approach the lease agreement as we will no longer fall under the Innkeepers Act? Just get them to sign a new lease outlaying the Landlord and Tenant Act with the revised rents? (Obviously they will pay more rent). If you could let me know your thoughts that would be great.
Hi Brianne,
I would have a lease signed before you move out that takes effective on the day you move out. If you don’t currently have a residential tenancy lease for Alberta, they are available on this site with complete walk throughs of how to use them and any steps involved.
Your priorities transitioning to a regular rental will be dealing with any security deposits based on the new lease (security deposits can be maximum the equivalent of one month’s rent). Under the RTA you can’t increase the amount of the security deposit if you increase the rent, but since you are not currently under the RTA it muddies the waters. Generally for the most protection you want it to match the rent.
Next priority will be getting a signed walk through with the tenants verifying the current condition of the property when the lease starts (walk through forms are included with some of the packages on the site). This protects you if there is future damage and without it, it is almost impossible to withhold a security deposit for damages incurred during the tenancy.
Final priority will be to make sure you have a fixed term lease in place and not one that lapses into month to month. This gives you more control if the situation doesn’t go as planned.
There’s a rough outline to hopefully point you in the right direction.
Bill
Hi Bill,
My boyfriend and I rent out our house to two other individuals. Last night one of our tenants brought a stranger into the house unannounced to either my boyfriend or I. He always has a parade of women coming and going out of our house several times during the week. I find that this situation of not even mentioning to us that he let a friend sleep on our couch is a violation of his rights as a tenant to not put other tenants or the premises at risk.
What do you think?
Thanks,
Angela
Hi Angela,
This can be kind of a gray area and so many different factors can come into play. Do you have specific rules about guests in your lease or house rules? Was the tenant intoxicated and would his leaving potentially have led to drinking and driving? Was this the night the temperature dropped and the snow came in and if he walked home would he have been in potential physical danger?
Was this a one off situation? And did you bring it up with the tenant the next day explaining why it isn’t acceptable? Ignorance isn’t an accepted excuse, but often it is something that tenants can get away with in these types of situations as they are given leniency when it comes to evictions.
So while it may not have been right, your responsibility now is to make sure he is well aware this isn’t acceptable and if it happens again could lead to his eviction. You’ll want to follow it up with a written notice as well just to create a paper trail.
Bill
Hi Bill, I have rented out a room in the house I own and live in and the tenant has changed the lock set and did not provide me a key. Is this permissible? Can I remove the lock set immediately without notice? I provided a set of rules( vacuum once per week, how rent paid, no parties..etc) which I realized were needed after she moved in, but she does not comply and I want her gone! Can I use these rule breaks as a breach and request she vacate immediately?
best, RN
there is no written lease/agreement-RN
Hi Richard,
No, the tenant cannot change locks without providing you a key. I’d provide notice with a deadline as to when you require either the original lock put back on or a key, something along the lines of 24-48 hours, or you will proceed with an eviction for breach of the tenancy rules.
You could request she vacate immediately as another option or within the time frame.In your second comment you mention no written lease, you may want to reconsider that as having a written lease can add significantly more protection for you and clarify situations like this.
You fall in the gray area between Residential Tenancy Act and the Innkeeper’s act, so the more info you have, like a lease, that points to you specifically falling under one, the easier it is to justify you being allowed to use that rule set versus the other one.
I do provide lease packages for both regular rental properties and roommate situations and they are listed across the menu at the top. The small expense of picking it up may be well worth the headaches you save, plus they are full of extra tips to make your job even easier.
Bill
Hi Bill,
My husband and I are renting a bedroom in our home to a “friend”. Other than the fact that she pays rent on time, she lies about EVERYTHING and has become completely unreliable…
As part of our rental agreement, we provide her food; she refuses to let us know when she will be home or not and then refuses to eat leftovers.
A lot of the problems that we are having with her are just personality clashes, but there is also the fact that she does not always leave the common areas as they were (in other words, makes messes she doesn’t clean up and does not clean the lint trap when she uses the dryer), which IS one of the conditions we put in the lease.
The problem is that we signed a lease with her saying she will be here for a full year. Do we have any options to get her out earlier?
Hi Dee,
Lying isn’t directly a breach of a lease, unless it involves lying about things covered by the lease, then it could be.
Part of this you may have set up yourself as part of the agreement and should be a learning lesson. Food for instance, if you’re providing room and board, you should have included specifics about times for the board part.
If it simply comes down to personality clashes, the answer is obvious, the relationship needs to be terminated.There is not sense trying to patch it together as it won’t stick.
So, first option would be an amendment to the rules laying down when dinners would be provided and going over the specific rules about cleaning, maintenance etc. You can let her know that if this isn’t feasible, then you have nor problem breaking the lease with her and wont’ hold her responsible for the remainder, as long as she gives you at least a couple weeks notice.
You’re going to have to talk your way through this with her. Whether it’s simply explaining to her it’s not working, or forcing her to adhere to the “new” rules, you have to make something work as currently it sounds like you don’t have quite enough fro an “eviction”, but may have grounds to terminate the lease fairly between both parties.
Bill
hey so I moved into a room in a basement with its own common area, bathroom, kitchenette with sink, hot plate, microwave and a fridge. my entrance is the back door. it has another door in the mudd room leading to the upstairs where the landlady lives, its her house.
the situation is this, ive been here for two and a half months now, i missed my rent on the first and wont have it for another two weeks, by the end of this month.
she does have a damage deposit she received from me equal to one months rent 575.
when i moved in i signed no contract, nothing. its a month to month agreement of 575.
can i be evicted in a moments notice? if so, and assuming theres no damage to property of any kind. can she keep the entire damage deposit if i left only a week or two into that month??
Hi Jaystin,
It sounds like you have your own self contained unit and the landlady has her own self contained space. That puts you squarely under the Residential Tenancy’s Act and no the Innkeeper’s Act, so there is a definite process she has to follow to evict you.
The entire process would take at least a couple weeks if not longer and if you pay up ASAP it would reset everything this time.
As for the damage deposit, if she evicts you for a breach of the terms or implied terms of the lease, she would be able to potentially keep a portion of the damage deposit, but not likely the entire amount. You would be responsible for costs associated with re-advertising the property and potentially a few other charges.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Dear Bill,
My father passed away back in March 2014. At that time he was living in a modular home on family property with special permission for “compassionate reasons” from the municipality. In addition, there was a woman who was being paid to take care of him and the home who also resided there for free.
After Dad’s death, the woman was told that she would have to move out by the end of April and that the modular would be sold. as part of the estate, which was left to us four siblings. We felt that it was “nice” to give her some leeway in finding a place to live.
Fast forward to September 2014…she is still living there and hasn’t paid a penny towards rent nor utilities. I wrote a Letter to Vacate the Property and had two witnesses sign it – one of whom was present when I gave her the letter. It said that she had until September 30th to leave, or we had the right to have the sheriff remove her and her belongings.
So, she’s still there…apparently, trying to find a place to go, but hasn’t. I called the RCMP this morning to ask them if they would accompany me to have her removed and I was told that I need to consult a lawyer to see what my rights are before the RCMP will become involved. We aren’t using a lawyer to finalize the estate and don’t see why we need to pay for a consultation with one just to have our rights confirmed. The modular is in both my Dad’s and brother’s names and the property that it is sitting on is in my Brother’s name.
I think we are right in saying that she has no right to continue to live there. Is this correct? Any advice is certainly welcome.
Thank-you,
Tammy Day
Hi Tammy,
Your situation actually fall under the Alberta Mobile Homes Act which differs from the Residential Tenancy Act slightly. This Act however doesn’t allow you to remove her with the RCMP. You have to follow the process set out int he Act itself and although I’m not very familiar with this version, I’m pretty sure it involves you requiring a court order to have her removed.
Here’s a link to the full Act Mobile Home Sites Tenancy Act
Bill
Thanks, Bill. I will investigate further.
Hi Bill,
I am a student from Ontario who is working in Calgary for 4 months, from early September to mid-late December. I originally found the place I’m living at on Kijiji, and through email conversations with the landlord, the following was determined: Rent was $500/month, no partying, no smoking, keep common areas clean, and quiet hours after 11 pm. However, no written lease agreement was signed. As of yesterday (September 26th) my landlord came to my room, as I live in his house, and told me he would “strongly prefer” that I leave his house. I live in the room beside my landlord. Prior to this we have had one conversation a week prior, where he mentioned that I was “staying up too late” and that I was keeping him up past 11. Past 11, I would generally open my door, walk to the bathroom down the hall, walk back, and close the door, but I stopped doing this after our talk. However, I would quietly talk on Skype, either in a whisper, or a low voice, until roughly 12:00 pm, and move from my chair to my bed, which creaks moderately. According to him this is “keeping him up and disturbing his rest”, and my suggestion of moving into a room downstairs was also met with his insistence on me “moving out, since our lifestyles don’t match.” I understand that I probably fall under the Innkeeper’s Act currently, but what rights do I have if he wants me to move out? How long would I have until I am required to move out? I have not damaged anything nor been blatantly loud, even prior to 11 pm! Thanks!
Sincerely,
Derek
Hi Derek,
It can depend on how much he knows about the rules. Obviously the property isn’t going to work out, so I’d suggest negotiating some extra time in order for you to locate a place.
I can see how even talking quietly would be disturbing him, so he may have some grounds there, I’d suggest curtailing that as well in order to buy more time. As for specific timelines as to how quickly he can get you out, this varies depending on how he proceeds and whether he calls in the police to assist. You have the option to take him to court after the fact, but that can often be a fruitless endeavour and doesn’t help you now.
Bill
Hi Bill,
Sorry for another post.
My landlord has just gotten back to me. A total of 350$ will be deducted.
The reason why this situation angers me so much is not because of the money but the way the situation is handled. First of all, the female landlord does not reply me everytime I contact her about the deposit. This situation was instead handled by her husband who was not even present the entire time. I’ve only seen him three times when I stayed at their premise in the three months I stayed there. Second of all, the tone in all of the correspondence with the male landlord is very accusatory and hostile. I feel like this has become a personal attack of my character. He has accused me of being dishonest, disrespectful, and stupid. I feel very hurt because I have believed them to be good and responsible people and I have been a good tenant throughout my stay there.
I am in Alberta by myself and I feel like knowing this, they are trying to exploit me. This is the reason why I am very upset and angry. I feel that they know I probably don’t want to bring this to court judging by how much time it takes to do so. However. I do want to protect others living in the same household from this type of exploitation and feel like I should pursue this.
Do you think I should hire a lawyer? As I believe this issue is beyond money at this point.
Here’s the link to the list of photos I took before I moved out.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lwluxq5i884nl0w/AADKGjEdE_x3HkPFSP6hPmMza?dl=0
I don’t believe they have any reason to deduct money from my security deposit.
Hi there,
Thank you for this information. It is very helpful. I am in a sticky situation right now. I hope you can give me some advise as to what to do.
I have been renting in a property where the landlord lives in and I pay them a monthly rental that exceeds 1000. There are 5 tenants who live in the premise in total. I paid each months’ rent in full. They have charged me a 1000 security deposit prior to my tenancy. This was all outlined in a rental agreement that is not governed by the Residential Tenancy Act but by the Innkeeper’s act.
I read the Innkeeper’s Act carefully – especially this portion:
Every innkeeper
(a) shall keep conspicuously posted in the office of the
innkeeper’s inn, and in every bedroom ordinarily used for
the accommodation of inn guests, a printed or plainly
written copy of section 7, and
(b) is entitled to the benefit of this Act only in respect of
property that is brought to the innkeeper’s inn while the
copy of section 7 is posted as required by this section.
RSA 1980 cI-4 s6.
This was not posted during any period of my tenancy. Does this mean that the Act does not apply to the contract I signed?
The sticky situation has to do with the security deposit. I have cleaned my room thoroughly, as well as wiped down the bathroom (shared between 3 tenants), my cupboard space, fridge area etc.
During the day that I was moving out, the landlord did a simple walk-through with me. She simply asked me if I cleaned the blinds, the window sill, and the fans and light fixtures but did not actually inspect it herself. I answered yes as I cleaned everything. She said she will do further inspection after I leave. We did not go over the bathroom (another tenant was taking a shower) and the fridge or other cupboard space.
I asked her to go over everything with me right there because if I leave it will be my words against hers. She insisted that she will do further inspection after I leave. I asked if my damage deposit will be deducted, she answered saying that if there are any dust accumulation, my damage deposit will be deducted. Of course, knowing this, I went to my room and cleaned it again, and have also taken high resolution pictures using my camera to make sure that the landlord will have no reason to deduct any portion of my damage deposit. As noted, the washroom was shared, and I feel it is not my responsibility if someone else have dirtied it after I have left.
I texted her three times asking when I can get my damage deposit back and whether or not any deductions will be made. Her husband (also owner) today replied me by text that deductions were made for “thorough cleaning” as the premise was apparently not clean enough as I apparently started cleaning at 10am on the day of my moving out (not true – I cleaned the entire weekend). There was no way of him knowing this as he does not live in the house most of the time as he works in another province.
I find this to be absolutely unreasonable. I am wondering what actions I can take to protect myself and get the full deposit back?
I eagerly await your response and thank you in advance.
Hi Logan,
I’m not aware of anyone getting in serious trouble for not posting the notice, but it’s good practice as then everyone is completely aware of which rules they are covered under.
As for recovering any money you feel is owed to you, your next step would be the courts. To make sure this works you’ll need to thoroughly document everything (which is sounds like you are well on your way towards) and file at the courthouse. Part of how far you want to proceed with this will be determined by how much deposit they retain.
I know some less than ethical landlords use damage deposits purely as extra income and often simply bluff tenants out of their deposits, this may be a case of this. If you show you’re serious and ready to go to court,they may back off and refund everything.
If however, they are returning the majority of it and want to hold back say $50 or maybe even $100, you have to determine how much that money is worth to you versus the hours of preparation, filing and then the half day or more in court.
So at this point your steps will be to determine how much they are retaining and from there whether you need to go to court to get all of your money back or whether you may be able to simply warn them that you are prepared to go to court and see how things progress.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hi Bill,
Thank you very much for your rapid response.
The reason why this situation angers me so much is not because of the money but the way the situation is handled. First of all, the female landlord does not reply me everytime I contact her about the deposit. This situation was instead handled by her husband who was not even present the entire time. I’ve only seen him three times when I stayed at their premise in the three months I stayed there. Second of all, the tone in all of the correspondence with the male landlord is very accusatory and hostile. I feel like this has become a personal attack of my character. He has accused me of being dishonest, disrespectful, and stupid. I feel very hurt because I have believed them to be good and responsible people and I have been a good tenant throughout my stay there.
I am in Alberta by myself and I feel like knowing this, they are trying to exploit me. This is the reason why I am very upset and angry. I feel that they know I probably don’t want to bring this to court judging by how much time it takes to do so. However. I do want to protect others living in the same household from this type of exploitation and feel like I should pursue this.
Do you think I should hire a lawyer? As I believe this issue is beyond money at this point.
Here’s the link to the list of photos I took before I moved out.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lwluxq5i884nl0w/AADKGjEdE_x3HkPFSP6hPmMza?dl=0
I don’t believe they have any reason to deduct money from my security deposit.
Hi Bill,
I had awesome roommates for 13 months, only to have a girl I befriended offer me better living accommodations in the same area. However our personalities may have clashed at the end, but no major damage was done. I tried to pay her every 1st of the month, but 2/3 of the time I was working out of town for my job. She said not to worry, I could pay the first day I returned from out of town. This was no problem. She told me she had a condition called OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), which I had heard of, but did not know much about.
Living with her was a nightmare, as any small transgression she took as a major issue and threatened to evict me 3 times. In the 6 1/2 months I resided there, I left a kitchen light on 3 times, once accidentally left my key in the lock when returning from a 21 day shift up north, and once leaving 2 cleaned dishes in the sink. Then about three weeks ago, she came into my room, without 24 hour notice, said that the carpets were “stained’ and demanded that before I even came in the door, I was to pay her the monthly rent (I was working in the north at the time), make me pay a damage deposit equal the rent (no deposit was agreed upon verbally when I moved in), and sign a inspection report dated February 1, which I believe was illegal. i told her I would rather move out.
When I came home, she said she was too hard on me, and I agreed to pay the monthly rent, but that was it, and I was still going to move out (the reason being she had made 3 threats, and tried to force me to sign a pre-inspection report in August, that was dated February 1). I agreed to clean the carpet, but found really nothing wrong with it, and took pictures after it was vacuumed.
The next time I went to work out of the area, she once again blew her top at me about something minor. I decided when I returned that I was going to just rent a place for a week and stay there, then return to get my belongings this weekend, since I was paid up until the 31st. Once she found out that I was moving out, she told me I could not retrieve my belongings (which total nearly $1500.00). She has threatened to phone the Police and charge me, if I try to enter the premises. She also stated that she was legally entitled to evict me immediately, since “I did not pay rent on the first.” I even have proof in our text messages that she has gone back on her word about paying rent when I return from town.
The only minor damage that was done, was after I took a bath, I usually immediately mop the floor with my towel. However, I had an important phone call just after I got out of the shower once in early July. An hour later she noticed that a very small amount of water had leaked to the bottom floor, and there was a small damp spot on the drywall, which has gone away within a few hours. Since I left minimal amount of water on the bathroom floor, and there is a vent right beside the tub, I estimated 1/2 a cup of water could have seeped into the vent somehow, and there may be a crack in the vent between the floors. She just told me to be more careful, and not to worry about it. The problem is, the longer you leave any kind of water damage, the worse it gets, and that was 6 weeks ago. This is the main reason she is not giving me my belongings. Additionally, there may not be any damage, and at most, it would cost only a fraction of the cost of my belongings.
I also was willing to clean the washroom and bedroom, and leave it in great condition for a future roommate. However, she has demanded $60.00 because she will not let me in to clean, and $225.00 for “not giving her enough notice” despite her trying to alter our verbal rental agreement, which I refused to agree upon.
If the Landlord and Tenants Act does not cover these living arrangements, who does? Do I have to go to small claims court? Does the Innkeepers Act cover any of this? The Police seem unable (or unwilling) to do anything about the situation. I am wondering what I can do to retrieve my possessions and be on my way. Any advice from you would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Chris,
Quite the crazy situation. The closest you fit would be under the Innkeeper’s Act and your best bet is to try to talk to her when she is in one of her rational moods.
You may be able to take her to court to reclaim your goos, but it might be easier to negotiate it with her. The police usually don’t want to become involved in landlord tenant disputes unless everything is clear cut, but they are usually willing to help tenants get items out when they are vacating.
If you’re planning on going to get your stuff, you may want to call the police first explain the situation and then it’s at least on record that you were simply going to collect your belongings. If however the locks have been changed then you need there to let you in or you could be charged with vandalism or worse.
Bill
Priority should be to get your stuff out and then if she does keep excess money for repairs, then go after her in court.
Well the police did not help and it looks like I will have to go to court to retrieve my belongings. I got legal advice and they said I had a open and shut case as not only did she commit numerous violations but also contradicted herself in text messages many times. I took pics of the carpet and they show no damage whatsoever. I will keep you updated but small claims court is my only option.
Hey Bill,
I’ve gotten myself in a sticky situation and am now finding very little information on how I must proceed. It would seem to me after reading this that the innkeepers act applies to my situation, so maybe you could advise me.
I’m apprenticing in a trade and have decided that renting out a room in the home I rent would alleviate some of the strain on bills while I’m in school. Mid august I found myself a roommate on kijiji who agreed to move in immediately. On the day she moved in she paid me a pro rated amount for the end of the months rent and a damage deposit of 250$. There was a verbal agreement made on that day that a 30 day noticed would be given in case of eviction unless the cause of eviction was theft. Theft of any kind would not be tolerated and eviction would be immediate. On the second day of her moving in 1/2 a pack of cigarettes went blatantly missing in the middle of the night. She had had some friends over that night, the benefit of the doubt was given with a warning that she was responsible for her friends actions and that theft would not be tolerated and would result in eviction. Seeing as she is only 18 years old and this was her first time out on her own I assumed she was with a bad crowd and was still learning the ropes renting a room. A few days later the same thing happened, again I gave her the benefit of the doubt since I had no proof. I was starting to get suspicious of her behavior and after a guest of hers got drunk and sick all over my bathroom floor I decided to set up my laptop camera on the kitchen table overnight. That same night I caught her stealing cigarettes again. You’ll have to excuse me for the pettiness of it but after catching her red handed I knew she could not be trusted and I could not wait for bigger things to go missing before taking action. I told her to leave and pick up her things the next day.
She sent me a message the next day saying she could not get her things due to work. The end of the month was nearing and I needed to find another person to fill the room. I had not entered the room since her moving in and simply told her that if the room was presentable she could come by any other day but because I needed to show the room to new potential roommate I would gather her things if the room was not fit to be shown. She agreed and that evening I went into the room.
I was completely shocked upon entering the room. She had only been renting from me for about 10 days. There were empty liquor and beer bottles everywhere, some beer bottles were “disposed” of in a bin in the corner with beer left in them, food rotting in the bottom of the closet with clothes piled on top… The room was a disaster. I even found a lawn ornament that was stolen from our neighbors yard. I packed everything she owned into bags awaiting pickup. But pickup still has not come
.
I have however received a message requesting the damage deposit and possibly even a pro rated amount for what was left of the rent. This is where I need help. In my opinion the damage deposit is returned if the premises are vacated in the same state as when the room was rented. Obviously since I had to pack the belongings, clean the room and replace the towel rack that was ripped off my wall during the bathroom incident I don’t think she is entitled to any of her damage deposit back. As for the pro rated rent, her immediate eviction was a result of her immediate actions. If I break my lease in the middle of the month it doesn’t mean I only have to pay half a months rent. I am however considering paying a pro rated amount of rent back from the day her belongings are finally removed from my property as an incentive if anything. I’ve had the worst rental experience with this girl and am honestly really sour about the way things went. I would however like to deal with this in a proper manner rather than letting my opinions and feelings towards this person govern my decision. I’ve phoned the tenant board for advice but was told that because it was a shared living space they couldn’t help me. My online research has lead nowhere for the same reasons. I am also currently waiting for a callback from a free legal advisory service. I just want this done and over with.
Hi Maralie,
It does sound like the closest rules you fit under are the Innkeeper’s Act, but moving forward you’ll need to clarify that from the outset with tenants and ensure any leases or paperwork you use refer to it. however that still won’t guarantee it will be enforced that way if you require police assistance. That seems to be a case by case officer by officer situation due to the confusion of the specific rules.
I do have forms and guides for renting out rooms available for sale on this site if you need more clarification, you can find them in the top menu.
As for the damage deposit, these deposits are intended to cover damages, repairs and cleanup if the space isn’t left as it was before. From the sounds of this, there will definitely be clean up issues and costs, so you’ll need to track the time required and make sure you charge at a reasonable rate for this. Anything above and beyond the time the cleaning, packing of her items and any repairs (and yes since it was her guest she is responsible for the bathroom repairs)should be returned to the tenant with an itemized statement.
As for the rent, I would continue to charge her until you can get someone else in or until the 1st of the month. It was a result of her actions that left you without the income that was supposed to be coming in.
If you do start to get some grief about this from her, you may need to let her know you discovered the lawn ornament (and hopefully returned it) and will discussing with the property owner about potential charges against her. That may quiet her down as well.
Finally, before you put your next tenant in, you may want to do a much more thorough screening of them. you can find a free course on screening tenants here, Learn To Screen Tenants that can save you many costly headaches.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Thanks Bill. I’ve definitely learned my lesson and will be much more thorough when it comes to screening tenants and putting everything on paper in the future
Hi Bill,
We are in a situation which I believe falls under the Innkeeper’s Act. Nearly 2 years ago I moved in with my boyfriend, we have two family members as roommates (there are no suites, the common areas of the house are shared between us, our children and his brother); his older brother and our 20 year old son. The title is entirely in my boyfriend’s name (originally it was between my bf and his father, but Dad passed away July 2012 and title defaulted to bf) and my name has been on the mortgage for a year now. One of the agreements when I moved in was that his brother would be moving out within a few weeks.
His brother is still here (he moved in over 10 years ago, was only going to stay a few months), he pays rent ($200 – $300) maybe 2-3 times a year and it’s been months since the last time. For the first year he treated me like crap. This improved after he realised my boyfriend would force the moving issue if he didn’t “behave”. But he continues to not pay rent. He works, is not disabled in any way and has no excuse for not paying. His contribution to the household consists of taking out the garbage 1-2 times a month and moving the yard on the occassional Saturday. He is fed a home cooked meal almost daily and he has full access to any food in the house. When we order delivery we almost always include him.
My bf has given his brother verbal and written notices to move out on a few occassions over the past year and a half. Most recently on July 27th for moving August 31st. Last night the brother boldly told us at the table that he has no plans of moving out. We had a long discussion, mostly him and I talking, and it became apparent that he not only does not plan to leave, but also that he should have some claim in the proceeds should we decide to sell (the house was never part of the father’s estate as it was owned jointly, though he does have estate money coming to him). It is also apparent that he feels he has a right to live here as it was the family home, “Dad said so”.
Under my understanding of what I’ve read on your site here, and reading the Innkeepers Act, is that no notice has to be given and it is entirely out kindness that he has been given such. We obviously have valid cause re: the lack of payment of rent and disturbances of past verbal abuse. My questions are: Do I have any right as a name on the mortgage to enforce the eviction on my own, including phoning in the police if it comes down to that? Do we have the right to change the locks before the 31st and not give him the new key or alarm information? (I am home 90% of the time so he will have access to his things). Can we pack up his belongings if he won’t before that date? If he pays up the arrears, well over $20,000, upon receipt of his inheritence do we still have the right to evict?
Thank you so much for your help and your site. 🙂
Cheers,
Shannon
Hi Shannon,
Unfortunately due to all the potential family issues, you may not fit into the Innkeeper’s Act scenario here. Without taking action years ago, it could be assumed that there are verbal agreements in place that you may have to prove otherwise, there’s the issue of potential estate issues and potential title issues and it just gets cloudier and more confusing.
At this point I’d suggest you talk to a lawyer experienced in family law and estate law to see if you can get more clarity. Once you’ve done that it may turn out to be very simply a matter of giving him a deadline of a week or two and then you would be able to change the locks, but it could also involve him actually having an interest in the property and then it could get nasty. so best to let a legal expert figure it out and point you in the right direction.
Probably not the answer you were hoping for, but hopefully it provides you direction.
Bill
Thank you Bill,
I appreciate your candor and advice. At the onset of setting up the estate the lawyer had assured my boyfriend that the house is not part of the estate but fully his, lock, stock and barrel as they same. Aside from being the executor my boyfriend is not named in the estate at all because of the house, if the brother were to fight for a portion of the house it would open a whole new can of worms.
We’ve since found out he has been making accusations to other family and friends that home improvements made were being done with estate money and that more money was being hidden (we took out a mortgage for the repairs). The lies to others were the straw that finally broke the camels back for my boyfriend. On Sunday the brother was given a complete reckoning of the estate accounts to date, the remainder of his portion (he shares the estate with the grandchildren) less CRA tax holdback and a notice to move out by September 14th. We are booking the locksmith for the 12th. He’s very angry but so far calm. Hopefully he leaves without further difficulties.
Thank you for your excellent site and again for your advice. I’ve directed my 23-year-old son here as well so he has a good referrence for his rights and those of his landlord as he is in the process of moving from a roommate situation to a new place with a full lease.
Cheers,
Shannon
Hey Shannon,
Hopefully it all works out and he realizes how fortunate he has been and that it is time to move on. some people simply don’t grasp the situation and twist it to fit their needs and it sounds like he has done this.
Just make sure you document everything, which is sounds like you are well on your way, and stay firm as he will likely request more time once he finds out you are serious.
And thanks for referring your son here!
Good luck,
Bill
so yes i am upset,, what i meant by utilities is that they are so high i cant afford both rent and bills we have been trying to get rid of them since mar,2014 the units are separate they don’t have a stove just fridge i rented to her as a boarder.. now the landlord is involve and apparently he went to court today to have them evicted to vacate as they were not on lease , well that out come is not good we all have to be evicted and she now has till the 29th of Aug.and us too, i don’t understand she is not on the lease she is not paying she has damage, i have given her so many eviction notices she wont go the house is a mess, i would love to pay you i don’t have credit an no i have had boarded before lots this is the first time i have someone that don’t leave .an tries to avoid me at all cost ,
hi my name is Karie
we have rented a unit the landlord rents the one side of the unit to me and hubby and kids it is upper and lower units , so have taken it up on my self rent down stairs with someone else i had told her it was a boarders rent,and there was no lease , with out his permission well it has lead to a huge hassle they are messy, dirty, cat pee smell, little bugs every where coming through our vents an fighting all the time, my granddaughter is 2 she stays with us too i don’t want her to see or hear this they were late with rent right from the start so i had given the eviction to move, well the lady said if we could give them time to move so her daughter could finish her school an she would move cause of the flood hard to find house, so ken my husband said ok, Big mistake, so school is over, I have given them their notice again to move that they have 1 month to move,Aug 1 2014 to be out, month come up and they are not moving ,not even packed, I have gone to the RTDRS to get help they said we have to give 3 months and than we need to go the court so we did, they said to get all paper s copied and come back, we did same day, now they said it was a waste of our time to go to court and pay $100 the judge will toss out, and have the landlord deal with it which he now doing but will take more time, I have had enough they are costing more than what it is worth, why can I not get rid of them NOW,how many notices do I have to give, Iam paying for the whole house well they enjoy the fruits of my labor iI am going to start geting cut off of utilties cause i cannot afford them. so the landlord gave them a notice to move too, i think she is just using up the damage deposit, they didn’t pay the bills cause she said i didn’t give enough notice (month) just one thing after another, there is so much more but this boils it down. so fustrated
Hi Karie,
You seem pretty wound up and I think the big problem here is you simply weren’t prepared and didn’t understand the rules for when things go sideways.
I’m not sure I quite understand so to clarify, is it two separate units an upper suite and a lower suite? If so, in Alberta that fits under the Residential Tenancy Act and it’s pretty cut and dry as far as the process of evicting a tenant for non-payment. You referenced paying for the whole house yourself, so if they aren’t paying this would be your route.
Note that if it’s simply for non-payment they could make the payment and it would cancel the eviction.
For not liking how they live however it’s slightly different.If you would have put a lease in place with specific rules about maintenance cleanliness cats etc it would have been different, it would have been much easier to have them removed for this violation. Without the lease and the specifics in place it falls to generic rules under the RTA.
If they are living in shared space in the lower space, then they may fit under th eInnkeeper’s Act, but again the difference would be whether it’s a self contained space down there or not.
At this point you need to clarify whether it’s Innkeeper’s Act or Residential Tenancy Act from there you need to determine why you need to evict them.
Once you understand that you can move forward. Either way, cutting off the utilities is not the way to go as it can land you in hot water as that is a violation of the Residential Tenancy Act and could result in large fines for you. Another concern you have is that you will likely be responsible for all the damage and cleanup they might leave behind.
I’m assuming without a lease, you also didn’t do a walk through inspection which you require in Alberta in order to claim damages.
I can understand why you would be frustrated by this situation, but I also think you went into this rather naively thinking being a landlord would be an easy route. As you’re learning it’s not.
If you want to go into this in further detail, I do provide consultation services via phone, you can find more information about it here (Eviction Help Phone Consulatation) and I can probably provide you much more detailed information and advice after talking to you. This service is not free, but considering every month they get to stay on could cost you another $1,000 plus it would be worth it.
I am traveling today with sketchy cell service and email, but will be checking both this evening. The online answers I provide here are usually delayed by 24-72 hours while phone consultations usually take place same day are much more detailed and can get you moving forward quicker.
Regards,
Bill
Hi Bill its Karie
so i have read all your feedback and others it took awhile in the end I seem to be a rdt, but we have gone down town to get a eviction advice for non payment of rent they said we don;t fit there and sent us to court and talk to a lawyer apparently we don;t fall under innkeepers act cause we don’t share a common space, we don’t fall under the landlord and tenant act cause we are not the landlords and we don’t fall under RDT cause we are not the landlord we are tenant to tenant without a foot to stand on so as for all my work what do I do I’am no one that matters but I am the one who boarded them in the first place they are not paying ,and said they weren’t going to pay and a email saying they would be out Aug 1st but are still here my hubby spent hours down town at rtd and court and was told we are wasting our time so he cancelled all our forms he filled out to go to court, they said that the landlord would have to do it, this does not make since to me. for future people that have the same problem what do we do! no one lives for free, thank you and all peoples helped me learn some things but still i have no answer, as i did not want my landlord involved, but now he is and when he went down to have them vacated he was told sorry you have to give them 3 months, there was no way around they have all the rights its to say he is not very happy with me, so my lease is up in sept 1. what if he decides to not renew because of this there must be something, i have to be missing something. thanks again for all your input
Hi Karie,
You should still have the option of going through the courts to evict them as the RTDRS will find this beyond their scope. You are the landlord in this case as you re subletting the space. Alternatively the landlord may have to evict both of you for breach of the lase due to the subletting to regain control. This doesn’t do you any good, but it may be his only option.
Bill
Hi. What a fantastic resource here. I’ve read many of the comments here and found them very informative. I own and reside in my home here and have for the past 2.5 years been renting out rooms and for the most part its been very positive. Recently, I’ve had some issues with my one tenant who has been in the home the longest. (I have 4 rooms I rent out but most months I only have 3 filled.) Up until May she has been fine with paying rent on time but has recently started to get behind. She hasn’t worked in some time and I know she gambles regularly, which is fine. I don’t care as long as she pays rent on time. Since June, rent has typically been paid in full 10-12 days into the month. I am just concerned about this becoming a habit. She also tends to become very territorial in the home and makes it difficult for other tenants by complaining about silly things like a dirty pot left in the kitchen or if someone uses her spoon. She does have some personal items in the kitchen but I told her if she doesn’t want others using her things to keep them in her room. My concern is that, as she is in the home much longer in the course of the day than i am due to my work schedule, she is coming to feel like she owns the place and can get a bit bossy with other tenants. IE. She’ll tell other tenants that they have to do something a certain way because that’s how I want it done, even though that may not be the case. Recently, she got into an argument with one of my newer tenants over her dog and called the SPCA which I did not appreciate as I have no issues with it. It is kept kennelled in the respective tenant’s room and for the most part I never know it’s even there. The tenant complains about dog smell even though I have never smelled anything and no other tenants have mentioned anything about it to me. My question, I suppose is how to proceed with the tenant as she can be a bit agressive and bullying but I don’t want to feel like a hostage in my home. I’ve explained my rules to her many times about having people over when I’m not around which she has also broken. I hope I have explained this clearly enough as I’m writing it a bit on the fly. Thanks.
Hi Darcy,
Thanks for the feedback Darcy, as an Innkeeper” yourself, note some of the newer comments. There has been more reluctance by the police recently to enforce anything under the Innkeeper’s Act due to the lack of definitive legislation specifically addressing room rentals. This varies from city to city and from officer to officer, so results can vary.
It can also depend on the tenant and landlord as well. If the landlord is freaking out they tend to side with the tenant and vice versa. So enough with the pre-amble.
Your situation is an issue of familiarity. The tenant has become so comfortable and familiar with the place they have deemed it their own just due to length of stay. With a great tenant this is awesome as they start to show some serious pride of ownership and treat the property as it’s their own.
With a less than stellar tenant it means bending of the rules to fit their lives, after all it’s “their” place. It often starts with little steps and it could be something as simple as smokers feeling it’s their right to smoke inside because it’s too cold or too hot even though they signed up as renting a non-smoking place, that they can make modifications to the property because it doesn’t suit them and so on.
So what to do?
The simple yet hard answer is to sit down with them and break down the problems. Explaining explicitly what is going on and then following it up with written documentation that you can us elater if the situation deteriorates.
Barring that, the next step would be eviction for interfering with the rights of the other tenants enjoyment of the property. And this should be made apparent during the discussion so all the cards are on the table. If a poor tenant starts costing you money by driving other tenants out it creates more work and more headaches for you and needs to be addressed.
Big picture, this is your home and your little business she is interfering with, you need to deal with her in a professional and strong manner to ensure she understands the repercussions.
So hopefully that answers your questions and points you in the right direction!
Regards,
Bill
Hello Bill,
Great source of information you have here on your site, I must say. Very useful to many of us out there! Quick question: I (student) have a one year lease with my landlord (who does not live at the house, but rents the four rooms to different students indivdually with utilities shared) from May of this year to next. I am gone for July and August. I paid him rent for July and August. I just found out (when a friend of mine dropped by my room to pick up a book) that my landlord had sub let my room to someone else for July/August without my knowledge. So, he in a sense took my payments and then behind my back is also charging someone for my room when I am away overseas. To make things worse, the room I totally furnished from my pocket, from A to Z. When I called my landlord from overseas, his response was “we don’t have anything between our agreement that says I cannot rent out your room to someone else if you are not here physically”! Any advise?
Jack
Hey Jack thanks,
It’s definitely not above board and it should be a huge concern for you.
Now if your room is secured with a locking door it may even be a significant breach of the Residential Tenancy Act which could get your landlord in hot water. This could result in fines or perhaps only warnings but worst of all also result in the landlord finding means to get you out of the place and you having to find a new home.
So part of the problem is how much do you want to push it? The landlord has acted unethically and this whole situation may have played out differently if he had talked to you prior and set something up, instead he has acted completely behind your back. So how can you trust him if this is how he acts when he thought he could get away with it?
Bottom line you probably want to get out of there, but realistically do you have another place lined up? If you can find another place then you could use the leverage of threatening to take him to court about the breaches to ensure you get your full deposit back and he doesn’t come after you for breaking any lease.
Hope this gives you some ideas,
Bill
Hello!
My husband and I bought a house over Christmas. In February my brother in law lost his apartment through no fault of his own and we invited him to live in a room in our house. Originally the arrangement was only supposed to be temporary, but it was working out so we told him he could stay. Unfortunately after we told him that he started taking advantage of the situation. We plan on talking to him about his behavior and we would like to resolve the situation, but should things backfire we want to know what actions we can take to evict him as quickly as possible.
I forgot to mention that my parents legally own the house. We bought the house from them but haven’t taken care of legally transferring the title just yet.
Hi Angie,
I’d suggest you just give him a deadline to vacate. You never mentioned a lease or any payment arrangements, so I’m assuming it was on a guest basis which doesn’t really fit under the Residential Tenancy Act or the Innkeeper’s Act.
Even if you do have some sort of verbal arrangement, you simply need to give him a deadline, explain why and see where it takes you. You might be able to squeak by under the Innkeeper’s Act, but always better to see if you can get them out first and then ramp up the next steps.
Bill
Hello, my husand myself and our 8 year old son were living in an apartment it was getting to expensive so my mother decided to let us move into her 3 bedroom house with her and we would stay in the basement at first it was to help us out then she demanded that we help around the house which we didnt have an issue with and we do help with everything. Then one day she comes home with a contract and demands we sign it saying we would pay her $800 a month for rent plus utilities I explained at the moment we couldnt afford that and she said it was fine. A couple days later she goes on ranting and raving about god knows what and talks about how the police are going to come and remove us on August 25th I explained we have no were to go and she said she doesnt care. I told her I could pay her some rent but I couldnt afford $800 and she doesnt want to hear it. Then the next day she leaves a note saying that maybe she was too hard on us and that we should sit down and talk then she gets mad at us again and tell us she doesnt want to talk. She then tells me she is going on holidays for three weeks from work and she wants us gone for a week while she is on holidays but she threatens to change the locks while we are gone is she allowed to do that? It makes me not want to go away! (plus we cant afford it) I just want to know if I should be worried about the police showing up on the 25th or if we will be ok..because if they do my small family will be homeless I just cant believe my own mother would do this to us!
Thank you for your help
Hi Rebecca,
This has gotten a bit more complicated due to the family relations and the lack of a real lease and may beyond the scope of this site and me. She also sounds like she may be a bit bi-polar which adds to the dilemma.
She shouldn’t really be able to change the locks on you and the police likely won’t be of much assistance for either side as this is going to be mostly a civil law versus criminal law situation.
Either way, your priority is going to be to get out of this situation as long term it’s likely not going to get better. At this point just make sure you document everything that has gone on, if it does unravel fast and police show up, you’ll have detailed records showing what has gone on (although that may not be enough for them) and ultimately you could end up in a court hearing to determine where and which laws apply here.
Sorry I can’t help much more,
Bill
Hi, I live in Calgary and I’m in the process of purchasing my first home, a 2 bedroom 2 full bathroom condo. I intend to get a roommate to help me pay the mortgage. I’ve been pretty good and picking roommates in the past when I was renting, but if this person doesn’t pay the rent or if she turns out to be a nut, am I protected under the Innkeeper’s Act? Thank you for your help.
Hi Christine,
Yes and no. It seems to be a hit and miss situation depending on each scenario. Over the years I’ve had hundreds of landlords deal with problem tenants in this way with no problems. They have had police show up, police escort tenants off the property and the landlord has felt safe and gotten their property back.
At the same time more and more landlords are popping up who are finding the police aren’t able to assist and are deferring the situation to the courts as a civil matter. The Innkeeper’s Act and the Residential Tenancies Act both fit under Civil Law and the police can only enforce Criminal Law. There is a section of the Innkeeper’s Act that allows police to remove unruly guests of an Inn which has always been the path that landlords operating under this section have worked, but at what point are guests unruly or causing a disturbance?
I would suggest make sure you are following under all the rules of the Innkeeper’s Act, make sure your rental agreement states you are under the Innkeeper’s Act and enforce rules as if you are under the Innkeeper’s Act. To many landlords, I believe, have tried to take advantage of the system and use the rules that best fit their needs and not actually the situation. This may have caused more confusion and the police’s reluctance to enforce it without clear guidelines.
As it stands right now, if you are renting a room out of your property and share common areas like living rooms and kitchens, you DO NOT fall under the Residential Tenancy Act, you fall closest under the Innkeeper’s Act and traditionally this is how it’s been enforced, but the waters are getting murky now.
Hope that gives you an idea,
Bill
Hey I rent a basement from a man month to month there was no signed lease but I get receipts monthly when I pay rent he constantly comes downstairs when I’m not home goes in both of our bedrooms and is threatening to kick us out what steps does he have to take and should I be worried
Hi Ryan,
You can file a complaint at the RTDRS or call Landlord and Tenant government services to register a complaint at 1-877-427-4088. If you have a self contained unit, he must give you 24 hours notice before entering your space.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hi,
I am living in a 2 bedroom apartment and our family consists of 4 members – father,mother and sister.
All 3 of them are on vacation and will be returning in the last week of August.I recently got married and my wife is flying to Calgary and will be living in my apartment until my parents and sister arrive and then we are planning to move out as soon as they come.
My question is : 1) Do I have to inform my landlord that she will be living with me as a guest for atleast a month and half?
We will be looking for a new apartment in the month of August.So as soon as parents arrive both of us will move out in the new apartment.
(Note – My wife is going to be living in Canada just for 4 months and once she is gone,I will continue living with my parents)
Hi Neel,
Just to stay on the landlord’s good side it may not hurt to update them and explain the situation. You don’t want him to assume he is getting taken advantage of by having more people staying there than originally agreed to and then have to explain things.
Technically it may not be a huge area of concern, but being up front can save a lot of headaches later.
Bill
Hello,
I recently moved to Alberta in May for work. I signed a 1 year lease for a 4 bedroom duplex with my landlord. My landlord told me that I can have other tenets move in but I would be responsible for any damages. I decided to bring my friend from Ontario who wanted to go to school out here in the fall. The agreement was that he would help out with rent and general expenses. 6 weeks have gone by and he has turned my life into a living hell. I feel like a guest in my own home, he has not paid rent, he has not any bills, he is not on the lease and worst of all he verbally abuses me stating that he will make messes everyday (and does) and he will make my life hell (which he is).
What are my options in terms of removing him?
Because my landlord gave me the power to act as a landlord (sharing the place with another tenet) would I be classified as the landlord and fall under the Alberta Innkeepers Act? *Fingers crossed* please reply asap I am scared that he will destroy the place if I have to give him notice.
Hi Kyle,
Since you’re renting out a room in a shared space, you don’t fit under the Residential Tenancy Act. That’s the good news. Ideally anyone renting out a room should have a lease that specifically outlines this and states that they are operating under the Innkeeper’s Act, if you don’t have this it can be tougher, but not a deal breaker.
Under that section, you have much more leeway in removing him, although it can depend on what the police understand about the rules. And it can be harder if he is not disruptive when the police arrive. If he is causing a disturbance and you call the police to remove him, if they are familiar with the Innkeeper’s Act they will escort him off the property for you after allowing him to quickly pack.
If they are not or there is too much confusion as to whether it is Innkeeper’s Act or Residential Tenancy act, they will defer you to the courts. If he has no lease and essentially is squatting with you, you may also have the option of having him removed and charging him with trespassing if he returns, this can get tricky as well.
Ideally, if he is being particularly aggressive, your best bet would be to call the police and have them come in, hopefully they see his behaviour and help get him out. This has backfired on some landlords as they were never clear about what rules they ran under to the tenant and if there is no real “threat” of danger or damage, so it can be a fine line, but considering the stress and situation you are currently in, it may be worth it.
You may also want to consider calling into the police and explaining the situation, pointing out you don;t fit under the RTA, but rather the IA and that you have a real problem with fears of damages.
Hope that gives you some direction,
Bill
Hello,
my landlord raised the rent with less that 2 weeks notice. I’m renting a room in a house on a monthly basis, and have the option of renting by week as well.
when I wrote to the landlord that a 3 months notice was required and that no increase in rent should happen in the first year, he answered that I signed an agreement under the innkeepers act and therefore the RTA does not apply.
I read here that the landlord would need to live in the premise for this Innkeeper act to apply but it’s not the case in this house. When I moved in, his sons used to live here but he’s moved out since.
Looks like to me that this Innkeeper act is an option for some landlords to take advantage and abuse people.
Hi Vincent,
From what you’re describing it sounds like the landlord is incorrectly applying the Innkeeper’s Act in this situation. If he no longer resides there and his family doesn’t live there it is a RTA situation.
Even if you signed an agreement based on the Innkeeper’s Act, since he’s not residing there, it shouldn’t apply. Your only hiccup may be proving that.
Your recourse at this time would be to file at the RTDRS or the courts for a hearing for a hearing officer or judge to rule if it’s valid. Again, from what you explained they would likely rule in your favour if you can prove he has moved out. No guarantees on this, but as per the Act, they have to reside there and his moving out negates that.
And yes, the Innkeeper’s Act can be abused by landlords, but at the same time the Residential Tenancy act can be abused by tenants. The intent of both Acts is to provide a fair reasonable set of rules that fair and reasonable people follow. The problem comes up that there are simply bad people out there who only look out for themselves. To them, the rules are just something to take advantage of.
Your best defence is to simply know the rules yourself.
Hope that helps,
Bill
thank you very much for you quick answer and all the information provided in this website Bill
Hello,
I am based in Calgary and my roommate and I were both lease holders to a 2 bedroom apartment. After living together for about a year and a half, I decided I wanted to get off the lease then pay monthly to the company till I find another place. My roommate decided to take over the lease while I was still paying monthly. However, I just found a new place but I can’t move in till the 16th of next month. I spoke to my roommate about this and offered to pay the whole of July rent just so I can move out by the 16th peacefully. My roommate refused saying that she already told a friend to move into my room come July 1st. This leaves me in a tough position as I have no where to go. I am just wondering what my options are now and also wondering if she can kick me out come the end of the month. We still live in the same 2 bedroom apartment and I have never been late for rent. Do I fall under the innkeeper’s act or the RTA? And how much notice is she required to give me?
Hi Ejiro,
You’re fitting under a bit of both. It all depends on who is still on the lease. If you are subletting, then you would technically fall under the IA, if you are still on the lease, then the RTA, but there’s more to it than that.
If there was a verbal rental agreement in place it may still fall under the RTA. It doesn’t sound like anything was in writing, so it could fall either way. She could end up calling the police explaining the circumstances and suddenly you find yourself on the streets. Or they may say you can stay.
If you committed to being out by the 1st, then I would suggest you find a temporary place for a couple weeks. If you didn’t commit to this, then you may still be under the month to month lease setup in which case it will likely be extremely uncomfortable, but you could potentially stay.
I don’t have a definitive answer for you as there are just too many missing puzzle pieces here to the story.
Bill
Hello. I was wondering about this act as I am in the situation of being new to the city and currently renting a room from a lady. Nothing was signed and everything is on “good faith” so to speak. I’m from a small town where ones word is usually all that’s needed. This lady really worries me as all she does is complain non stop about little things. I’m thinking about contacting the police so that I can at least have something on file if things go south. I am a very easy going person, can get along with everyone. She just strikes me as a person that can really have a mean side and this worries me. The fact that she can just evict me without any notice?? I just don’t know. If she ever did this to me I’d be living on a bench somewhere.
Hi Jon,
Sometimes you just have to trust your instincts. If you’re suspecting there may be problems, you may want to consider looking for a new place. It may be nothing, she may be fine, but without documentation to protect both parties or written rules in place it can leave a lot of room for misinterpretation.
Ultimately though, when it comes to evicting someone, she does need a valid reason, it can’t be for a whim, although under the Innkeeper’s Act there are more options available to the landlord when there are problems.
Bill
Hi Bill,
I have a similar situation as described recently by Adam. I rent out a basement room in my house so I fall under the Innkeepers act, but I referred to the RTA in our signed agreement. Our roommate has a drug issue and constantly brings very sketchy people over. We’ve discussed the issue with him and had a verbal agreement that he would move out June 1. However, as of May 31, he has made no effort to look for another place to live and claims he cannot because he has no money. His behavior is irrational and I’m concerned for my family’s safety.
I understand that under the Innkeepers Act I can have him evicted immediately but I’m concerned that the police who show up will not enforce the act as described by Adam because of the reference to the RTA in our agreement. This would completely escalate the situation and I am concerned about him doing damage or being violent. I’m also concerned if I pursue under the Dispute resolution service that they will not enforce either because I’m actually regulated by the innkeepers act. I recently purchased your guide on eviction process so I feel confident I can navigate the RTA process but I’m not sure this is the correct way to go. Can you provide any advice?
I’ve learned my lesson and next time I’ll use your forms. I wish I saw your website sooner.
Thanks,
Kelly
Hi Kelly,
When you intermingle both sets of rules it does cause some issues. The RTDRS won’t deal with it, so you would have to go through the courts if you wish to go down that road.
Again, because of the confusion with your lease, if you tried to use the police to assist there is enough mention of the RTA that they will probably not be able to help either.
At this point, if you feel he won’t be vacating any time soon, you’re best off to use the courts and to file as quickly as possible. You can use the threat of this against him and let him know it will result in increased costs for him along with impacting his credit potentially. You may also use the fear of bringing the police in to help get him out faster as well, although if he calls your bluff it would mean you simply have to go through the courts, but if he is potentially on drugs or is concerned the police will come and find drugs in his possession that may also light a fire.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hi Bill,
So, it’s that time again that I was looking for a new tenant. Old one moved out and everything went smoothly. A couple weeks ago a gentlemen came and looked at the room and said he would take it. I gave him a copy of my lease to look over, which he did, then e-mailed me saying he thinks everything is fair in the lease and we will sign it together when he moves in, which I agreed to. At this time he also gave me a damage deposit to hold the room for him. We agreed on him moving in on the 26th (yesterday). I sent him an e-mail a couple days ago to arrange a time, no response, I sent him a text message yesterday, no response, and called him today with no answer. Now, I am scheduled to leave town for work on the 30th and if he doesn’t contact me before then I will be out of town until May 14. Which he is aware of, as we discussed this when he came to look at the place and over e-mail.
With that all being said, if I do not hear from him, am I obligated to return the damage deposit? What if he contacts me after I leave town wanting to move in? Am I within my right to say, “sorry you have to wait until I am home on the 14th?” Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Hi Brianne,
Good and semi ok news for you on this one, plus a lesson disguised in this…
First the damage deposit. If he didn’t take the room and reappears demanding his deposit back you have to return it. After all there hasn’t been any damage done has there?
In the future, any up front money tenants provide you should go against the first week or month’s rent. And your receipt should clearly state that. Although it’s just a slight difference, now if falls under a different category. It’s rent money versus deposit money and if they fail to show up or leave you hanging you can apply it against the lost rent, because you lost rent!
As for moving in, as long as you clearly stated times that were available, he is now on your schedule. There is a very good chance you may simply never hear from him as well, so I wouldn’t bother chasing him down, but if he appears then you can make some decisions.
As for your lease, I wouldn’t let the tenant leave with your copy to review. Rather I would go over it with them in person and then they can go decide.
Regards,
Bill
Hi Bill,
So the above tenant moved in and everything has gone smoothly since. He gets along with the other tenant, respects my property, and pays rent on time. What more can a landlord ask for, right? Well I have run into a bit of a snag… So one night he did ask a couple days in advanced if he could have some friends over in the back yard on a Sat and I agreed. They weren’t loud, and they cleaned up after themselves. There was drinking involved but like I said I didn’t mind as they were not loud and I ASSUMED everyone was 18+. That’s the snag. I found out that one of them isn’t 18. I only found this out today and this person has been at my house multiple times since drinking and smoking. I would have never guessed this person is underage as we are a 25+ household… so the the idea of ID’ing everyone who comes to my house never crossed my mind. I plan on confronting the tenant saying that it’s not ok for under aged people to be drinking/smoking on the property (I can only imagine the legal problems if things went wrong). But what would be my options if this continues? Call the police and tell them that there is an under aged person drinking on my property? If you could let me know your thoughts on this that would be great.
Hi Brianne,
This one is a bit out of my wheelhouse other than to say you need to cover yourself and let them know that it isn’t appropriate and it will not be tolerated. I’d also make sure you give them written notice about it again more to cover yourself off than anything.
Start with the warning and let them know if it continues that it is a breach of the lease as it is breaking the law which is covered under virtually all leases as a breach.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hi Bill,
I am currently in a very hectic situation where I wanted to evict my room-mate. She told me she was single and would not plan to have guests to sleep over by the time I rented my other bedroom in my house. For the second week soon after the lease started, I heard weird noise coming out from her room as if some child were playing a train or something. I though I might be too sceptical, but couple days later the girl called me to help her unlock her door because she loss her keys..There I found out her son was living there and had a big mess inside the room. She begged me to let her stay and I though she might have a tough time…however, last night around 2am I saw a guy walking in my kitchen. I was totally freaked out and then that girl told me its her BF. He is staying overnight without even letting me know of it. I feel so insecure and told her to leave, she said it is illegal because she did not break the rules as her BF came into my house after 12:00 and it is not “Night”….I feel so terrible not letting her go in the first hand.
do you have any suggestion that could help my situation? I live in Calgary
Joyce
Hi Joyce,
In your case it appears your tenant meant to mislead you directly from the start. I’m not sure where she is getting the “not Night” theory from but this does indicate she will likely try to put up a fight.
The first place to start is your lease. Do you have specific rules set up in it regarding who is renting the space, guests or overnight guests and maintaining the cleanliness of the room? If you do, these are the places to start with getting her out.
If you don’t it becomes a bit more of a challenge. You already allowed her to let her son stay, so that does set a precedent and depending on how things go it can affect this.
Since you’re renting rooms out in your home, you don’t actually fall under the Residential Tenancy Act, so you need to make sure she is aware of this. The closest you fit is th eInnkeeper’s Act and with it you have more options. Step one, you need ot put your foot down.
No more overnight guests. Next, you’ll want to set a deadline for her to be out.She obviously will push any rules you have, so you don’t want her to continue on or it will just create more problems later.
You might want to set the end of the month as a reasonable time frame and let her know that due to breaches of the agreement (assuming the lease did have the earlier clauses), you can do it sooner, but you want to be fair. Make sure you have everything in writing and it’s not just verbal in case you need backup documentation later.
Then you will have to see how it plays out. If she fails to leave you may need to call the police to have her removed and this often depends on how your lease is set up and how the particular police who respond deal with Innkeeper’s versus RTA tenants.
The majority of this revolving around how your lease and property are set up.
If you currently don’t have a lease in place or are using a generic Rental lease, you may want to check out our Innkeeper/Roommate lease packages at the top of the page. They provide something that may protect you a bit better than generic leases and they explain much more about how to set up your property to protect yourself from repeat situations.
Regards,
Bill
I’m in a horrible situation. I have the room mate from hell. I knew the Inn Keeper’s act was on my side, but only after signing documents with the room mate that had references to the RTA. The police have been called several times and this bloke has figured out that he now has run of the house. The cops won’t arrest him. Hell, they don’t even know that the InnKeeper act even exists. I already went to Court to have an emergency eviction and the damn judge didn’t know if she could apply the powers of the RTA emergency eviction because SHE KNEW I was under the Inn Keeper’s Act… the decision was refered to the Master’s Court Judges… I don’t have time to deal with this. I can’t get this prick out. The cops won’t touch him. And the lower court was useless. Any suggestions? I’m literally a hostage in my own home!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Adam,
The judge should have been able to do something at that point as they have powers beyond just the RTA, of course if this was the RTA, then it would have been different as they can only act under the RTA guidelines.
If you’re already scheduled to go to the next set of courts, that will have to be your route as anything else you do will reset where you are and possibly require starting from scratch with new hearing.
It sounds like you already understand where you went wrong. You used the wrong forms and it appears the tenant know understands the rules better than you do. I do provide access to forms that work for people renting out rooms on this site, if you intend to continue down that route. Since you are now much more aware of the headaches, it should make future tenants less of an issue.
If you need the forms, you can find them here, Roommate and Innkeeper’s Leases.
Bill
Yes… lesson learned and it was costly. To that matter as well, now that that tenant from hell is gone, the police should have been able to throw him out according to the lower court judge. My case actually ended up in the Masters Chamber because the lower court didn’t know what to do. The defendant naturally didn’t show up since he was clearly in the wrong. My question is though, the police adamantly kept calling this agreement a RTA agreement even though the lower courts and upper courts unanimously agreed it was an Inn Keepers Act agreement. The police had said that hotels have different rules that give them the power to toss people out (as it applies more to public safety … be damned if I know how I’m any different). Even when I get your forms for the future, as I do intend to go down this route, what on earth do I need to say to the police to get them to simply tell the unwanted guest to get out? Very frustrated. As all things would turn out, this tenant from hell will be going to jail after all… seems that he was looking for long term “free” tenancy with the police. Snickers.
Hey Adam,
The issue with the police is that they have to cover themselves very carefully when it comes to civil law versus criminal law. In the case of tenancy laws it all fits under civil law which is dealt with in the courts typically. They can step in when people get out of control, or to keep the public peace, and that is where the Innkeeper’s act comes in for you.
Unfortunately not every officer wants to get caught in the middle to the road in situations like this, or they have been burned by misunderstanding the exact situation. So the best route to start from is making sure everyone from the get go understands which rules apply.
Your leases should state you fall under the Innkeeper’s Act, you should have information in the property reminding people you are under the Innkeeper’s Act and the words Residential Tenancy Act should never be used!!! Just to end confusion.
I spell this and a few other things out to help get you on the right foot in my Innkeeper’s/Roommates forms package which I saw you picked up, so hopefully that helps get you moving to a much better place if anything ever occurs int he future, and hopefully this was your one time expensive lesson and all is good sailing from here on in.
Bill
Hi Bill,
I have been having stress about the issue. I don’t know what to do.
I had three girls from another country. They were very sweet until one girl had a minor problem.
One of the girls was a little unhappy all of sudden so I asked her what the issue was. Out of no where she was threatening me that she would leave if I ask her about that. And she took off for the day.
At night time, three girls were gathered together and threw accusation that I said “Disgusting” to the girl which I have never said. The other two weren’t at the scene, but the other two were accusing me that I said. I was really confused and my anxiety level was really high. The girl said she will move out the next day. The other girl said I’m useless and she will move out the next day too. The last girl said “then I will move out too” so I told her that would be better since the issue. All three of them agreed to give me one full month notice and clean the room in order to receive the damage deposit. None of them gave me a proper notice. It was more likely personal attacking letter. I could not sleep that night.
The next morning I went to a police department and asked for help and needed some info. I emailed them do not text, phone, or email me anymore. If you guys continue to do that then I am going to have to press charge on them as a harassment and their visa will be revoked to themas the office told me to.
They sent me email a few days ago, due to not getting their deposit back they were calling me swindler.
The damage deposit was the half of the monthly fee.
What should I do? I like to give people chances but is it really necessary to press charge on them?
What is the civil law about the damage deposit?
Hi Jen,
I’m not sure where the need to press charges is coming from? Obviously there is more to this somewhere. Whether it was a misunderstanding or more, at this point you really just want to move on from this.
If you’re withholding the security deposit due to improper notice, you may have some grounds to keep all or a portion of it, however, you also need to be making efforts to refill the vacancies, if you don’t, then you haven’t been making the proper efforts you should and are being unfair and they would have the rights to take you to court to recover all or a portion of the security deposit.
At the very least you need to provide them with some sort of statement within 10 days of them leaving detailing any holdbacks and for what from their deposit.
Bill
Yes I told them the reason why they can not get the damage damage deposit the next day. Yes It was a misunderstanding however they decided to continue sending me emails even though I explained to the police about the details and the officer told me to send them an email not send me anything any more.
Hi Bill,
I own my own condo and decided to rent out the second room. When the girl came to look at the room I asked her if she smokes or does drugs (of any kind). She said yes to smoking outside and NO to doing drugs. She’s only moved in March 1st, 2014 and my condo smells like weed every time she opens her bedroom door and when she comes walking in from outside. What are the rules for evicting her? I live in Calgary, Alberta.
I have talked to her about this issue. and She told me she does smoke weed but ever in the condo. A) she lied to me and her worker that she doesn’t, since clearly she does.
I have given her till the 15th of April to move out. She told me she’ll be out by this Saturday..Do I have to give her the full Security Deposit back (even tho I’ll have to clean the room and my mattress and bed are in there) and what about the rent, how much do I have to give her back or if any?
Hi Caitlin,
I’d determine how much cleaning and additional work you need to get the space back to rentable condition first. If it’s a couple hours work you will be able to deduct a reasonable amount from the security deposit to cover this. If there’s severe damage, then obviously more.
As for the rent at the very least since you asked her to be out by the 15th, I would return at least half, but since she’s leaving even earlier, I would prorate it and just charge her for the time she was there.
Bill
Good evening Bill.
I have a big house so i let out one of my room. We had a virbal agreement. His gf and him stoled money and took my daughter computer and sold it. They left on march 4 for a out of town job said they will send me the rent never did . In the mean time that is when I found the stoled my daughter computer.I have the police involed. My question is frist is how long do I have to keep thier stuff.i sent them a message already to come get thier things as I dont feel safe for me and my kids.
secound question is do I need a permit just for my place if its just a bedroom only.
Hi Laurie,
The typical length of time under the Residential Tenancy Act to hold property is 30 days, but it also depends on the value of the goods. In this case it sounds like you fit under the Innkeeper’s Act which can modify the rules a bit.
Just to be safe I would continue to hold it for a full month, but send them official notice you will be disposing of it within a certain timeline. Make sure you inventory everything as well in case of any future disputes.
If you’re just renting out a bedroom, no you don’t need a permit, but I would suggest you get a written lease, learnt he rules about renting out a room in your property better and follow some precautions about who you rent to. I do have leases for room rentals available on the site now, so if you are interested you can find information about them here, Room Rental leases.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hi Bill, After a difficult week with the person who rents a room from me, I came home to police in the condo I own and live in. I was interogated and advised that the roommate implicated me in the crime they were investigating and asked if I would have a problem with them bringing in drug sniffing dogs as the smell of weed in my home was obvious. I don’t do drugs so I had no objections and was actually relieved that they wanted to because I do NOT want any contraband in my home. I evicted her on the spot as we’ve had numerous conversations with regards to the drugs and the numerous violations to the verbal agreement we made. She eventually left and I agreed in writting that I would hold onto her things until she could find a place to live. I agreed that I would hold onto her things for 30 day and then after that I would sell her items to recoup outstanding debt. Since then I have been consistentky berated, threatened and harrassed, and I’ve discover a significant amount of damage to my property as this person rented a furnished room and had access to common property. There is already outstanding owed rent from last year as well as a promise to replace damaged items but I know I am never going to see either. Can I sell the renters personal property to recover my financial and property losses?
Hi Flaber,
Just finished a huge long reply and it vanished, out of time now, so you get the short version.
Itemize everything they have left behind, you can use video and pictures for this, give her a deadline to have all the stuff out. Under the Residential Tenancy Act, if it’s less than $2,000 in value you can dispose of it, if it’s more you have to auction it off, but you can get away with selling the items and tracking it. any excess above money owed you goes to the tenant.
You may fall under the innkeeper’s Act which is slightly different, but similar. It specifically mentions dealing with tenant items left behind or held in the Act.
If you are plan to continue renting out a room, you may want to look at some of the forms I have that specifically help landlords who rent out rooms, you can find the info here, Roommate leases.
Bill
Hello Bill my fiancé and I have been renting from our landlord and he agreed to allow another person to rent from us. Her dog has bitten both my fiancé and our dogs.
A few days ago she also was shouting, using foul language, and slamming doors. I left her a notice of eviction telling her that she has caused a disturbance.
Yesterday she told me she wanted to sue me for fraud because I don’t have an innkeepers lisence, I was not aware that in alberta you need an innkeepers lisence.
Am I mistaken or is she?
Hi Joseph,
She’s a little bit on the confused side. You don’t require an Innkeeper’s license and she’s trying to bluff. I would suggest countering with have her leave immediately or you will report her dog as being dangerous. Unlike her bluff, if the dog has attacked your dogs and your fiancee, you may have a valid argument.
Bill
Bill
Perfect thank you!
Can I have a Sherrif remove her or do I need to give her 24hours or 2 weeks?
Hi Joseph,
You won’t be able to use the sheriff or bailiff in Alberta unless you go through the courts. I would start by asking her to leave or you will be reporting her dog, if that doesn’t get her moving you can escalate via the Innkeeper’s Act, which may or may not work smoothly for you as it seems to be case by case or go through the courts.
Bill
I just evicted a roommate which i thought was a tenant for smoking pot and cigarettes in my home, a house rule he was aware of. now that i’m aware thru your site, he’s not a tenant, does the tenant lease conditions still apply or are they null and void? the main reason i’m asking is re: the security deposit which there are cleaning, repair charges that will be deducted, what about the roommate putting me in financial distress now having to replace him w/a new tenant and am out of march’s rent.
Hi DM,
Technically the roommate is still a tenant, depending on the lease and how he pays, but they may fall under different legislation. In this case it sounds like the Innkeeper’s Act versus the Residential Tenancy Act which I’m assuming is because he is subletting from you and not on the actual lease.
The basic rules of the lease you have would still apply, although if they conflict with the Act, the Act’s rules supersede.
The basic rules of the security deposit still apply as well. So if they are responsible for damages, repairs etc, it can be deducted as for putting you in financial stress, no. You picked them, you’re stuck with them and their difficulties.
It’s like buying a bad stock, if it goes down or doesn’t turn out to be what you thought, you lose. I do offer a free screening course on another website which teaches you how to better pick tenants, that may be of interest to you to help reduce the chance of this happening, you can find it here, Learn To Screen Tenants.
Also, I do have leases that I offer listed in the menu system above if you do fall under the Innkeeper’s Act versus the RTA. They have slightly different clauses and rules involved to help protect you and the packages also included additional information so you know what you are getting into.
Hope this helps,
Bill
Hi Bill,
I have a dilemna type situation on my hands and I am seeking your opinion if you can spare a few minutes. I have been in the same apartment since 07/2010 and every year we get a lease renewal for one year. This year when lease renewal time came around I was out of the country and in a place where Internet is not so easily accessible but my Landlord contacted me to renew the lease via email and I only saw it upon my return on Feb 20. I called him up and apologized for the slow reply and we agreed to renew the lease as per usual and he had said he was going to forward me the copy to sign. They never send the copy and by this time it’s already the 28th of Feb, I called them up to enquire of the lease and his wife answered and said I should call back in 2hrs. I then called after the two hours no one answered but in the meantime I receive an email with partial changes to the original lease that we always renew. The changes being my rent is gone up with immediate effect, and that I would no longer be able to use the parking spots that where originally included in the original lease which ended Feb 28. The rent increase is $300 plus I have to pay for the parking now to him if I want to park. My question is, I cannot simply afford the rent increase and I feel like moving is best for me because the rent increase and the extra for parking would drive me to the food bank. Can I just tell him I’ can’t afford the new rent but I’m willing to move end of March if he wants to find other tenants. Since I have no lease as we speak does this mean they can increase rent without the 3 month notice? I have the old rent amount ready and will be meeting their “agent” to review these two changes I mentioned above. I have lived here 3.5yrs with no missed rent payments or complaints if any kind. Thank you in advance for your help.
Zuri
Hi Zuri,
You’re caught in kind of a trap/gray area right now and while it’s best that you likely move on, you don’t need to immediately panic as there are steps he has to take to evict you and due to the way he went about it, you can easily stall this for a bit, at least until the end of the month.
First step for you will be to completely document everything that happened and then inform him, if that’s your plan, that you will be moving out at the end of the month. You might want to push that you will pay the original rent for that period as he will get higher rent with his next tenant. Do all this in writing, explaining with out complete notice form him you were left hanging and due to the verbal agreement, you were unaware the rules and rents were changing.
The next steps for him if he doesn’t agree will be to either provide you with a 14 day eviction notice, giving you more time, or file with the courts or the RTDRS for an eviction. Even if he does give you a 14 day notice, to actually evict you, he needs to go to court or RTDRS to get an eviction order.
If you have to make a hearing appearance, by showing you were willing to move at the end of the month as you were blindsided by the changes, in all likelihood the courts will grant you that much time due to the lack of real notice for you and the abrupt change of the rules. They may enforce you having to pay the higher amount, but at least it gives you the extra time, or they may say due to the process the old rent continues, so that is a risk, also you may have to pay the application costs for the court which is $75 for the RTDRS and $100 for the courts, but it beats going to live on the streets.
Due to the tighter rental markets and the leniency towards tenants in general. If a tenant shows they are trying to work with the landlord and will be moving on they generally get granted some additional time to move forward. If the reason for the eviction was non-payment or damage or some type of serious breach, they are far less receptive, so while I would never guarantee it would play out this way, I feel pretty safe you should have at least until the end of the month to vacate.
Finally in answer to the 3 month notice for rent increases, it doesn’t technically apply to fixed term leases as the lease ends at the end of the term and a new one is put in place with new rules. With your extended history in the place it will also help your case, especially if there are no past incidents.
In this situation the landlord will come off as following the rules, but potentially taking advantage of the situation and leniency will generally be accorded the tenant as much as possible.
Hope that helps a bit Zuri,
Bill
Hello Bill,I rent a 2 bedroom apartment.As I was not going to be in Canada for 4 months,I rented out both bedrooms to a couple of guys.They are not on the lease.Just before I was about to take my trip they cried and complained they would leave unless I agreed to pay the electric bill and net bill while away.I reluctantly agreed.Now I have been told by several neighbours that they have rented out the living room in my absence and are collecting rent off this individual.I would like to call the police and have them removed as soon as I return.Since they are not on the lease can I do this?I also feel they should pay the electric and net bills I have been paying since they are receiving rent from the other guy.Since I am renting and don’t own the apartment am I still covered under Innkeepers act?I have had trouble with previous tenants and when I call police,they refuse to respond,what do I have to say to get them to respond?Mention the Innkeepers act?Thanks for any advice.
Hi Lisa,
No lease and bending to their demands, not off to a good start….
You fit into a gray area and this can go one of two ways.Since you have no leases detailing and informing the tenants that they are under the Innkeeper’s Act and you likely aren’t following the extra rules in the Act you may be able to call the police in and depending on what the officers know about the rules they may help you, or they may say it is too close to the Residential Tenancy Act and you are on your own.
If there is any way you can get back or have someone intervene for you, I would suggest giving them an ultimatum. They all need to be out by X day or you will call the police to escort them out under the Innkeeper’s Act. Hopefully they leave so as to avoid the police, if they don’t you or your “agent” have to follow through. The lack of any paperwork may hurt you and the particular officer that shows up can also hinder.
Laying out right from the beginning in your lease and in the premises that you fall under the Innkeeper’s Act does make the process easier, it’s still no guarantee though. I do sell leases that will help with this, you can find them under the menu at the top of the page.
Additionally, you may want to review your lease. Subletting to these individuals may be a breach of your lease and could be cause for your eviction unless you have written approval from your landlord.
Bill
Hello Bill,I returned home,garbage,place filthy everywhere,important documents of mine,gone.Also was told by neighbours prostitutes in and out of the place,I beleive they were selling drugs.I called the police and they said they will not repond.I want to take them to small claims court for the 20 hours I have spent cleaning and the cost to replace my documents as well as stress.Can this be done??
Hi Lisa,
Unlikely the courts will be able to help you much in this situation, other than to get them out if they haven’t left. You may end up with a small judgment against them for damages and cleaning, but they don’t sound like stand up people, which means they will likely never pay unless they turn their lives around and need better credit.
Focus for you now is to get them out however you can. Be it through the courts, through the Innkeeper’s Act or telling them if they leave now you won’t come after them with legal action.
Once they are gone, you’ll have to re-evaluate several things a) whether to rent out rooms again b) if you do, how to better pick renters and c) what you need to learn from all of this.
Hope it turns out ok,
Bill
Hello Bill,
A few months ago, I had rented out a room in my home to a couple. It’s gets confusing, they broke up and she wanted to stay and the boyfriend had slit his wrists in my home so I naturally wanted him out. Eventually he left and she stayed. A few months later they are back together and he is constantly staying over which makes the other roommates(I have other rooms rented as well) and myself uncomfortable. They don’t want him around and either do I. Is there a way I can tell her, that she can’t have him staying over anymore? And can I evict her as well if she does not comply and how much notice would I have to give her? Thank you for your help
Hi Kim,
You may have a bit of a problem in front of you. The issue is what are the specific rules about guests.
If you have nothing in place stating rules about guests and staying over it might be a bit tougher to say this is against the rules and then being able to enforce it.
However, there is the issue of making other tenants uncomfortable. Everyone is allowed the right to have a place to stay with “peaceful enjoyment of the premises”. If this could be deemed conflicting with that it may be grounds for eviction.
However, before you go there, you might just want to talk to her and take a strong stance.
Depending on the wording of your rental agreement, you can apply some of the specifics of it if possible. Specifically any points about peaceful enjoyment or some substituted wording.
Explain that it is making the others uncomfortable and that per your agreement with her (verbal or otherwise), she is the one renting the room and it is set up as a single rental now. Her boyfriend simply cannot spend all his time there. If they need a place to go, they can go to his place, or look for a joint place together again.
How that plays out will dictate your next steps.It may involve having to increase the rents to compensate for two people (increased to a point where moving out may be a better option) or you push the grounds that the extra visitor is disturbing the other tenants.
However it plays out, the lesson you should learn from this is to have a solid agreement that covers issues like this, to have house rules posted and provided to all the tenants outlining “sleepovers and guests” and then you simply have to stand up and enforce them.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Thank you bill,
I have since been called away and working out of town but did sent her a text before leaving that I did not want her boyfriend staying anymore and she agreed. My girlfriend who also lives with me as told me that since I left. They have gotten a cat and her boyfriend has not left. I will message her again today to remind her what we discussed but it would be difficult to evict her now that I’m 7hrs away working for probably the next month. Would it be possible to have my girlfriend evict her? I am listed as the homeowner but not my girlfriend but I am away. My cousin who doesn’t live there is also listed as homeowner/landlord is in town but doesn’t live with us, would he be able to carry the eviction now that I’m working out of town?
Thank you for your help
Kim
Hi Bill, The Innkeepers act doesn’t cover animals. If my room mate has been not picking up after his dog, and leaving him over night in a kennel to bark all night while he goes out to party – is this a disturbance? I love dogs, but I also love sleep. I called the RCMP and they were super reluctant to help me. She said I had to call the SPCA. If I get his dog taken away i think my safety will be in jeopardy.
Hi Mandy,
The Innkeeper’s Act does cover disturbances, and the dog in this case is providing a disturbance.
I would suggest giving him a written note (or emailing him, or preferably both) informing him of the problem and what has to be done. If that doesn’t change anything and depending on how serious you are, from there I would either provide a second letter stating what you will do if it happens again and the consequences, in this case calling the SPCA and evicting him.
Hopefully he simply was unaware, but realistically you have to be prepared to deal with this and evict him if it does come up.
Regards,
Bill
Hi Bill, I’m so happy I’ve found your site. I’ve been renting a room in my home to a man for the past 6 months. No written agreement, but a verbal one that there will be no drugs in the house and no strangers. I was fine with long time friends and family. I worked with him so felt I knew many of his friends and family. Last month he started bringing girls home from the bar. The week before Christmas he brought one girl home early, it was just past 7 my kids were still up and I could smell pot. I went down to the basement and asked what was going on, to which the door was shut in my face. I texted him that they had to leave right now that drugs and strangers were not to be in my home. After 3 hours they left. My roommate and I had a falling out and I said he needed to leave by the end of the month as he broke my only 2 house rules. after a week of apologies I agreed to let him stay here until the end of January which gave him a bit more time to find a place. I re told him my house rules that there is not to be unknown guests in the home as they have to enter through my house to get to his room down stairs, they have to come up to the main floor to use the bathroom as well. He agreed to this. fast forward a week and I have a friend over on a Saturday night. Sunday happens and he gets mad texting me saying that if he can’t have people over that I’m not to have people over as well (his room is in the basement with lock and key so there is no entering his space) I explained to him that this is my house and if I want to have a friend over I can. Its his friends that are smoking pot in my home that are not welcome. I again told him that if he didn’t like my rules that he was free to leave when ever he wanted to but that I was sticking to my rules. He responded that he pays to live here and will not walk on egg shells if he wants to have people over he will and I can’t stop him.
He then texts me this “when Jeffery Dahmer stood in court he said to the judge “I didn’t kill those people, do I look crazy to you” His next text was “don’t get comfortable, you don’t know me as well as you think you do” “don’t poke the bear and we’ll both me ok”
all of this scared me, he is a scary man and over the past 3 months I have told him time and time again that his actions have scared me…. to the point of me sleeping in my kids room with them and pushing the dresser up against the door.
I took those text to the police station and asked them what I should or could do.. I got the run around… call the landlord tenancy act, call a lawyer.. call the police, each place directed me somewhere else.
What I ended up doing was texting him an eviction notice stating that he had until the end of the night to pick up his belongings, the locks have been changed if he doesnt pick up his stuff we would need to find another suitable time for him to collect his items. He figured the next day would work, he came with the police and some friends to help him move out. He couldn’t get it all out in one go so we made arrangements for a mutual friend to pick up his stuff 4 days later. to which he cancelled we re-booked a time 4 days after that which was fine with me, but I realized that the mutual friend wouldn’t be there to help as he was flying to aisa that day. So I texted him asking who was coming as I wasn’t comfortable having him in the house with me and my kids. he didn’t respond but had responded that he’ll be here between 7:30 and 8pm.. so I sent him a text saying that was fine that I’d have the boxes on the front deck waiting for him. To this he responded… saying I have no right to touch his belongings and that I am not allowed to move them (at this point I had already put them on the deck, it wasn’t much and was already in boxes)
He has now told me that he is suing me for touching his belongings – is that possible? He say’s that he is also suing me for rent, lost wages at work, storage unit, truck rental and who knows what next.
I’m a single mom of two young boys, after reading that text quoting a serial killer who molested young boys I felt I had to take action. It was all over text so I have it all as proof (the night he smoked pot and the “threat”) and I think I’d have the courts side.
In your eyes have I covered all my bases? was moving his stuff onto the deck wrong even though he had committed to picking it up at that time?
I haven’t returned the last two weeks of his month that was paid, as I felt he breached the agreement and needed to move out as he was of a threatening nature even though a direct threat under the criminal code never happened to me it was still of a threatening nature. I never took a damage deposit either. Is he initiated to get the rest of his months rent back?
Hi Melissa,
Without knowing him, I would suggest he is bluffing. While it’s true you’re responsible for his goods that have been left in your care, there are also rules as to how responsible depending on the dollar value of the items left for one thing. Leaving it outside for him to pick up because you feared for your safety isn’t entirely unreasonable.
He could try and sue you, but it may open up the possibility for a counter suit by you and it would simply take him too much time and money to typically go through with this. It sounds like you have a pretty good idea of the history of what occurred, perhaps make sure you document it all while it is fresh in your mind and then if he does actually sue you, you have all your records and can most likely get it tossed out anyway.
As to refunding the rent, just returning it to him would likely make him go away, but most likely if you kept it for the troubles he’s caused he likely won’t come after you either. Did he leave a mess behind you had to deal with? Or was it clean and tidy? If it was a mess I’d document cleaning time, deduct it form the total rent and perhaps, just perhaps, give him the remainder along with a statement.
In the future I would recommend you do very thorough screening of any individuals you allow in your home and you also obtain a security deposit. I’m currently putting together a lease package for landlords renting out rooms in their home that should be ready in the next week or two, or at least the basic version will be.
If you haven’t registered on the site, you may wish to in order to be one of hte first to find out about it.
Regards,
Bill
I would draw some caution when taking examples used on this site in relation to the Innkeepers Act of Alberta. The Inkeepers Act was initially established for hotels, hostels and boarding houses. These are all established as registered businesses. If you are simply renting rooms in your house for extra income it would be considered a shared accommodation. This sort of accommodation is exempt from the residential tenancies act but is also NOT covered under the inkeepers act. If you contact the police and are able to convince them to help remove the renter, you better pray to god they don’t take you to court. Even though a shared accommodation is not covered under the tenancy act it really only means you can’t file a claim with the tenancy dispute resolution services. Shared Accommodations still consist of a renter and a landlord the same principles of law that the tenancy act is based upon will apply.
If you withhold any monies for a security deposit you better be sure you’re entitled to it, otherwise a court may order you to return it with punitive damages.
The Inkeepers Act can be a tricky thing. Better contact a lawyer before making a move that could cost you more then what you own.
3 years ago I defended (yes I am a lawyer) a property owner that was renting rooms in her basement. The renters paid a monthly rent of $500. She convinced the police that the tenants were living there pursuant to the innkeepers act and had them evict them for her. At the end of the day, a lawsuit was filed against her. A judge awarded the renters with damages and punitive damages in excess of $87.000. She was later fined by the municipality renting rooms without a permit.
Hi “Lawyer”,
Thanks for your input, I see you actually posted half a dozen replies and comments regarding the Innkeeper’s Act last night and how it applies (or in your experience), doesn’t apply to renting out rooms in your home here in Alberta.
As I’ve posted numerous times, I am not a lawyer, I am just a landlord who has developed extensive knowledge of how the Residential Tenancy Act and the Innkeeper’s Act seem to apply in our neck of the woods. Over the years I have talked and discussed the applications of these rules with by-law officers, the police, eviction service companies, the Landlord and Tenant advisory people and the RTDRS to come up with the strategies and information I currently have on this site.
I’ve talked to both Landlords and Tenants who have been advised by lawyers and have been given incorrect information by these lawyers. There are definitely different interpretations of exactly how these rules apply and that does leave room for error.
Having said that, I stand by what I’ve posted here. Renting rooms out of your property THAT YOU LIVE IN with shared common areas, puts you outside the Residential Tenancy Act. There is no specific Act for this and yes there are rules pertaining to bed and breakfasts, lodging houses, etc that vary from municipality to municipality across the province, but from every encounter I have seen when push comes to shove, the default argument is the Innkeeper’s Act holds up as the closest Act to cover this.
Agreed, it’s not well written, in fact it’s very vague, but it works and I’ve seen it enforced time and time again.
As you mentioned in one of the other comments (please note, at this point I am not publishing most of your other comments as I find them more fear mongering than factual right now), the appropriate steps landlords need to take even in a shared accommodation settings, is to document problems they have if it does come to a court issue. As I like to also continually point out, you also need a VALID REASON TO EVICT.
The Innkeeper’s Act can be a tricky thing and while it may not hurt to contact a lawyer, it may. Over the years of dealing with lawyers I have found several great ones, and many incompetent ones. If any one does intend on contacting a lawyer to determine where they stand with this, I would suggest they ensure the lawyer does indeed have experience with the Residential Tenancy Act and the Innkeeper’s Act or it’s like going to a family doctor for brain surgery. They may know the basics, but not everything they need to help you survive.
Finally, I have a real concern with renters paying a monthly rent of $500 per month getting evicted and getting awarded an amount of $87,000. In fact, I have to call bullshit. Either you’re not telling us the entire story, or it’s fictitious.
Even the landlords who owned the property responsible for the deaths of three people due to their negligence were only fined $89,700 (which is incredibly sad as well that three lives are only worth $30,000 each worth of fines). Yet a $500 monthly tenant gets an $87,000 judgment (I’m assuming it was a judgment). That just seems so out of whack that it appears made up.
But I could be wrong, there may just be pieces of the puzzle that were omitted, so I’d like the opportunity to discuss this further with you. Or since you’re a lawyer with experience with the Innkeeper’s Act, perhaps you’d like to share your contact information so visitors could potentially contact you for your services.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Bill
I submit the comment with no intention of you actually publishing it, I just have to say, WELL DONE! Lol. I believe that you are right and I applaud that you still published his last comment. Although it does peak my curiosity to see what he has said to other people, although I am sure it’s just damaging and would make the posters unnecessarily worried.
Thanks Brianne,
The majority of the posts refer to The Innkeeper’s act not applying to personal residences and the legal implications of wrongfully evicting someone. Yes, there are always implications if you do things wrong, especially if you are breaking the law, but when there is no clear cut definition, you work with what you have and each situation varies.
He provided a link showing all the current court cases about the Innkeeper’s Act are regarding commercial property, but how many tenants paying for a room have either the money to hire a lawyer where they may or may not win and even if they do, they may never get reimbursed, or would find it worthwhile fighting over it to get back perhaps a month’s rent when they could lose several days of work. Commercial cases, or situations where someone is suing a large hotel chain where they may actually be able to get a settlement would obviously be more realistic.
It’s not a perfect system, but it’s what we have, so we work with it to the best of our ability.
Bill
Hi Bill!
Great forum 🙂
Recently I’ve converted the area above my workshop into a nice suite for someone.
It is on the same property as I live…..has a private entrance…..
It’s a shared yard, driveway…..
Would this fall under the innkeepers act?
Thanks Chris,
If it’s a private contained unit, you fall under the Residential Tenancy Act. To fall under the Innkeeper’s Act you need to share kitchens, bathrooms and common living space.
Regards,
Bill
Help! I rent a room in a house from a homeowner who resides here with me as well. The RTA does not apply to me but the IA does. I paid rent and security deposit up front on the first day of the month. There is no signed agreement and I only collect receipts for monies I’ve paid. As for verbal lease agreement, it was to pay on time every month and cleanup after myself. For many valid reasons (reasons not agreed upon verbally prior to moving in) I cannot live here with her any longer. Unfortunately I can only give her 18 days notice that I’ll be leaving her house and also will be leaving a half month early. I want her to keep the full months rent. The problem is she tells me she will keep my security deposit because I failed to give her 30 days notice. Please note that the room is in the same condition as I moved in and there was no move-in inspection. I’m certain she simply cannot afford to pay back the deposit and will say anything to steal it. I will also assist her in posting the ad and leaving the room in a satisfactory presentable condition. Considering everything I said, heresay is heresay without any written agreement and this person is very smart (but obviously not smart enough to write up a rental agreement), (?#1)what defensive basis should I expect from her in regards to stealing my deposit? This deposit she steals from me will greatly affect my chance of getting back home to Ontario. (?#2)What are some points I can bring up to persuade her to pay me back my deposit before we have to go as far as wasting time in court? I understand that I’ll have to take her to small claims court to receive my $600 deposit back but (?#3)will I have to return to Alberta to meet her in court? (?#4)Is there a way I can represent myself here in Alberta from Ontario? (?#5)Maybe have a friend stand in for me with a written letter from me stating the reasons that would help my case for moving out with only 18 days notice? (?#6)Am I realistically defenseless to retrieve my money because I now currently live in Ontario and cannot make it to the small claims courts’ court date?
6 annoying questions but I hope you can give me some guidance because I might not be able to afford enough fuel to get home to Ontario without the deposit being paid back to me.
Thanks
Wow, tough situation for you. I’m not entirely sure of the process for small claims court in this case, but usually you can have someone else represent you. The problem still being, if you need the money to get home to Ontario, you may not see it for ages. Even if you win, it’s just a judgment and that doesn’t mean she has to pay on the spot.
So, time to turn it around. If you’re willing to help her out and to get someone in place right away specifically let her know you will help with this. It sounds like you are, so this shouldn’t be a problem.
Otherwise you will use all legal methods to keep your room as long as possible, delay leaving to use up all of your paid rent and then proceed with a court case after the fact to collect outstanding money causing her to lose money on the back end. Perhaps making her realize you will be willing to fight will help change her stance?
Without a written lease in place and depending on the measures you are willing to go, there are several ways it can play out.
Bill
Hi, I don’t rent out any property, but I have a question that maybe someone can help me out with? I rented a motel room for one month for $1400, I have gotten 2 bogus complaints that I couldn’t help as I didn’t did nothing wrong. My question is, I have only been here for 2 days, if I check out will I get some of my money back as I was only here for 2 days, well 3 as of tomorrow out of the whole month I paid? Can someone help me.
Hi Alvina,
Motels have pretty tight agreements, typically they rarely if ever refund anything when renting for a week at a time, you may be able to negotiate with them and forfeit a week to get back three, but they may stonewall you on that and your only recourse would be small claims court.
Bill
Hi.
We had a room and board renter who up and left a few days ago without much notice. We had already previously given her a months notice then two after she explained she could not find a place to rent in a months time. She had threatened us, other roommates and proclaimed we were stealing her mail; thus the reason we chose to evict her. Now she is asking for her rent money back and said she would be taking us to court. What are my rights here? When she left we had no prior notice other than seeing her pack her bags out and she also left a mess in the room and stains on the floor. We did not charge her a damage deposit either. Is she right to ask for her money back? I am left with an empty room until I can find another renter.
Thanks.
Hi Brandi,
I would think the court threat is just that, a threat. If she had given you proper notice or advanced warning she would have more of a leg to stand on.
I would suggest documenting the time you put in to get the room back into shape and work out a reasonable charge, determine if you will be facing any additional charges of re-advertising the vacancy and then let her know that if you rent it out by the 15th, you will deduct the expenses you incurred and she can have the second half back.
If you aren’t able to by that time she is welcome to pursue this in court. You’ll want to make sure you make an attempt to at least fill it.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hi Bill,
I love your website btw. I have been renting rooms out in my home for years now and fall under the Innkeepers Act as I live on the property as well. For the last couple years I have run into a bad streak of bad room mates. No one has lasted over a couple of months before I have asked them to leave. So far I have had….
Single Mom evicted bc she didn’t pay rent
Middle aged male landscaper, evicted bc I caught him doing drugs on the property
Young male student, evicted bc he didn’t pay rent on time and didn’t clean up after himself
Older male tradesman, evicted bc he didn’t pay rent on time and was disruptive
Mid 20s female student, evicted bc she invaded the privacy of myself and the other tenant by constantly going into our rooms.
I was wondering if you had any advice or offer consulting on screening potential room mates/renters? Right now one of my tenants will be leaving (of her own choice) and I want to be careful about selecting the next one as it seems I keep choosing the wrong people. I get all potential renters to come look at the property, I get an application, I do reference checks, and I interview them… they all seem to check out! Of course someone can be on their best behavior for an interview. I have chosen a variety of people but just can’t seem to get it right!
What am I doing wrong?
Hi Brianne, Flattery will get you many places, so glad you love the website!
Here’s the irony of the current economy. As the economy has gotten better and better the bad tenants are finding it harder to find places and they are getting more creative at getting into properties, while at the same time the properties are more expensive than they are used to. This inevitably leads them short on cash and their problem becomes yours when they cannot make rent, or are drug users or are used to living with low standards in low standard housing.
One thing you can consider is raising your rents a bit and make the process of getting into your property a bit tougher. this will help scare more of the bad tenants away. In my normal rental ads I always include that I do thorough screening and credit checks on applicants and this helps scare the bad tenants away, at least the ones actually read the whole ad.
It also comes down to being good at screening and reading people and yet they still sneak through the door, so you need to stick to your rules and take swift action to curb things going bad.
I’ve actually put together a complete course on screening tenants that I offer for free on my other landlord site. You may want to go take a look at it at the following link, .
I’ve had some great feedback on it from accross Canada and the US so I hope you find it helpful as well.
Hi Bill,
I have recently had some problems with my landlord that lives with me, which falls under the Innkeepers Act. I noticed that he has been taking my liquor without permission, using points rewards programs under my name that I start and taking my benefits from them, accusing me of acts of malice and giving me no leeway to prove my innocence, entering my room without my permission or notice, and searching through my e-mails without permission. He recently had me sign a lease agreement and stated I now “owe him” a damage deposit even though I’ve been living on the property for a few months now. I want to end my lease with him, as I plan to move out of the country soon, but he is intent on making my stay miserable and I also suspect that he is an alcoholic. I need to get out of this situation as soon as possible as he is harassing me and turning everything I say or do to defend myself against me. Outside of court what can I do as I don’t plan to be in Canada in half a year’s time.
Hi Ryan,
It sounds like you need to get out as quickly as possible. There is not much you can do to make this change other than obvious things like changing passwords, but that won’t stop stealing and accessing your room.
If you can live with it until you leave that’s one option, otherwise get out ASAP as he won’t change. Under the RTA he cannot suddenly make you sign a lease and increase the damage deposit. The Innkeeper’s Act doesn’t specifically go over this, but often the rules default to the RTA rules if there is nothing to go by, so I would stick to my guns on not increasing it as you won’t see it back. If he is an alcoholic, he just needs the money to buy more alcohol.
If you’re in Calgary, I may be able to help you out with some short term options and I know one of the other people who I help here is looking for someone for a room in Calgary as well, so let us know where you are at now.
Bill
Thanks for your advice and the offer to help find a new place. I am in Calgary but my friends and family have already helped me find a new place to live and advised me of the first steps i should take and that was to “get out”. My only concern is if he tries to come at me through legal action and I’m out of country unable to defend myself. Originally i started living on this property with a verbal agreement and we both agreed that I would be able to live here without having to pay a damage deposit. When he asked me to sign the hard copy for taxes I thought that sounded reasonable and that is why I signed it in the first place. Should I worry so much? Or do I have a strong case against him?
Hi Ryan,
I wouldn’t worry too much about legal action. Just document everything up to this point, get out as quickly as possible. He has to serve you personally for the legal action to be legal and if you were overseas, that would be rather difficult. Plus it would be a lot of work for him which it doesn’t sound likely from what you’ve told us so far.
If you haven’t paid the damage deposit already he also cannot come after you for it after the fact. Especially if you are leaving anyway.
Bill
Awesome, thanks for the advice on documenting and getting out asap. I found a new place and I’m out of his by this weekend!
Hi Bill,
We live in a R-C1 community. We are considering renting out our current principal residence to our son and 4 of his friends from University. We would then move to a new location and collect rent from the 4 friends living with our son. We have picky neighbors who will call bylaw for any little thing. A friend suggested we check to make sure that this situation would be okay with the bylaws of the City of Calgary. Do you see any problem with this?
Hi Sandy,
I don’t recall specifically what R-C1 allows you, so you may have to confirm with the city. It may cap the number of residents in the unit at four though, including your son.
From there, how you set it up will change how the rules affect you. If everyone is on one lease, then you will fall under the Residential Tenancy Act, if you son manages the property and rents out the rooms, then you will be under the Innkeeper’s Act which gives you more discretion when it comes to problems.
Innkeeper’s Act is more work and you lose some protections versus gaining others.
Bill
Hello,
I just evicted a tenant under the innkeepers act as I rent the house from the property owner and sublet the rooms. Eviction was due to her letting others in the house without notification who stayed nights in various places in the house, smoking in the house, theft of food and drink, invasion of personal property belonging to me, allowing a dog into the house, uttering threats and belligerent behaviour when confronted on these matters.
This person refused to leave and claimed she was entitled to 14 days notice. I was forced to call the police and they informed her that the situation falls under the innkeepers act and she must go.
So she was removed and in good faith I did not throw her belongings out on the street and agreed to hold them in the house until she could send someone with a truck to pick them up.
So finally to my question. I have discovered that the dog that was let in did damage to the carpet. I heard it digging at the door and when I confronted her about it she promised no damage was done.
So after she was evicted I looked in the room and discovered that a small hole/tear is in the carpet from the dog and there is also damage to a wall in the room. I didn’t think to inspect the room as the police were escorting her out and now that she is gone, can I hold these belongings until she agrees to pay for the damage as she is indebted to me for the lodging as far as I am concerned. We did not do an inspection prior to moving in so I don’t have written proof if she denies it.
She admitted to the theft of food and paid for it. She admitted to the dog digging but lied about damage done.
The locks are changed and I have her stuff. Under the innkeepers act, can I really hold the property for 30 days or until she pays for the damage?
Hi Jason,
Without an inspection it can get a bit nasty, you might try negotiating with her for some money to get her goods back, but if push came to shove without an initial inspection it can get dicey.
Since she’s admitted the dog thing, turn it into something where you get paid for that repair and perhaps let her know if she pays that you won’t come after her for the other damage.
Worse case scenario you do hold onto her goods and she comes after you in the courts, but that can drag out and take another couple of months for her to get her stuff.
Regards,
Bill
P.S. Your landlords name isn’t Donna is it 8′)
Hi Bill,
Yes, my landlord is Donna. I believe she spoke to you about my situation prior to me evicting this person.
She (evicted tenant) contacted me to arrange a time to pick up her things. I brought up the damage and confronted her about lying and now she is playing dumb and denying the dog situation ever happened and that I should call the police again if I disagree. Needless to say, pretty pathetic behaviour but I think you are right. I don’t think it is worth further stress to deal with this in court. It would cost me more in lost wages than the $120 quote to fix all the damage.
That said, I am holding her property in the house as a courtesy. The police agreed that was a nice thing to do for her, but if I am just going to be walked all over, I think the belongings can go out on the curb now….
Thanks,
Jason
Hi Bill,
I rent out a room in the home that I am “renting” from my ex spouse.
I have read may of the questions and your responses here and then went to the Innkeepers Act but do not see info that you are giving out?
Specifically, about the Notice to Evict rules, grounds to evict, return or not returning a security deposit etc.
Where is this written? I need to have this to present to my room renters.
Thanks and if possible can you please reply directly to my email provided?
Thanks so much
Laurie
Hi Laurie,
Not sure what all the background story is, but this may cross over to some family law issues as well. This can depend on whether there was anything specifically in your separation/divorce paperwork, if you were there before the marriage ended etcetera.
The rules under the Innkeepers Act don’t specifically lay out timelines for evictions, it’s more of a don’t pay you got to go set of rules. This also crosses over to disturbances or problems with tenants. Think of it just like a hotel. If people do not pay, they have to go, if they disturb other guests, they may be asked to leave or they may be given a second chance. If that fails out they go, usually with police escorts.
I’ve replied both here and to your email, hope that helps,
Bill
Hi Bill,
I’m baaaaccckkkk – did you miss me?!
Sigh… finding a reliable roommate is becoming the hardest thing in the world.
I rent a condo, I have a written permission from my landlord to sublease the second bedroom so I know we fall under the innkeeper’s act… this girl moved in, paid her deposit… has consistently been late paying for everything else. I STILL do not have rent for December paid in full, let alone her portion of the utility bills.
I had her sign a 3-month agreement to sublease. Continually she is short-paying me on things and doesn’t say anything about it as if I’m not going to count it or something… I have received majority of December’s rent in three installments, the last one was yesterday that should have been the full amount.
Can I kick her out? She owes me $200 at this point, the longer she stays, the more of my food she will eat and more money she is going to be short… the tab is just increasing at every turn. I can’t be wondering every month whether the rent is going to be paid, I would rather struggle on my own than worry about this.
I thought I’d dotted my i’s and crossed my t’s with this one, but it is very apparent she is a “taker” and has zero accountability… when she applied, she had two jobs making more than enough money to afford to live there and has since quit both (but didn’t tell me, I had to find this out) and now spends most of her evenings on the couch crying and making excuses as to why she is in the financial mess she is in. I can’t deal with that, we are in CALGARY – there is no reason she can’t have a second job, I know because I have two jobs and run my business.
VERY FRUSTRATED OVER HERE. Is there an agency or something that you can contact to find decent roommates???
Hey Melissa, of course we miss you!
If she’s causing you that much grief (and owes you money) she has to go! Unfortunately being taken advantage of gets old fast and right before Christmas bad tenants seem to ramp up the pity me values. Ultimately it comes out of your pocket, so if you can afford the loss, then delay and hope it gets better, if you can’t time to get them out of there.
I’d give her a deadline and reiterate the rules. If she doesn’t pay by say the 20th, you want her out before Christmas, explain you are under the Innkeeper’s Act, not the Residential Tenancy act and as such you have the right tot change locks, charge her with trespassing and even sell her items to recover lost rent.
Also explain rent is due on the 1st, if she can’t commit to that, then she might as well simply move on as this was the warning. You’ll likely want to do this both verbally and written in case it ever did go to court.
Finding decent roommates can be hit or miss, it’s all going to come down to the screening process. you might want to take a look at this free screening course I offer on another site to possibly help you along,
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hi again Bill,
Wellllllllllllll… I wrote her a letter and had myself all poised to kick her out, but I chickened out at the last minute because I felt it would be terrible to do that to someone 6 days before Christmas.
However… I casually brought up the issue of her rent STILL being short and she immediately got defensive, rude and acted like I was making mountains out of molehills. Needless to say, I lost my cool after I told her quite bluntly that I could have the locks changed and sell her stuff to recoup my money… she responded to that saying that would be a “b*tch move”… we yelled, I commented on how convenient it was that she could afford to buy coffee & cigarettes every day but can’t afford her rent… I also told her she needed to get off her rear and get a second job because if she can’t afford to live there then she may as well pack her bags, this isn’t going to continue…it wasn’t pretty. By the end of the argument, I asked her if she would have January’s rent for the first – she said she would need one more pay period and everything would be caught up, she has never been in this situation before and bla bla bla bla blaaaaaaaaaaaa. I gave her until January 15, 2014 to have everything paid and up to date but she needed to pay me what she has until then. SHOCKINGLY – I received zero for anything outstanding and zero for January 1, 2014… and my food and other consumables are disappearing faster at every turn. This is one of the most frustrating things, not only am I literally paying for a roof over her head, I am also paying to feed her… I’ve started referring to her as my teenager hahahaha – the biggest frustration of all of this is she tried telling me that the security deposit is meant for short payments on rent – I flipped right out hearing that, as far as I’m aware that is illegal and it is meant for damages – can only be used for rent should she vacate and bail on the rent… then she started trying to quote the Residential Tenancy Act and I told her to read up on legislation as it doesn’t apply, we very clearly fall under the Innkeepers Act.
Do I need to write up a letter outlining the discussion and verbal agreements made on December 19, 2013 so that when I come home on January 15, 2014 I can change the locks and be done with this? I suspect this coming Friday she will not have the $900 owed to me, if the past predicts the future… and I have an ad for a new roommate posted right now.
Also, you had referenced a link for screening tenants but for some reason it doesn’t come up, could you please re-post?
As always, thank you for your help. I would like to avoid useless roommates going forward, 3 bad ones in a row is enough to drive a person mad!!!
Cheers,
Melissa
Melissa,
See my situation below. Just evict this woman. Show her the Innkeepers Act and say you are done. Call non emergency police and explain the situation. They will send a unit to escort her out of the house if she does not go on her own.
Trust me, it is not worth the stress to tolerate manipulative people. Careful that you do not absorb her feelings and sob story as your own feelings. Your tenant will likely continue to project her issues onto you.
I have lost a considerable amount of cash with the last one I evicted due to lost rent, stolen food and damages to the room. Ya know what? My health, impacted by stress is far more important than a 1000 bucks.
You will make the money back on the next renter.
I can tell you want her out. Remember those are your feelings. Don’t absorb her feelings and assume they are your own.
Good luck
Great advice Jason, you’re a fast learner!
Bill
Hey Melissa,
I have to agree with Jason, you need to get rid of her. The stress of having to wait and deal with her isn’t worth it.If she wants a free ride there are programs at the drop in centre where she can stay for free. It’s disappointing, but so many people are simply out there to take what they can get and you are allowing her to get away with this.
You’re trying to be nice and responsible and you end up being the b*tch, it’s not right. I just went through a similar circumstance where I helped someone out and then they expected that to be the norm. When I set rules in stone, I became the jerk and was told “thanks for nothing” when I kicked him out.
Stick by your guns, give her written notice that you fall under the Innkeeper’s Act and that she has 24 hours to pay all the outstanding rent in full or vacate. If you want to be exceedingly nice give her until the 15th, where the cycle will just continue and you will end up frustrated and unhappy with her anyway.
You can find the free program on screening tenants here,
Regards,
Bill
Hi Bill,
I’ve read numerous articles and posts on your website prior to deciding to rent out a room in my house, and I wanted to let you know that it helped me decide to go ahead with finding a tenant. I do have a 10 page room rental agreement which clearly states the requirements, expectations, and rules regarding renting the room in my house. The bedroom being rented is on the 2nd floor of my house (my room is down the hall), and the kitchen, living rooms, laundry, etc are shared, so I know that the Residential Tenancies Act does not apply to my situation. I even made the tenant aware of this at the time of signing, as the Room Rental Agreement clearly states that “the Landlord and the Tenant both acknowledge that this Room Rental Agreement is not governed by the Alberta Residential Tenancies Act”. The tenant was provided a copy of the Room Rental Agreement and I’ve kept both the original and two color photocopies as back ups. The agreement also has sections stating the conditions regarding termination by notice (one month required) and termination by breach (effective at noon the day after the notice is issued).
So here is my problem: I’ve now had a tenant for going on 7 months, who recently gave me his one month notice (verbally – I’m not sure if this is going to be a problem, but I do have two witnesses to him stating that he was providing his one month notice of termination). Prior to him giving his notice I didn’t really have any problems with this tenant, and he always respected my rules. The tenant did not keep his room very tidy, but as it did not affect my personal life and because he kept his door closed, it was never a problem and I did warn him that if the mess resulted in damages it would come out of the damage deposit (all this is clearly stated in the agreement); However, in the Room Rental Agreement there is also a clause stating “the Tenant agrees the keep the Accommodations reasonably clean”. The problems have started in the less than three weeks since the tenant has given his notice, and he has rapidly progressed from a fairly decent tenant to someone who is blatantly not adhering to several of the conditions stated within the Room Rental Agreement. At first it was little things, like parking in a way that blocked my vehicles from leaving my driveway after I politely asked him to park in a way that left room for my car (he also ignored and did not responding to my requests). Then a week ago the tenant asked to have some friends over and said he’d be quiet as it was a work night, however, after I politely requested them to be quiet, they didn’t improve and I asked him to send his friends home as it was late.
But the major problem happened today and I want to know what I can do. When the tenant gave his notice, I very politely informed him that he would need to clean his room for the times when I needed to show the room to prospective new tenants. However, yesterday, when I sent him a polite text asking him to clean his room a bit so I could show the place to someone the next day, I did not receive a response (The reason I sent a text was because this tenant is often not home several nights a week and this has been the usual means of communication between us over the past 6+ months when he is not home). When I got home from work, my spouse told me that the tenant had said that I couldn’t show the room because he didn’t want me to and because he wasn’t going to be there. The tenant was home but was “sleeping” (he ignored my knocks at the door, yet the TV in his room was clearly ON) so if he wanted to discuss the situation he could have spoken with me. I referred to the Entry by Landlord section of the Room Rental Agreement, which states “the landlord must give the Tenant 24 hours written notice to enter the Tenant’s Accommodations to show the premises to prospective tenants, if the Tenant or Landlord has provided notice to end this agreement”. So I decided to issue the formal 24 hour written and included the specific viewing time and included the date and time of issue (plus it was witnessed as well). The notice stated that the room should be prepared in an reasonably clean state for the viewing. The tenant didn’t say anything to me all day until tonight when he sent a text about an 1 hour before the viewing and said that he wasn’t going to be home and that he didn’t want the room to be shown. I told him that the Room Rental Agreement does not specify that he needs to be there to show a room and that I had upheld my part of the contract and agreement by providing 24 hrs written notice. I offered to provide him with another copy of the agreement if he needed it for clarification, to which he declined the offer. He then told me that the room wasn’t going to be clean. When I opened the door to show the room this evening the carpet was nearly completely covered with VERY dirty laundry (so covered that the door didn’t open all the way), there was an overflowing bag of garbage all over the floor and several dirty dishes all over the room. The room is definitely in a far worse state than it has been in the previous 6+ months.
So my question now is what should I do considering my tenant is, A) not preparing the room in a reasonably clean state for viewing by prospective tenants after he’s provided his one month notice of termination, and B) trying to prevent me from showing the place to prospective tenants even after I provided him with the necessary documents and notifications.
I do have a Termination by Breach section in the Room Rental Agreement, which states that in the event of a breach “the party who did not commit a breach may end this agreement by giving written notice of termination”. The notice of termination is effective at noon the day after issue. Would this situation qualify as a breach of the Room Rental Agreement contract considering the accommodations are not being kept “reasonably clean” or am I being unreasonable? Should I issue a warning that the accommodations must be cleaned within a certain amount of time and provide 24 hr written notice of an inspection? He is scheduled to move out in less than 15 days so is it worth the potential hassle? I can say that it definitely affected the room viewing for the prospective tenant tonight, so if he keeps this up it could result in a loss of rental income if I don’t find a new tenant because the room is filthy.
Please let me know what you think of this situation as it is rapidly becoming worse and I don’t know what to do. I’m quite young and this is the first tenant I’ve ever had, and I want to deal with this in the correct and legal way. I did weeks of research prior to bringing in a tenant and even based my Room Rental Agreement off of one provided by the Alberta Government as a guide, so I’m trying really hard to do everything the correct way.
Hi Frustrated, I feel your frustration.
The only real leverage you have at the moment is his security deposit and any future references he may require. Not making the room available and and preventing you from showing are kind of vague as far as breaches go. Non-payment, threats, damage they are pretty cut and dry, this could be debated he wasn’t able to get things cleaned, he wasn’t feeling well or a myriad of easy to make up lies or false reasons.
So back to leveraging his deposit.
Make it very clear to him that if he leaves the room a mess, all or a portion of his deposit will be withheld to cover repairs and cleaning. Also make him aware if he makes it difficult to show the property you may withhold a portion of his rent to cover lost rent and for additional advertising expenses that you incurred.
Finally make him aware that you do not have to return his deposit the day he moves out. You have ten days to return it to him along with a statement for the repairs and clean up required. This is actually a Residential Tenancy Act rule, but under the Innkeeper’s Act it doesn’t explicitly say how quickly deposits are to be returned, so often it defaults o the RTA when it isn’t clear.
He could try to fight it in court, but it would take seven to ten days to get a hearing, if not longer and he would have the deposit or what is left back by then. If he gets any back.
The leverage you have is if the room is kept clean, made available for showings and in the same condition when he leaves as when he moves in, his deposit would be available the day he leaves.
If the deposit is too small it may not make much difference, but hopefully he desires his money enough that it gives you the leverage you need.
Let me know how it works out,
Bill
Boooo why do we all have such problems with tenants? I hope this gets sorted out, Bill is a smart man – and is quickly becoming one of my most favourite people for his willingness to help us folks without asking anything in return!
Personally, I was wondering if you were willing to share a copy of this room rental agreement… pretty please? I need a better one, clearly the one I’m using doesn’t cover all my bases and I am definitely too far up sh*t creek financially from my useless tenant to afford a lawyer to draft one for me… and yours sounds pretty darn fancy!
Thank you!
Hi Melissa,
Part of the problem is we expect people to have the same standards as ourselves. Unfortunately this isn’t the case and we set our expectations to high. Now this isn’t the case every time as I have dozens of great tenants, but every time you have a great tenant you start believing they should all be like that, yet they aren’t.
As for my agreement, I normally charged $75 for my full rooming house package that I sold to people just starting out. Why don’t you use the handy little donation button down the right side and make a small $20 donation to the site and I’ll set you up and also provide you some extra info to help you out. Would that work?
It’s definitely way less than the $2000 plus per hour will charge!
Bill
I never saw this Bill! Sorry for the lack of reply… I missed it somehow?
I will gladly donate $20 to you, the documents are a HUGE BONUS and you are awesome THANK YOUUUU!!!!! I need as much help as I can get going forward here, you are the greatest source for answers I have found and I appreciate it all, so very much!!!! 🙂
Hey Melissa,
No problem, it took me a couple days to respond originally! Thank you for contributing to the growth of the site, I sent you an email yesterday with everything you need, plus some bonus stuff to thank you!
Bill
Could you address how the innkeeper’s act might be applied to a ‘romantic relationship breakdown’?
My dad has wanted to end his relationship with his girlfriend for many years. He asked me to move back home for a while to support him in finally making this happen.
He and I own the house, she has been living here with him on and off for years, this latest stint has been about 2 years. She doesn’t have a lease and doesn’t pay rent, she pays a few bills and has this address on her driver’s license.
What is the shortest amount of notice we can give her to move out?
On whose side do you think the cops would land if we wanted them to come by and help enforce the innkeepers act (if it even applies)?
In lieu of escorting her off the property, can we just change the locks while she’s out?
What about her things?
Are domestic situations regulated by these ACTS or are they a different monster entirely?
She is a very disagreeable person and astonishingly irrational, and dad is an elderly cancer survivor and can’t handle stress and conflict anymore. She won’t listen to reason so a simple conversation will have no effect.
I’d like to have her surgically removed from his life as swiftly as possible, please let me know how the act can help me out. Thank-you so much.
Hi Dreamy,
Unfortunately in a situation like yours you will fall outside of both the residential Tenancy Act and the Innkeeper’s Act as this will likely be deemed a family issue. Since the girlfriend has resided with your father for a couple years, I believe that makes them common law at this point and all the rules change.
Now, I’m not an expert in that area, but from my understanding it precludes a straight eviction and will probably require the help of an actual lawyer to sift through this. There are ramifications of spousal support, shared assets and the list goes on. Again, I’m not familiar with these rules other than to know they preclude evictions under either act.
Hope that points you in a direction,
Bill
Sad Face.
I will keep you posted if I’m able to use the innkeeper’s act to my advantage for some reason.
Thanks anyways!
I am renting out two rooms in my home. We definitely fall under the innkeepers act. I have a question about refunding a deposit for a room. We had listed our room rentals and I had shown the rooms to many potential tenants. One of the people that I chose to rent the room came and paid a portion of the rent/deposit and was going to move in the next day. He then contacted me saying that his situation has changed and he wants his money back or he won’t give back the keys. I now have to scramble to find other tenants to fill this rental…do I actually need to give him his money back? I’m very frustrated as he has left me in a position that I wasn’t expecting.
Thanks.
Hi Rona,
What’s the right thing to do? That’s the big question. In this case you are incurring extra time and expense to re-rent the space, but is it worth the whole deposit he paid? Perhaps refund a portion and keep a portion, explaining that because he backed out you’ll be out money and time.
If you don’t refund, and he still has the keys, what will your expenses be to replace/rekey the current locks? Maybe thee is a middle road for this?
The valuable lesson from this is that in the future the tenants won’t receive the keys until the full rent is paid and the full deposit. Or they have to be made fully aware that the initial payment they make is against the rent, not necessarily a deposit and thus not refundable if they back out.
Does that make sense?
Bill
I moved into a place with the understanding im protected under the landlord tenant act what is the point in having the said act if landlords now are protected under the inn keeper act? I pay 600 a month and it wasn’t until after I paid my landlord that now apparently she can kick me out and keep my money over what ever she feels like doing? if I don’t do her home renovations for free im evicted? if I don’t clean her house (areas were not allowed in) im kicked out she can make up any rule she feels like making up at that exact given time and if I don’t follow it im homeless and broke that’s not right, she can access my rented room at any time she feels, what happened to protecting renters from corrupt landlords now im in a situation where im scared to come home because I don’t even know if I have a home to comehome too or if she is going to pop up another rule that I just cant do… many people will say just move but how do you move when she refuses to give u back your security deposit and rent everywhere is thousands of dolars just in the first month, the house has black mold everywhere she comes into my room everyday I am at work and snoops threw my stuff ive had stuff go missing,,, she phoned the police on me due to me having a smoke in the back yard while letting my dog out for a pee and told the cops I had a gun, the cops showed up in a hurry to learn I did NOT have a gun but yet there was nothing I could do and if she told me to leave I have to,,, so she can make up any damn story and im evicted without any proof without any fight? without any chance?
Hi Jason,
There’s a big difference between renting a room out in a property and sharing common areas versus renting out a self contained suite and that is where the difference between the Residential Tenancy Act and the Innkeeper’s Act. If the landlord lives in the premises and you’re renting a room complete with common areas like a kitchen and living room that are shared, you fall under the Innkeeper’s Act.
Of course this does leave an opening for abuse, but the other end of the spectrum is the same can be done by tenants under the Residential Tenancy Act. Is your landlord currently asking you to do home renovations? Or cleaning her house? Obviously you need to clean up after yourself, but you shouldn’t have to clean up after everyone.
You do have avenues to get any deposits back, after the fact of being evicted, but there are still avenues. As for giving your security deposit back, you may just need to attempt to save up more to move on, again there are avenues to retrieve your deposits, although it involves the courts.
The world isn’t perfect and people use that to their advantage, in the meantime we have to make the systems we have in place work. In your situation, it’s going to be very important to document everything, especially if you believe she will try to “pull something”.
Ultimately she still needs a reason to evict you, she can evict you illegally and you can fight it after the fact to most likely retrieve any deposits or outstanding money, but you’ll need a solid set of evidence plus money to live off in the meantime. In the end, you most likely wouldn’t want to go back anyway, so make getting out your priority.
Probably not the answer you were hoping for, but as I said there has to be a balance somewhere,
Bill
my room is in the basement I am NOT allowed in the rest of the house unless im coming or going, im allowed access to a hot plate downstairs but i was clearly told that i am not allowed to watch tv in the basement common area i am not allowed anywhere upstairs or the backyard (even tho she told me im allowed to cuz i have a dog when i first moved in) so if im not allowed anywhere in the house other then my room then how is it shared acommidations? she demands me to do renovations to her house and threatends to kick me out if i do not do them and the cleaning of the house is in all the areas i am not allowed in unless im cleaning her stuff once im done its access denied, she seems to be playing both acts depending on what suits her such as what is the legal grounds as far as i MUST give 30 days notice if i am moving out but yet she can keep my deposit and kick me out on a moments notice backed up by lies? she just had health inspecters here today and failed horribly (mold, lack of heating rott hoarding feeding wild animals, turning her garage into a wild animal feeding ground) the inspecters told me this is DEFFINTLY a landlord tenant act but she and apparently your critera states otherwise, i have read up on both acts and i am very concerned as to why there is no defendability to the tenants ??? wasn’t the landlord tenant act brought to be to protect these exact things that i am facing?
if what defines innkeepers act is the fact that there is common areas that are shared what if your not allowed anywhere but your rented room? and am i not protected in anyway?
i have tried moving out and i almost succeded but i got robbed at gun point of the money i have and now im in a situation where i cannot come up with damage deposit and rent to get out of here i feel traped and am panicking
Hi Jason,
It definitely sounds like she is abusing the situation and taking advantage of you. Bottom line, you need to find a different place.Also, just to clarify, while she can kick you out illegally and retain your security deposit illegally, you can fight to get them back.
With the knowledge of the poor health inspection, you also have additional leverage if you go to court. Just make sure you document everything so you have accurate records.
As to defendability of the tenants, the Acts cover different situations. One was based off of Inn’s originally where people took guests into their property and the other was based on renting out properties. They both have their flaws and they both have people that take advantage of them from both the landlord and tenant side, and it sound slike that is what this person does, so you need to figure out soem way to get out.
Regards,
Bill
Hi Bill,
So my former lodger who I was able to get escorted out of my home by the police is suing me for the rent for the 10 days, I was unable to find someone to rent to for the 10 days but did get someone for the 15th of October what are my chances if I decide to defend this suit I had already issued her the Damage deposit. What is your opinion Bill, thank you in advance
Hi Wila,
It may come down to showing she was a nuisance and cost you time and money due to her lack of cleanliness and having to evict her. In my previous reply I talked about making sure you documented everything and it may come down to this documentation.
If you have pictures of the mess left behind, if you can show you cleaned up as quickly as possible and that you tried re-renting as soon as possible you shouldn’t have to refund the 10 days. If she hadn’t created an environment where she was evicted, you wouldn’t have been short those ten days, so some of the onus is on her.
Now it just depends on how the judge feels and whether you were fair and can back it all up.
Let us know how it turns out,
Bill
Hey Bill
Our Tenant from hell moved out yesterday but took some things that didn’t belong to him. Short of having him charged with theft can we use the damage deposit to replace the items? We have receipts for everything he took.
Hi Sticky,
If you have receipts, and can verify he took them, you can deduct the costs from the security deposit, but you need to provide him an itemized statement detailing what any deductions are for. He does have the right to dispute this, so depending on the costs be prepared to provide all your backup documents, just in case.
Bill
Thank you Bill for your response!
Hi again Bill! You may remember me from a few weeks ago with the issue of keeping the security deposit of my former subtenant because she damaged the walls and my area rugs?
Well! Turns out the next roommate isn’t exactly reliable. See… she texted me yesterday to tell me that she is moving out this weekend as her daughter is supposedly moving here from Ontario sooner than planned. Speculation tells me that she’s moving in with her boyfriend as she has only spent maybe 3 nights here since beginning of September.
Regardless… the subtenant form she signed says she agrees to the rules of the lease – lease outlines that there must be 30 days notice. She wants me to use her damage deposit as rent for October, I’ve told her no that’s not how this works… you actually have to pay rent for October and I will return your deposit when you’ve vacated.
Her stuff is going to be here probably for the next couple days – am I allowed to change the locks and hold her belongings “captive” (for lack of a better word)until she pays me October rent? Even though it’s not October yet? I recall reading something about this in the Innkeepers Act but I do not have time to go back through it right now and I figured you would probably have a better way of explaining in layman’s terms 🙂
Thank you for any advice you can offer!!
Hi mel,
I believe I do recall you, or at least part of it Mel.
You have to remember, you fall under the Innkeeper’s Act versus the Residential Tenancies Act and while there is some cross over, there are also differences. The tenant definitely can’t use their damage deposit for rent, that’s first and foremost. I would suggest giving her written notice that this is not acceptable and that if October’s rent isn’t paid by midnight Oct 1st (or pick your time, you may want to give until noon on the 2nd), that she will be evicted immediately.
I’d then explain you fall under the Innkeeper’s Act rather than the Residential Tenancies Act and this allows you to immediately take actions to do this. Explain this could result in locks being changed, and additional charges and expenses potentially going against her.
By showing her you are serious hopefully it changes her mind.
The other side of the coin is, the Innkeeper’s Act doesn’t specify time frames for notices of tenants leaving.You may not be able to hold her to paying the full month of October. More realistically with the tight rental market you should be able to find space much quicker than a full month and potentially only a few days, which means it’s wrong to charge for the whole month and you may be able to only charge for a couple days on a pro-rated basis.
You do have it in your lease, but even by referring to it as a lease your hedging your bets as that is a Residential Tenancies term and now your straddling both sides of the rules again.
Bottom line, first step is to make sure she knows you’re serious, second step make sure she knows using the security deposit as rent is not an option, third step either confirm she is moving October 1st so you can make appropriate plans or staying and then you can plan for November!
hope that helped,
Bill
Hi Bill,
Your website offers excellent accurate information thank you for taking time to help us out. Due the information I gathered from it I was able to succcefully call the police and showed them the Innkeepers act and immediately they escorted my troublesome lady out. She was in disbelief that she could be removed without notice at all. Anyway I am holding on to her damage deposit because among other things she was using an electrical kettle in the room to make coffee and the carpet is full of stains. I’m getting a quote to steam clean it and I am hoping to deduct that from the Damage deposit. Please give me your opinion in this, since she was removed on the 20th of the month and having paid up to the end of the month do I have to refund her the remaining 10 days from her rent? Can I go ahead and subtract the carpet cleaning amount from her DD and include the receipt. Lastly how long do I have before returning her damage deposit after her removal? Thank you in advance for your input.
Hi Wila,
Well thank you! I’m glad the information here was helpful. I’m also glad the police were able to help you out. Depending on the officer and the situation sometimes they aren’t quite as helpful. Because the Innkeeper’s Act seems to be a bit of a gray area for them, they often confuse it with the Residential Tenancies Act and won’t escort people off the property.
There is nothing broken down under the Innkeeper’s Act regarding damage deposits, but a best practice is to provide statements to them for any repairs or cleaning along with any deductions. In your case, even though she paid until the end of the month, the cleanup and restart will take several days. Due to this you won’t be able to rent during this time period and this was directly due to her, so I wouldn’t necessarily refund any of it.
She may come after you via the courts, so make sure you document everything as backup. Definitely deduct the cost of the steam cleaning as well. The onus will be on you to get the property back to rentable shape as quickly as possible and with ten days until the beginning of the month from the time the eviction took place, That should be plenty of time.
If you did get it back up and running and actually put a tenant in early, I would consider refunding a few days back to the previous tenant. Having said that if you could prove you had to pay additional advertising expenses to get the property filled you could deduct that as a reasonable expense from her security deposit. If you use free services like Kijiji and Craigslist hwoever, don’t expect to do this.
Again as the rules for deposits are a bit vague under the Innkeeper’s Act, I default to the RTA rules and try to get deposits/statements back within ten days of their leaving or sooner as a best practice.
Hope this helps!
Bill
P.S. If you are interested in learning to screen incoming tenants, I offer a free screening course over at http://www.TheEducatedLandlord.com. It’s available down the right side of the page.
Hi Bill,
I’ve been renting a room for about 4 weeks now. Within the first two weeks the home owner, Margaret had been going into my room without permission. She would tell me afterwards that she had been there for odd things like killing the wasps on my balcony and closing windows when it rained. At the beginning of my lease she said she would never go in my room unless there was an emergency. She has since been there four times that I know of.
Recently, about two weeks ago I told her how uncomfortable I was and that I planned to move out. I began my lease during the last week of August and I told her she had until Nov. 1 and then I was out.
Here is where we differ. I feel like she broke our verbal agreement and therefore broke the lease and I should not have to pay rent if she can not find someone else to rent to. She feels like since I signed a lease and apologized that I am still on the hook. Who’s right? Thanks in advance!
Ruth
Hi Ruth,
As a tenant you should expect a certain level of privacy and this landlady seems to have certainly passed that expectation. Whether that specifically gives you the right to break the lease though is a bit of a grey area in your situation.
Under the Residential tenancy’s Act it is pretty cut and dried, your landlord could face some fairly serious fines for breaching the rules of the RTA and entering your space without proper notice. Under the Innkeeper’s Act (where it appears you fit under), the laws and rules are a bit more nebulous. They don’t specifically lay out notice times and entrance rules, but again her coming in fairly regular would be beyond acceptable practice.
The other issue at hand is the verbal agreement, while binding verbal agreements are harder to prove than signed agreements. Which leads us back to expected privacy levels. You’re paying for a room, you expect some privacy.
Since you do fall under the Innkeeper’s Act, your recourse is through the courts and after the fact, so you will need to put up a strong front and explain to the lady what your plans are. In this case, provide her with written documentation (that you can use if you have to go to court later) explaining your stance.
Break down that you felt she broke the expectations of privacy and as such breached your terms of renting with her and that due to this you are moving out. Explain that this is directly related to her actions and because of this you expect that you are not liable for November’s rent and if she retains any damage deposit or security deposit in an attempt to cover tNovember’s rent, you will take her to court to recover it.
If you provide her with this and show you are serious about coming after her if necessary, it may cause her to reconsider keeping any of your money. On the other side, you cannot provide her any excuse to retain any of it for damages or a mess left behind. I would suggest going the extra mile and making sure your completely clean the space even better than when you arrived and then take photos as evidence.
Yes this will help her rent it faster (and you can explain this to her), but it also shows you are trying to do the right thing which will go a long way if you do end up in court. Bottom line be prepared to go to court if necessary, but do everything to show you tried to work with her and she is the problem.
Hope that helps,
Bill
I’ve read the Inn Keepers Act and am wondering how you interpret that to read that you do not required any notice to evict. Is this all under section 9?
We have the tenant from hell. We did not know about the innkeepers act and have written our agreement using the RTA as a guideline. Then after the agreement was in place I read the last part of the RTA where it states it does not apply if the Landlord resides in the same residence. The tenant rents a room and shares the common area so I feel we still fall under the innkeepers act even though the agreement is in place. The tenant has given us notice that he will vacate on Sept 30 but if for some reason doesn’t leave can I still site the Innkeepers Act and have him removed by police? I have another tenant waiting for the space.
Morning Sticky,
With any eviction, you at least require a reason, so that’s the starting point. In this case since you appear to fall under the Innkeeper’s Act and the tenant has informed you they are leaving at the end of the month, you’ve taken steps to bring someone else in. If they stay past the 30th, you would be able to evict them in this case for overholding.
Since the Innkeeper’s Act doesn’t use exactly the same rules as the RTA, you can evict them on the spot. This is similar to a hotel where a guests stay is up and a new guest is arriving.
You do run into complications when you try to run both sets of rules, but the IA is in effect as long as the landlord lives there and there is shared common space like kitchens and living rooms. If the shared common space is laundry or a landing, then you are back under the RTA.
I’d advise the tenant that since you fall under the Innkeeper’s Act, if he isn’t out by the time you have both established on the 30th, you will be changing the locks and any attempt to access the property by him at that point will be seen as trespassing and/or break and enter for which you will charge him.
If for any reason he wishes to fight this, unlike the RTA, under the Innkeeper’s Act you can kick him out now and he has to go through the courts to fight back, which often isn’t worth it for most people.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hi Bill,
Just thought I would update you as to my situation. I came home a few days ago to find all my clothes in the driveway and the locks changed, but after consulting with the R.C.M.P. I was told I had every right to be on the property seeing as my rent was paid and I had done nothing wrong. After finding a way back into the house and changing the locks back to the original ones for which we all had a key I settled back in for the night. I was awakened by police at 3:30am. They were informing me that the landlord was coming to collect some things and would be spending the night elsewhere. It was actually because of her insistence for a police escort that proved her undoing. She had refused to provide police with the name and contact information of the owner and they noted the less than acceptable condition of the house when they brought her here. Long story short, they contacted the owner who had no idea she was sub-letting and she had not obtained his permission to do so and also informed him of what she has been doing.
As a result the owner has taken legal action to have her immediately evicted and has offer the property to us. I realize that your website/forum is geared more toward landlords with problem tenants, but in my case by utilizing the information you provided I was able to prevail in my situation as a tenant being wronged by a landlord.
Thank you so much,
Dee
Hi Bill… AMAZING website I am so happy I found you, the laws are so confusing about all of this.
Quick rundown of my situation.
Had a girlfriend of mine move in with me (bad call, I get it now hahaha) as a sublease. It was verbal, we had no official agreement in place aside from discussions.
She broke the house rules (strange men off the internet spending the night… surprisingly I like the idea of not having my house robbed or being murdered by a stranger… weird right?), lacked hygiene, her dog was filthy (smelled awful, scratched the doors, etc.).
I told her she needed to move out – even gave her a months notice. She pushed it to Sept 1… now I was out of town on the long weekend but I had a girlfriend of mine go through and take pictures about 2 hours after she had moved out.
She had installed a bunch of things on the walls that she never had permission to, the patching and spot-painting is TERRIBLE. The walls were near perfect when she moved in. The bedroom door is MDF with that wood grainy look … dog scratched the crap out of the back of it, she “patched” it but it looks terrible and I had a painter come by for an estimate and he said they can’t repair it so it will ultimately need to be replaced.
Due to her dog’s foul smell, shedding, everything – I need my area rugs cleaned, I have deodorized and they are still smelly 🙁
My questions are:
1) Area rugs – I got some quotes, do I HAVE to get them cleaned when it would probably be the same to replace them? This doesn’t fall under regular “cleaning” does it?
2) Is she entitled to receipts for deductions off her damage deposit or are estimates/quotes good enough? The new subtenant doesn’t want me to fix and paint right now, but the damage will ultimately need to be fixed or it will be deducted off MY damage deposit
3) It looks like she will probably end up owing me money which I am not nearly dumb enough to think I will ever get back. However – how long do I have to return the remainder of her deposit?
I just want my bases covered here, she seems to think I should be responsible for the damages she caused because I encouraged her to move here from Saskatoon and asked her to move out a month after she was here.
Now our 8-year friendship is over – I just want to make sure that legally, my quotes that I have received are sufficient enough.
And that ginormous half-arsed patched holes in the wall, on the bulkhead and replacement of a door is not considered “regular wear and tear”… especially considering this was only in two months of tenancy.
Please advise and thank you in advance!!
Hey Melissa,
I’m glad you found us too!
First thing I’d recommend if you try this again is to get some sort of agreement in place on paper. It at least gives you better ground to stand on in case things fall apart again.
Here are my thoughts on your questions in order;
1) I’m assuming they are your area rugs, rather than the landlords. If so, and you can replace them as cost effectively as getting them professionally cleaned, then you should be fine.
2) Number 1 overlaps here as you should provide her with a detailed breakdown of any deductions from the deposit she left you. Back to point one, if the replacement rugs are $200 each and the cleaning would have been $100 , well you better have it all documented. If the rugs are $50 and cleaning would have been $50 it is harder for her to fight back through the courts.
This breakdown doesn’t have to include receipts, but if you feel she’ll ask for them to verify everything it wouldn’t hurt to include them, it just makes your position stronger.
3) You’re correct, it’s not going to be worth it to try and get anything else owed, it has officially become a life lesson for you. You sort of fall in that grey in-between category where there may not be specific rules. You are sort of under the Innkeeper’s Act as you are renting a room to her, but you have no agreement, so is she really subletting, or should she be on your lease along with you? Rather than guess, it’s probably best to default to the Residential Tenancy Act which states you need to send the tenant their refund within ten days of them moving out , this can also include the statement showing any deductions. Since it’s the 11th today, you better get cracking if she moved out on the 1st.
The excessive wear is definitely beyond normal and it already sounds like you are well aware that you will be on the hook for it. If you’re handy (or want to learn to be), you may want to consider doing the repairs yourself to save money, but you might want to inform the landlord about it. This can be tricky as some may take offence with you subletting, some may take offence with your tenant damaging their property, while others may be fine, or may even volunteer their handyman or their own services to repair. It will all depend on your relationship with them.
hope this helps,
Bill
Hi Bill!
Thanks for such a quick response!
There’s no money remaining from her deposit, in fact just the painting quote alone is more than her deposit. I am working on the letter right now advising her of the costs for everything, which I will email to her today with copies of the quotes for everything. If that’s not sufficient then I will tell her to consult a lawyer, there’s no arguing professional quotations.
I did advise my landlord… she was not supposed to be on the lease with me, I have written permission from my landlord to have my tenant in there so I can keep sole responsibility for the place (the rental market is AWFUL in Calgary right now, the last thing I want is to have to give up my place because I have an unreliable or problematic roommate). They were unhappy with the damage (no doubt) but they trust me to take care of these things so that’s good.
I would like to repair the damage myself, however I do not have the time to do so with two jobs and a business to run.
On that note – what sort of things should a sublease agreement say in it? As far as I’ve found elsewhere, a sublease agreement is really not worth the paper it’s written on unless you go to court and even then there are many holes to be found in it… so I haven’t bothered with this new tenant, I just took a full month’s rent for damage deposit in case damage becomes an issue again
Thanks again!!
It’s all timing Melissa, it came in while I was at my desk…
Again, technically you could be renting the room out under the Innkeeper’s Act. This changes many of the rules as you no longer go by the Residential Tenancy Act. You’ll just want something in writing from the landlord that this is ok.
In the case of a sublease, the sublease rules have to fall under the main leases rules, so you just have to watch that.
Bill
Thank you so much
Thanks Bill
We are in Okotoks, Alberta. In addition to all of the issues I’ve mentioned, I went in the basement for the first time in a week and found puddles of urine and piles of crap from her dog…..as well as an overflowing cat litter box and the cats have now started using the floor (apparently they have higher standards than their owner). I think I will call the Health authority and the owner of the property and take my chances. I work Monday to Saturday 14hrs a day so can you direct me to a website in which I can find out who the legal owner of the property is?
Thanks
Hi Dee,
I sent you an email with some suggestions.
Bill
Hey Bill.
I am a sublet tenant. My boyfriend and I moved into a house with the understanding that the lease holder was going out of town for a month and we would be subletting for that month only. On three different occasions before we moved in she was quite specific about her travel plans and where she was going. We did sign an agreement which also served as a receipt stating that we were only renting for the month and we were willing to follow “reasonable requests” and house hold rules. (although none were specifically outlined in the agreement). within a few days of paying rent and deposit and moving in it became apparent that she is not going anywhere. I have since found out that she has not worked in a year and I believe that she purposely mis-represented the living arrangement to get the money she needed to pay rent to the owner of the property. further it is starting to became obvious she is a nut case. she changes rules daily and makes ridiculous requests. also in the agreement we are renting a specific personal space of the home and she still has is littered with her belongings 8 days after we moved. She has had other people in the house prior and it is sounding like these situations ended badly and she has been purposely making it impossible to have a harmonious environment so she can force people out and keep deposits. the state of the house is a shame, it is a heritage house and the owner lives in another province and has not been here in a few years and I am sure not only that he has no idea she rents rooms but if he new the state in which his property has fallen he would have a stroke. In short, she is nuts, deceived us as to the situation, there is a bug infestation she will not deal with and refuses to let me use any kind of spray to remedy, she has cats here that were supposed to be going with her and the smell of the litter box is enough to knock you on ur ass when you walk in the door, not to mention they climb all over the counters, stove and food areas in general. between that and the bugs I think I have a health standard issue here as well. I have found a new place to move into for the 1st of next month but i don’t trust her not to pull something before then and I can’t afford a hotel for three weeks. If I can prove she deceived us and is impossible to co-exist with can I make her reimburse rent and deposit and pay for a hotel till our condo is ready….Please help….she is crazy!!!
Hi Dee,
It does indeed sound like this lady is really working the system. You may have some legal options to pursue her for misrepresentation, but with the majority of legal issues, the costs will far outweigh what you will get back in return.
Priority number 1 will be to get out of where you are. What city or where in the province are you located?
Edmonton has a pretty aggressive health authority, perhaps the threat of reporting her may be enough to have her leave you alone for a couple weeks? Not sure if you want to stay in that environment anyway. Additionally you could try and contact the owner of the property, or at least advise the lease holder you will be doing so in an effort to obtain some space.
If you do vacate early just to get away, you may have avenues to go after her in small claims court. Since this is going to be around $2,000 or less, I would be very upfront with a lawyer if you use one, or consider going after her yourself.
You wouldn’t likely end up with any additional funds to cover hotels or reimbursement costs (that’s only in the US and only on TV apparently), but it may be necessary to get your security deposit and potentially a partial refund.
Hopefully some of these ideas help.
Bill
So if I live and own my house and I decide to rent a room out to a friend of mine. Then next month comes up and she don’t pay rent when it’s due. I can legally kick her out on the spot?
Hi Matt,
In the broad sense of the rules, yes.
I guess the biggest difference between the Residential Tenancy Act and the Innkeeper’s Act is that under the RTA, you have to prove they have breached the lease and then you have to follow a procedure to get them out.
Under the Innkeeper’s Act, they breach the agreement, you kick them out and then they can come back after you through the courts later to get costs, damages or other expenses reimbursed if you’re found to have breached their rights.
This is not a legal interpretation of either, just an outside looking in type view of it and their are other areas that come into play with where and how people fit under each Act.
Now the actual act of kicking your example out in this situation might be a bit more of a challenge, but from your example you would have rights to kick her out.
Bill
Hi Bill,
I have recently been sent out of town for a couple months for work and have been notified that I am to supply my own housing in the other town. I have found a room to rent in a home and everything seems ok but I was wondering if you had any tips on protecting myself? The hotels in the area are full so the only other option is renting a room or driving back and forth every day (which is a 2 hr commute so I am not particularly fond of that idea). I am very aware of the Innkeeper’s Act and the Landlord and tenant act as I own property that falls under both acts and have been acting as a “Landlord” for years, but never as a tenant.
My prospective landlord says that she has been doing it for years as well and has never signed anything on paper and was hesitant when I asked if we could do a sort of written document. She seems like a decent person BUT I of course you can’t fully know a person in a short interview. We would fall under the Innkeeper’s Act because she does live on the property.
Any advice you could offer would be great.
Hi Ashley,
Not having written agreements is a huge annoyance for me as a landlord. In your case though, it forms some extra protection as there is nothing signed you have committed to.
Ideally the landlord would have to prove your verbal agreement has any clauses you agreed to. This leaves the door open for you as the onus is on her. The Innkeeper’s Act is slanted towards the Innkeeper or landlord and while you don’t have options through services like the RTDRS you do have options through small claims court to recover any money if something does go down hill.
My thoughts for you are to make sure you get clearly written receipts for any money that transfers hands, either via cash, check or even email transfers. If she has any posted rules somewhere in the property take some pictures with your camera in case you ever need to refer back to them if for some reason you get evicted.
Most likely everything will be fine, but document everything in a journal somewhere, especially any interactions with her or other tenants that may somehow affect your tenancy, any rules etc. This is your fall back if anything needs ot be looked at later.
Hope that gives you some ideas,
Bill
Hi Bill,
I am leasing a townhouse and I rent out a room in my house this month. There is no written agreement in place but all the rules were mentioned to him clearly from day 1 about keeping the place clean and tidy and not to have too many unwanted visitors. He hasn’t kept the place clean despite me bringing it to his attention several times and even called an escort to my residence which is strictly unacceptable to me. Also, he is a disturbance to my fellow neighbors and they have complained to me about him speaking very loud in the house as well while he walking in the common areas of the townhouse property. There have been complaints about him leaving the password secured fence gate open while walking in and out through it, which is not acceptable by the condo board. I called the cops and they almost forced me to come to a resolution that I should give him 30 days to stay and then he would leave or else they would come and help me. But, since that time too he behavior towards me is arrogant and he doesn’t keep the washroom and kitchen clean and the left the gate of the fence open again. Can I get the cops to get him to evict my place immediately as he is not ready to vacate my house before September 30th.
Your urgent response and suggestion would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Hi Marshall,
It sounds like it definitely isn’t going o work out, so better to hurry it along than wait.
In your situation, sharing common areas and landlord living in the property, it sure sounds like you fit right into the Innkeeper’s Act. Due to this you have significantly more power than regular landlords, but you can’t always find the help you need.
The police have to walk a fine line as civil and criminal law goes and the Residential Tenancy act falls under the civil areas, as does the Innkeeper’s act for the most part.
Where they can help is when the Innkeeper, in this case you, needs someone escorted off the property. The problem comes up when they show up and the tenant is agreeable, very much in control and it isn’t readily apparent that the tenant is a problem and it appears the landlord is abusing the Act. This leaves the police open for action against them which means they often have to take the safe road.
So, as I like to point out, I am not a lawyer, but I understand the rules and laws pertaining to both the Residential Tenancy Act and the Innkeeper’s Act quite well, so while you shouldn’t take my thoughts as gospel and should always get legal confirmation on what you should be doing, I have an idea of what I would do.
I would suggest to the fellow he has until the end of the week to be out, if not sooner. If he isn’t gone by then or if any other issues show up before then, I will either have him escorted off the property by the police and/or change the locks. If you change the locks you have to get his goods back to him, and he may have legal recourse through the court system (this is where you need to verify this with a lawyer yourself), but the police won’t be able to help him get back in and you may charge him with property damage or even potentially trespassing after he has been locked out.
I would emphasize to him you are acting under the Innkeeper’s Act and not the Residential Tenancy Act if you go this route and I would also highly suggest you create some form of lease with all the house rules on it to make sure everything is completely clear in the future.
Hope that helps,
Bill
I am new to this Landlord business. Thank you for getting this information out there. My eyes have been opened. I believe my situation falls under the IA and not the RTA. I rent out a room in my basement that includes a living area and seperate bathroom, but the kitchen and laundry room are shared. I drafted a standard month to month tenancy agreement from a precedent I found but some of the terms specifically state that our agreement is governed by the RTA (only because I didnt know the IA existed) and any if there are any disputes we are to go through the proper avenue of RTDRS; I wish to inquire specifically about the terms of rent increases (three months advance and only once a year) or breach of agreement. At this point I dont have issues with my renters, but should this be brought up that the Act that governs our agreement is wrong and draft a new lease?
The next thing I want to ask is, do I have to claim the rental income on my taxes? (Im not making a profit)
Thanks. RG
Hi RG,
Knowledge is power! I would suggest modifying future leases to indicate you fall under the Innkeeper’s Act and that you read through the Innkeeper’s Act to make sure everything else complies.It would be too late to switch the leases currently in place.
You’ll want to post the Act in your property as well just for reference (and as part of the Act’s rules). I’m actually not familiar with the rent increase rules under the Innkeeper’s act. As a general rule though, if there are no rules it seems to fall back to the Residential Tenancy Act rules as a guideline.
If the tenants are paying on a monthly basis, you will likely be stuck with the RTA rules. If you are putting people into leases, then you definitely want to stick with RTA rules of only once every 365 days for rate increases.
As for the tax question, it’s really up to your accountant to claim it, but it is a source of income and should be claimed on your taxes. Especially if you are taking advantage of deductions for rental purposes which you should be.
hope that helps,
Bill
Thanks Bill.
I have a house that I suited out the basement in and i rent out the upper main floor while I’m living in the basement to help with the mortgage.My renter in the upper main level is no longer under a lease which has expired months ago.In the past year i have had many confrontations with him due to late rent, which have been documented with notices that he has signed. He also has been smoking in his room (non-smoking house)this is a fire hazard! He has been letting friends do their laundry here.
He asked to sublet two rooms to help with rent and I agreed (silly me). They gave him rent and he spent it. Not giving it to me and once again late on month rent. I have chosen to sever him an eviction notice giving him 30 days till end of the month.
He has now chosen not to pay rent and claims he is going to stay for another month.
Do I fall under the Inn keepers act and how can I get rid of this guy ASAP? Will I be able to recover the months rent?
Hi Neil,
It would have been far easier to simply not renew with him when the lease expired, since you didn’t do that at the time your lease has defaulted to month to month which takes a few options off the table.
I would evict him for continually being late with rent which is a serious breach. Don’t evict for simply being late this month, but rather for continually being late.
Never allow a tenant like this to sublet as you have lost all control (as you are probably aware). At the very least you should be able to screen the potential tenants and/or add them to the main lease.
You don’t fall under the innkeeper’s act as he has his own self contained suite upstairs, so you will have to go through the eviction process through the courts or the RTDRS. If you go to court and get a judgment you have a very good chance of getting paid, if you wait until the end of the month to see if he will pay you, you will likely end up sad, have no chance of ever collecting and likely won’t be able to find him after the fact to sue him. That’s just how it works.
Hope that helped,
Bill
Hi Bill,
I own a home in Edmonton and since July 2011 I have rented one bedroom and the basement to two different people while residing in the home. My fiancé (who had a place of his own in Edmonton) got a transfer with work to Victoria, BC. I decided to join him a few weeks ago to see if I’d like it and got a job transfer there myself for a year. I do plan on going back to Edmonton on a regular basis, and have kept a bedroom in my house and will stay there every time I go back. Under the lease agreement (I drafted it based on templates and it does refer to the occupants as tenants) signed by the two people renting the bedroom and basement (no suites), it states that I will be residing at my home when I come to Edmonton and both parties in question are fine with that. Do I still fall under the Innkeeper’s Act or do I now fall under the Residential Tenancy Act?
The reason I’m questioning this is because I haven’t even been gone for one whole month and the one tenant that I lived with for almost two years has breached the house rules on a few occasions. When he was talked to about the breaking of the house rules by another tenant he threatened that other tenant with violence and is now acting in a very unbalanced manner. I would like to fly out to Edmonton and evict him on the spot, as he is a threat to the other tenant and my house. Does the fact that the document says lease agreement give him the ability to dispute the eviction?
The signed agreement states:
The Landlord can terminate the tenancy at any time, especially in the event this lease is not followed. In the event the tenant does not respect this lease or the rules of the house, the tenant will be asked to leave the premise.
Thank you,
Erica
Hi Erica,
While you do have a case to go the Innkeeper’s Act route, I would suggest you immediately serve him a 24 hour notice for threatening another tenant. It’s very important you do this quickly after the initial threat or it’s not deemed too huge of an incident.
If it’s serious obviously you would take immediate action and that’s how the courts would view it as well. If he doesn’t vacate in 24 hours, your next option would be to go to the courts or the RTDRS and file immediately explaining that you had provided the tenant with a 24 hour notice and that you are concerned about your tenants safety.
Due to the safety issue they will typically bump your hearing up to within three to five days (depending on how busy they are) and you can get a very quick eviction.
Now I’m recommending this route as it will be the route with the best odds of getting the result you want, removing the tenant. With you living away a majority of the time, they could argue you don’t fall under the Innkeeper’s Act. If the police go with this and agree, suddenly you have lost the ability to use a 24 hour eviction notice as it is several days later. You could try, but it might be deemed retaliatory and not taken as seriously.
If you then ended up in a hearing and potentially lost due to this, you could be stuck with him for a while, so it may not be worth the risk.
Alternatively, you could try the Innkeeper’s route and then go with a 14 day eviction notice or try heading directly tot he RTDRS and evict him for breach of the rules, this would require evidence from you confirming he is breaking the rules and it would have to be substantial enough to get him out. although they may give him until the end of the month in this case to get out.
Hope that gives you some ideas,
Bill
Thank you Bill, appreciate the info and your recommendation.
Hi Bill,
I was wondering I rent a room in my basement of my house out to a fellow he’s only been there a month and 1/2 and there is no contract. He recently breached our verbal agreement of absolutely no smoking in the house and has been drinking himself away and smoking in the room drunk, I am scared the house could catch on fire and now my entire house wreaks of cigarettes. Do I have to give him 24 hours?
Hi Veronica,
Having a contract in place would make this much easier as the rules would be laid out and signed by both parties. This would make enforcing any breach of the lease much easier. At the very least you should have no smoking signs and house rules posted somewhere on the premises.
The question for you in this case though is whether he is simply renting a room and sharing the rest of the house with you? If he has a self contained space of his own, as in he has his own suite, then you fall under the Residential Tenancy Act. To evict him you would need to go to the courts or the RTDRS or give him a 14 day eviction notice.
If he rents a room and you have shared kitchen, bathrooms and common space, he falls under the Innkeeper’s Act and you can evict him basically on the spot. Of course he could come back and sue you for illegally kicking him out, you’d have to prove he breached the rules and that there were specific rules in place and that he knew about them.
Hope that answers your question,
Bill
Hi Bill,
I’m considering purchasing a property that would provide me multiple rooms to rent out, including a legal basement suite. While this home would technically be my primary residence, I would only be staying there every other week, and not for six consecutive months. Would my situation fall under the Innkeeper’s act or the RTA?
Thank you,
Clint
Hi Clint,
You’re getting into a grey area. While you’re telling me it’s your primary residence it would depend on how the officials understand it. Do you own another property as well? If so, do you spend more time there? If not then potentially it should count as your primary residence.
If you’re gone for a week for work to various jobs that constantly change location, then your primary residence would be where your mail goes? If you send mail to a post box, then that might not validate it. If you are off at a camp job with one week in and one week off then the residence you own would be your primary residence.
It’s questions like these that may get called into question and that you need to be aware of as they will indicate where you fit.
So the other part of this is the suite downstairs would fall under the Residential Tenancy act versus the Innkeeper’s Act, it would only be the rooms you rent out on the main floor and share common space with that would potentially fit under the Innkeeper’s Act.
Hope that helped a bit,
Bill
Hi, first off this site has been a great resource for me. Thank-you! My living situation falls under the Innkeepers Act and I have given my two roommates 30 days notice to move out. One continually avoided giving me a damage deposit for the past 3 months he has lived there. He moved out within a week of me giving him notice, leaving some of his belongings behind and left a mess for me to clean up (dirty/moldy dishes from his room, scrap wood in the yard and lving room, garbage in his room, dirty bathroom etc.) He has since left for a month long trip out of the country and did not return his set of keys. He left with some of my property so I have changed the locks. From my understanding I must keep his belongings for 1 mnth and make adequate attempts to contact him.
My questions are:
1) Can I use the fact that he left his property behind as leverage to get him to pay for cleaning costs or have him arrange for someone to come clean his mess up on his behalf since he never provided me with a security deposit?
2) I know he will not be back in the country till after the1 month period is over to collect his property, so can I tell him his parents will have to make arrangements with me to come pick up his stuff and if they fail to do so his property will be sold?
Thank-you for all your information!
Hi Lindsey,
Thanks! Glad you have found this a helpful resource!
Good call on changing the locks, the rules are a bit more vague under the Innkeeper’s Act regarding holding onto tenants possessions for cleanup and/or repair, although you can hold onto them to recoup unpaid bills.
In this case I would contact his parents directly, explain the situation and see if they will reimburse you for the outstanding costs you incurred. Might as well leverage the situation you are in!
Realistically you will have to do the cleanup and bill it out at a reasonable rate. To cover yourself off, make sure you document everything with photos and/or videos and just do a little CYA. Most of the time any items left behind are of little value and actually trying to sell them becomes a waste of time, but occasionally they forgot something that they really do value and you actually do have some leverage.
Also, you never know what response you will receive from parents, so good luck!
hope this helped a bit,
Bill
Thanks Bill, your insight has helped me decide to go ahead with court action. Much appreciated.
Hi Bill,
I am in a little bit of a conundrum. I was sure I would be taking my landlady to small claims court under the Residential Tenancy Act for not returning my damage deposit for no justifiable reason. After a certain amount of searching, I’ve been re-directed to your site and am now a little more worried that I will not prevail. My situation is most likely the same as Llinnell’s at the beginning of this thread. I strongly believe this to be the same place.
My landlady has come into my room on several occasions to “tidy” up the place. It is a 5 level split townhome in Calgary’s southwest. She was very accommodating to get me in there to rent the suite, but then very controlling on every aspect of the deal. I had the top floor which consisted of 2 bedrooms, one for sleeping and the other for a living room, and a bathroom. She had her own en suite bath. The only shared part was the kitchen, of which I used the fridge only considering the constant smell and the cigarette butts, butted out in the kitchen sink.
There wasn’t a lease signed but a damage deposit was paid. After a month in there, I had found something a little more suitable. I gave her a month’s notice at which point she decided to take it upon herself to go through my room, re-arrange the furniture, go through all my stuff that was in the room and then email me saying so.
My last day was actually 5 days before the end of the month. I had moved all my possessions out and had gone there to clean the apartment. She snuck out without being there for final inspection. After texting her numerous times telling her I had cleaned and was awaiting her inspection to finalize the deal, exchange the key for the deposit, she texted back saying she wouldn’t be back till after midnight and that she would have to wire me the money as she didn’t have the cash in hand. I left, taking as many pictures as I could on my phone, which has time and date stamps, and proceeded to my new residence to go to bed since it was a week night and couldn’t wait for her any longer.
The next day she emailed me saying all I did was fold a couple of dirty towels and that I didn’t clean at all. She said to just keep the key.
At this point I knew she hadn’t planned on giving my damage deposit back. After work I headed right to her house and confronted her. She said that she would return my deposit but not until she rented out the room again as she spent my damage and I am guessing that is what she’s been doing everytime she gets a new tenant. Apparently, from the consulting with the neighbours, the place has a revolving door every two months or so.
I have called and texted her recently and plan on emailing her to threaten court action but now am unsure the court will hear my case because of this Innkeeper’s Act.
Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,
Mark
Hi Mark,
Sorry to hear about this. It’s landlords like this who give us all a bad name. First the bad news, it may be more difficult to get your damage deposit. Now the good news, it sounds like you have a good timeline of how things played out, you’ve taken photos to back up your story and you’ve even talked to neighbours to confirm your thoughts.
While the Innkeepers Act does give more power tot he landlord, it still has to follow the rules, it just may involve small claims court for you. You may want to check into some of the free legal resources to confirm this (sorry I am more familiar from the landlord side!), but you can typically get a free 30 minute consultation from several places to help guide you.
My thoughts are small claims court, but you would want to confirm this. Most lawyers aren’t familiar with the difference between the RTA or the IA as it’s just a small section of the over all laws, so distinguishing which court process would be the first step. Just make sure to write down everything basically as you put it here along with any backup evidence you have so you have a nice clear timeline and document path to go to if this takes a while.
Quite often the person with the most evidence and backup documentation wins at court when it comes down to a he said she said scenario.So just be prepared. Bottom line you should be able to get your deposit back, it’s just going to take a little time.
Hope that helps,
Bill
So I have two roommates and well one of them smokes pot and I am the owner of he place am I allowed to evict him because of that?
Ohh and to add he had his first warning of smoking that stuff and how I can smell it I’m really can’t stand the smell makes me sick
Hi Jessica,
The blanket answer is yes, if he is smoking it in the property. If he is smoking it elsewhere and just smells of pot when he gets home, then you can’t evict him necessarily for that.
It sounds like you are renting out rooms and in this case you fall under the Innkeeper’s Act. This gives you much more leniency when it comes to reasons to evict and you may be able to pursue this route if he is smoking his drugs elsewhere and just bringing the smell back. You may be able to make the case the smell of marijuana makes you ill which may be viable as well.
Hope this helps,
Bill
Hi Bill,
Thank you it does help but I just have one more question.
I know he is not smoking inside of the house but he is smoking right outside of the door of the property. But I also know that he is keeping this stuff in the house. Do you think I can still evict him with that reason of keeping it inside the property?
Hi Jessica,
Can you prove it? That might be what it comes down to.
You may just need to approach him, explain that the smell of pot is affecting your health and that even though he isn’t smoking inside the house you suspect he has a stash in the premises and that combined with the smell is enough for you to ask him to leave. He may not want to leave and he may fight it, but perhaps get that out of the way first.
You may infer you will bring the police in to assist and if he does have a stash that may spook him enough to help him move along as well.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Can I evict someone simply because I don’t like him, under the Innkeeper’s Act even though we have signed a Residential Tenancy Agreement?
Hi Jax,
You’re supposed to have a reason to evict someone, because you don’t like them, they would have every right to come after you for anything form discrimination to illegal eviction. It may or may not stick, so you need to tread very carefully if that’s how you proceed.
Regards,
Bill
Hello, Bill:
I am the owner and landlord in my primary house. I rent out a bedroom to a tenant in order to partly offset mortgage. We share the kitchen and washroom, but unfortunately the uneducated tenant has been seriously breaching the lease for many times even though I have warned him again and again.
For example, he usually brings different women to my house even though he has signed no-guest items under the lease. (Clause 3. Occupancy by any guest is prohibited without landlord’s written consent and will violate this Agreement).(In fact those women are bitches because I questioned him again and he told me that any woman isn’t his girlfriend). In addition, He is very messy and dirty, and he always makes the kitchen very dirty and disorganized because he usually puts his uncleaned dishes everywhere in the kitchen and throws garbage on the floor but he doesn’t clean up. He even puts his uncleaned dishes in the kitchen several days until becoming stink. His bad habits are very awful and cause somebody rejected to rent my other room for several time. You know, you can help him cleaning dishes once or twice, but you can’t always clean up his asshole all time. Moreover, I only provide one park space to him but he occupies two because he often buys accident and damaged car to my place to fix and sell it in order to make money. Furthermore, he is very selfish. He always occupies washer and dryer for a long time until several days because he never considers other one will use these laundry devices. However, he is so insensible to his bad behaviors, even though he promises me to comply the lease in the morning but he will completely violate the clauses afternoon.
How can I say? In fact, I can’t find out anymore suitable words to describe his rude, discredited and disgusted habits.
According to the situation, I have orally warned him to do his part again and again, otherwise he has to move out, but it is no use. In fact, he told me he was going to move out for three times, but he didn’t fulfill his promises. I am considering evicting him because I can’t bear his bad behaviors anymore. I just worry about if I terminate the contract and evict him, maybe he will give me big problems and revenge me by some mean ways. I know his bad education and mean knowledge.
Hi there,
My parents legally own my house, but do not live there. I do and rent the other rooms in the house to offset the mortgage. Am I considered to be under the inn keepers act? I have one tenant I want to leave and I already gave her a written notice to leave by July 31. She is saying it is not valid because I am not providing a reason. She has month to month… so I am not evicting her, I am just choosing not to renew her lease. On the lease that I wrote I put “If this agreement is to be terminated it must be done so, in writing, with notice on the first day of the month for the last day of the month.” So obviously I gave her more notice than the lease requires.
I want her to leave a quietly as possible.
Hi Jade,
In this case you are acting as the landlord and living in the property so you would fall under the Innkeeper’s Act. Now you’re supposed to have an actual reason to evict someone, so that may cause you soem issues. Also, you’re mixing up the rules as far as not renewing her lease and the time periods. both of those fall under the Residential Tenancy Act.
I think you’ve kind of set yourself up in the middle and although you should fall under the innkeeper’s Act there are enough holes in how things are set up that you may get pushed into the Residential Tenancy Act rules.
At this point you may have to choose wisely how to get the tenant out. If you don’t have specific reason or breaches of the lease, you may need to buy her out and possibly refund additional rent to her if she leaves in a timely manner. That would be the quietest and potentially fastest method.
Regards,
Bill
Hello, for the past few years I have been residing at and looking after my parents second home. I am responsible for everything from repairs to day to day maintenance. In that time, I had someone move in as to offset costs of utilities etc as I got back on my feet following a divorce. Last year, I verbally asked her to leave in 90 days followed by a written notice in January 2013 stating the same. The family wants to sell and for health reasons I need to move on but she is stalling and it appears has no intention of leaving. I am acting as the keeper or agent on this property… innkeepers act? Call police? Change locks and allow retrieval of her property at a negotiated time?
Hi Brian,
If you are living in the property as well, then you are under the Innkeeper’s Act, if you are just the agent or looking after it, you fall under the Residential Tenancy Act.
With the Innkeeper’s Act you can get her out much quicker. I would suggest giving her a written notice that she should be out by the end of the month or possibly the end of next month depending on your schedule. Always provide written notices as they are much harder to dispute than verbal notices.
If you don’t provide her enough time, she may not be able to find a new place and might try to fight the eviction. under the Innkeeper’s Act the police aren’t always as helpful as there is some ambiguity in who is an Innkeeper and who is not. Rather than getting too involved they often do nothing which isn’t helpful. If that’s the case you have to go to court to evict her.
Under the Residential Tenancy Act, you need to giver her 90 days written notice when you ar selling. That puts you further behind as the 90 days must include three full months. If you gave her notice now it would be October 1st for her to be out.
Another option which isn’t always the best option but it can be the most effective is to provide a rental incentive to leave sooner. Let her know she will receive her full security deposit back if the property is left the same as when she moved in plus one week back if she moves out by the end of the month. You might have to make it two weeks or what ever that magic dollar amount is to make it work. Yes it’s essentially a bribe, but equate it versus the cost of your time going to court or waiting three months and find that happy place to get things done.
Hope that helped,
Bill
Hello again,
“We’ll assume your landlord knows you are doing this and is ok with it? There are basic rules of tenancy that come into play and you fit under the Residential Tenancy Act in this matter.
If that’s the case, when you rent out rooms, you are effectively the landlord to the tenants you bring in and since you are renting out space in your personal dwelling and it sounds like you share the common areas, you fall into the Innkeeper’s Act. ”
Yes my landlord is aware, and yes we do share common areas. So which Act do i fall under? I have a problem with a roommate not paying utilities on time, month after month. I am curious what power i actually have on evicting him? We only have a verbal agreement on paying rent / utilities on time, nothing on paper. I have received payment once on time out of 15 months, he doesn’t clean the common areas and much more. Any advice on legally evicting him would be much appreciated, thank you.
Hi Miles,
With only a verbal agreement it’s a bit harder to enforce as there is too much ambiguity, but I would push for the Innkeeper’s Act and basically inform him since you are his landlord and renting out the room and sharing common space with him, he is outside the Residential Tenancy Act. due to that under th eInnkeeper’s Act if he doesn’t follow the rules and becomes disruptive you can have him escorted off the property and lock him out immediately and his only recourse is to come after you via small claims court, where he will lose.
You could use this to get him on track, and then if necessary pull the trigger to get him out.
Now part of this will be a bluff as he has other options and ultimately it would be up to the court to decide. In ambiguos situations it can go either way depending on how valid a case can be presented, without actual documents it really ends up being who the judge feels has a more plausible story sometimes. In the future though, if you have specific documents drawn up that outlay the renters responsibility and outline that you fall under the Innkeeper’s Act etc it would be a much smoother road.
Alternatively you could go through the RTDRS to evict him, but this would likely take around a month to complete.
Hope this helps,
Bill
If she didnt sign her lease that was defining the deal of the free rent in exchange to a specific list of task, how can she claims to be a tenant then ? She has no lease ! She is living there without falling under weekly, monthly or yearly tenancy because she didnt sign anything. If somehow we accept the validity of the lease because I have an email from her that explicit the fact she is working for me so then the section 11 of tenancy acts say she has a period that is 1 week in this situation.
For the innkeeper acts, the illegal action seems to me that she is living there without any agreement because she didnt sign the lease. Either the lease is valid and I use 1 week on the tenancy acts, or either its not and when I go back there I could use innkeeper acts because she has no lease. So, I need to solve if lease is valid and what is the definition of living in the house.
I only found 2 evictions companies on google and no answers.. Can you refer me to more?
thanks
I bought a principal house in edmonton and because I work for the navy and sail more of the time, I decided to have an host staying for free a the house in exchange for security and clean up. I also give her the tasks to rent bedrooms daily and keep one for herself. The house has 5 bedrooms total. After one month, she pretended that no bedroom has been rented (even if people I know went there and saw other guest. I suspect she kept the money for herself. To add to the situation, she don`t want to leave until I go back in person (I have to fly back from victoria) to pay her all the time she worked on the house. I sent her a email one month ago stipulating all the tasks I was willing to pay for but she added her own and want to charge me for it… How can I have her to leave fast and avoid having to pay her anything extra ? On the top of that, she cause me lost by keeping the money for herself, how can I get back my money? Im in the process to get a development permit for lodging but nothing is done now. Also, I sent her a lease valid until the end of the month stipulating what her tasks are. I read that tenancy act give a week to evict an employee, but is she if she didnt sign the lease?
Summary of the questions :
– How can I have her to leave fast and avoid having to pay her anything extra ?
– how can I get back my money?
– What is her status if she didnt sign the lease? (we have email exchange that demonstrate employe relation)
– Any good lawyer with experience with lodging house to refer me?
Hi Chris,
It sounds like you have quite the challenge in front of you. finding a good property manager often ends up being quite a challenge and in your particular situation where they live in the property and you aren’t around it leaves you really vulnerable.
To make any eviction valid, you need two things, a valid reason and proof. Right now, much of what you have is second hand information, so without proof it can become quite hard to make anything stick. The section regarding employees in the Residential Tenancy act applies to employees who are provided lodging as part of their employment and usually refers to situations like full time employment in the hotel industry or camp style jobs, I’m not sure if you would completely fit in that scenario.
Do you have some type of contract that specifically outlines everything her “job” requires? With the lease you sent her, was this something set up from the start? Or did you just introduce it? Was it signed by both parties? Understanding this would be important to know exactly what your options might be.
So with what I have, here are some rough answers,
To get her to leave fast it sounds like you have to return to Edmonton and hope she leaves as she agreed. That would be the easiest. Right now you don’t have a valid reason to evict without proof she is stealing from you.
how can you get back your money? If you’re referring tot he lost rent, you likely can’t, you could try suing her in small claims court, but you need some hard evidence there were people there and she kept the money. In the future you may need to have someone come in and manage the manager for you.
What is her status if she didn’t sign the lease? It’s not valid, you may still have a verbal agreement, but now you have to prove it.
And sorry I don’t know of any lawyers with lodging house experience.
Going forward, you need to be more prepared. You need to create a valid work contract with specific instructions and requirements. I also wouldn’t provide free rent to the individual, especially in the current rental market. You should consider either a lower rent for their work, or possibly a regular rental amount with rental incentives for how many of the other rooms are full per month.
You’ll need very specific rules for the requirements and their duties and you need a lease tied in with it and you need to have this signed by both parties before you move forward.
You have a pretty involved situation and hopefully these thoughts give you some areas to work with. If you need more in depth answers it’s beyond the scope of this type of answer and would require some consultation time either with me or with multiple lawyers.
Bill
I sent her lease defining exactly her tasks and responsibilities in the house, but she never returned it. I passed 2 weeks at the house with her before I left to show her how it works and we had multiple email after implying work discussions. She also sent me a long vocal message a week ago saying she didn’t wanted to do this job anymore. The vocal message is saved.
The tenancy acts said : ““residential tenancy agreement” means a written, oral or
implied agreement to rent residential premises; ” Then is means that oral agreement are valid. How can you prove an oral agreement? Anybody could say it had a oral agreement for anything …
When I go back there and live in my house for the 5 days I will be there, does this place become my principal residence ? This house has been bought as a principal residence and my intention is to live there when I stop sailing 10 months a year. Then can I claim the innkeeper act when Im there to put her out and any guest she have there because they dont have agreement to live there?
There is lawyer for civil law, criminal law, family law, why is there no lawyer that knows about city law, innkeeper act, tenancy acts, zoning permit to help real estate investors navigate in this mess and provides helpful advice before doing purchase and hiring personal ? Do you know a lawyer that could help with those things ?
Also, if I was living in this house, can I rent 4 bedrooms under the innkeeper acts or do I really have to get a lodging permit ?
thanks
Hi Chris,
I am my self a homeowner and I do understand your frustrating situation,I have 5 years doing lodging houses business and I also can tell you right now that hiring a lawyer for this situations, if you find one it will be a waste of money because there is not much much further they can do from applying the RTA as well.
If Bill will allows us to get in touch more directly I can give you some tips that worked for me ….
Hi Iris,
Thank you very much for your input, there are a couple of lawyers I know of in Calgary who are fairly well versed in Landlord Tenant laws, but for the most part they are far and few between and they really just have to follow the basic RTA principles anyway. I have seen the benefit of eviction service companies though as they have access to bailiffs, process servers and are usually very familiar with the processes.
I’ve forwarded your contact info on to Chris in a separate email, so he may contact you directly as well.
Regards,
Bill
Hi Chris,
The lease has to be signed before you let them in or it’s pointless, there may be a verbal agreement in place, but he problem is exactly as you pointed out, how to you prove an verbal agreement?
It also doesn’t matter what the tenant says, if she says she wants out and is leaving on the 30th, if she doesn’t leave on the 30th, you still have to go through an eviction process.
Since the property is your principal residence you fit into a gray area with the Innkeeper’s Act, but I’d still probably run with it, worst case you default back to the Residential Tenancy act and you are a couple days behind.
As Iris pointed out with the lawyers, few lawyers are really up on the RTA and eviction processes and even fewer on the Innkeeper’s Act. You would have better luck with an eviction service company as they deal specifically with evictions and experienced ones have seen it all. You do have the option of doing it yourself, but being remote this may impede things. The other side of the coin, the eviction companies will deal with it via the RTA not the Innkeeper’s Act, or so I believe.
You’ll have to check your local bylaws to confirm how many people you can legally rent to in your area. It varies from city to city and residential zone to residential zone. Some areas allow a maximum of four people, others more.
Hope this helps,
Bill
When you said I could run with the Innkeeper acts or worst case default back to residential tenancy acts, im not sure to understand.
I thought the application of the innkeeper acts allowed me to put the tenant out on the fly if doing something illegal ( in this case, being there without a written agreement or keeping the money of rent that should go to the landlord ). If I use that method, I can`t go back to tenancy acts. Im also worry because if the reasons are not valid to put her out or the innkeeper acts is demonstrated to not really apply, I could be guilty to put her out illegaly…
This situation has a lot of gray area…
Hi Chris,
The problem is the gray area. Although it’s your primary residence, you don’t live there. So the question is how would a judge determine the validity of the Innkeeper’s Act as it only applies to landlords who live in their home and rent out rooms in that property.
By having someone else living in your property and performing that duty, does it negate your ability to fall under the Innkeeper’s Act? It’s issues like this that cloud where you fit.
If you do go to court to resolve this and potentially try and get any money she owes you or to avoid paying her extra, the judge will have to determine if you fall under the Innkeeper’s Act or the Residential Tenancy Act first, so if you can push to fall under the Innkeeper’s Act first it streamlines your steps.
If you want to bypass trying to get any money potentially owed you, you could try the Innkeeper’s Act and ask her to leave, if she doesn’t leave, you can call the police. This is also where it can fall apart. Because this isn’t a criminal offense the police have less jurisdiction. If they are confused about the situation they often defer it to the Residential Tenancy Act which requires you to go to courts which puts you back to square one.
Ultimately when there is no clear and defined situation, the rules when it comes to rental situations end up defaulting to the Residential Tenancy Act.
So right now, what would your specific reasons for evicting her be? You want to kick her out for not doing her job of filling the rooms, for suspected embezzlement from you by renting out the rooms and withholding the payments and for not performing the tasks outlined to her. If those are the only reasons, evicting under the RTA might be tougher as they aren’t defined in the Act. you could fall under an entirely different scenario which I wouldn’t even want to guess at.
You had mentioned she was planning on leaving shortly as she didn’t want to do the job anymore, and she likely suspected you knew she was taking advantage of the situation. If you’re not planning on going after her for money you think she owes you (and that would be a long shot anyway), maybe you need to work on getting her out ASAP by having her leave on her own at the end of the current month?
It’s too late for this venture, but the huge lesson for you from this is you need to have some type of contract in place regarding the services the “manager” should be providing and the repercussions if they don’t. This would tie into the rental discount or free rent and the termination of employment if you wanted to set it up that way. That would create a much more defined situation and help get rid of all the gray areas we currently have.
If you’re currently concerned she may come after you for an illegal eviction and you’re worried about any blow back on this. Then work with her to get her out at the end of the month and avoid evicting her by having her leave on her own.
Because this is so gray there are multiple options and at this point you may have to choose the path of least resistance and take this as part of a learning curve.
Regards,
Bill
I have a renter that I asked to leave do to excessive drinking and smells coming from his room. When he left, he left a bit of a mess. Is it within my rights to charge him for carpet cleaning services? We did not have a rental agreement signed when he moved in. I had the place cleaned before he moved in. He has now gone to the Rental Board with a complaint. What is the process I need to follow to make this headache go away?
Hi CJ,
There’s no exact breakdown of this under the Innkeeper’s Act, which I’m assuming you fall under in this case as you are referring to a room. If that’s true, this can only be resolved in the courts. You are referring to the Rental Board, do you know who or where he actually complained?
And what was the full complaint? Did you simply hold back his damage deposit? Or are you trying to go after him for additional funds?
The problem you have right now is you have to be able to prove the condition of the room before he moved in and then after he moved out. Under the Residential Tenancy Act, this requires a walk through of the space to be completed before the tenant moves in and it needs to be signed and dated by the Landlord and the Tenant.
Under the Innkeeper’s Act, this isn’t a requirement, but it’s still a good idea and it’s one I use with my furnished rentals to avoid disputes. If you can’t prove conclusively either way and you’re retaining his security deposit, there is a good chance you would lose in court. If the best you can do is turn this into a he said she said scenario where the only “proof” is the verbal statements, you will likely lose due to lack of evidence.
You could also incur some additional charges if the judge deems the tenant is out additional funds due to your retaining his deposit. So you may be best off simply refunding it fully and adding this up as a landlord training lesson. You can add a walk through checklist to your rental agreement and require your tenants sign off ont hat when they move in as well.
hope that helps answer your questions,
Bill
Thanks Bill,
I do have before and ater pictures. I was going to use a portion of his damage deposit to clean up the carpets in the room he rented. I am not going after him for additional funds. Just for the cost of the steam cleaner. I also informed him that I would rent it and clean it myself in order to save him money.
I will be having things signed from now on. Thank you for your help! This website has been a godsend!
Hello,
I rent out 4 rooms in my house. I do have in depth agreement that i have all my tenants sign. The problem lately is that tenants are removing other residents clothing from the washing machine and drying the clothes without permission of the owner ( of that clothing). Basically they are impatient on doing their laundry. verbal warnings have been given that ” it’s common courtesy to NOT touch others garments ” comments in return have been ” we’ll next time your clothes are going on the floor” and since this has happened and a tenant has damaged clothing of another ( just happened to be landlord) I have sent out a memo AFTER all signed contracts indicating that a laundry schedule be enforced so that everyone has a day of the week. Unfortunately i have 3 moving out as they ” don’t like the rules/ work contracts are up”… however I am still finding the same incidents with touching others garments. A written warning has been issued to one in particular whom said ” I didn’t agree with this laundry schedule… etc ” If the tenant doesn’t abide by the house rules – yes i fall under the innkeepers act- i could evict, however if he doesn’t leave then what? I understand this is juvenile however sadly as a landlord these problems arise and so Question is : after contracts are signed and tenants pose another ” rule ” to be created can you just send out a memo to all tenants of such changes and that be applicable to house rules? or as the innkeeper am i out of luck?
Hi Nancy,
This is one of the scenarios where you needed to act hard and fast. By setting a policy and etching it in stone you set the rules in place and everyone knows what they are. If someone doesn’t agree, they have the option to leave, if they don’t follow the rules you have to enforce and in this case evict them. If you don’t enforce it, you show the other tenants that you can be walked on and they will take advantage of you.
So, in answer to your question, you can amend the rules after the fact. They cannot completely change the rules such as rates, or terms of the arrangement, but you can adjust items such as laundry schedules etc as part of living in harmony.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hello,
I am currently renting a house and also renting out rooms to some close friends. My landlord is a nice guy, we have a verbal agreement and I have not signed a lease. Its month to month. I am renting out a few rooms to some friends, and would like some legal advice. Being I haven’t signed a lease, am I able to still write up a agreement between myself and my roommates ( where would I find this agreement forum )? Just to lay down some basic rules, and consequences if these rules were breached? I’ve had some bad luck with a few roommates in the past, not paying utilities and such. Not sure where to go for this, and what ‘power’ I actually have over my roommates regarding eviction. I live in Alberta, & am seeking advice to get pointed in the right direction. Basically I just want to cover my a$$ if anything does happen, seems some ppl believe its as much as their house as mine. That I don’t have any control over them… ?
Thank you
Hi Miles,
First off, my advice isn’t legal, you would need a lawyer for that, my advice is based on my experience and interpretations of the rules from having worked within them the lats ten years as a landlord. Oh, and I don’t play a lawyer on tv!
Since you only have a verbal agreement with your landlord you are pretty wide open. Most written leases have clauses that don’t allow subletting without written approval. We’ll assume your landlord knows you are doing this and is ok with it? There are basic rules of tenancy that come into play and you fit under the Residential Tenancy Act in this matter.
If that’s the case, when you rent out rooms, you are effectively the landlord to the tenants you bring in and since you are renting out space in your personal dwelling and it sounds like you share the common areas, you fall into the Innkeeper’s Act.
There aren’t any Innkeeper specific leases out there that I know of. The one we use we for our furnished rentals we originally created with our lawyer and it has been amended over the years to fit the changing market. If you really wanted to cover your butt, you could have a lawyer create a specific document for you, just make sure it is a lawyer familiar with the difference between the Innkeeper’s Act and the Residential Tenancy act.
Alternatively, read through the Act yourself and create your own basic document that the tenant signs off on. It may not be exactly what you need, but it should fit the bill to get you started. Make sure it includes the following basics, state on it that it falls under the Innkeeper’s Act, include the property address, the tenants name, the date and the term of the tenancy, the rental amount, how and when it is to be paid and then include any specific rules that apply to the premises.
These can include smoking outside if it’s non-smoking, parking, if that applies, payment of utilities, keeping the place clean, guests, quiet hours etc. Also include the repercussions for breaking the rules.
We previously sold our forms package for rooming houses for $75.00, if you are really stuck that may be an option for you as well.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hello Bill,
Thank you for your reply, I took your advice and let him know that I intend to leave as soon as I have a new place and he says that he intends to keep my damage deposit because I am now not giving adequate notice to him if I leave early. (basically trying to get out of there on the first of this month instead of the 23rd of next month) Does he have the right to do this?
Hi Victoria,
Since you’re outside of the RTDRS realm you still have the option of going after him in the courts for the security deposit. So at this point, make sure you document everything, including his reasoning that he wants to evict you because you are a girl. It’s very handy to document all of this now as it gets harder to remember as times goes on and if any more issues arise.
Let him know again that you’re trying to work with him, he doesn’t want you there, so you’ll leave early if possible. If he doesn’t find that acceptable, then you will stay until the end of April. It almost sounds like he is bullying you to get extra money out of you by evicting you and keeping your security deposit. So let him know you have no problem taking him to court and you may even consider reporting him for discrimination unless you can work it out.
He doesn’t apparently want you there, and by all indications you should probably get out of there, so why isn’t he making it work for both of you? Unless this is how he operates and has been doing this all the time? In which case someone may have to stand up to him and threaten legal action.
Regards,
Bill
Hello,
I am living in a shared room and the landlord that lived there as well. i understand this falls under the innkeeper act. What I don’t understand is can he evict me for no reason at all? He basically gave me notice on March 24 to move out for april 23. I moved in on feb 1. His reasoning to evict me is because I am a girl. he will not put this in writing even though I have asked him, he says he owns the house nad he can do whatever he wants. On top of that I have 3 friends coming from out of province for the weekend and he says I am not allowed to have them over (which before he decided to evict me he was fine with) and that he will call the police and have them removed if they stay with me. Do I have any rights or options?? Do I have to pay him rent for April if he is evicting me for no reason? Does he have to give me my damage deposit back? Does anyone know who I can talk to for legal advice or anything? I am serious stressed out, I have not caused any damage, I am hardly ever home and basically just eat and sleep there. please help?
Hi Victoria,
Sorry to her about your circumstances. Did you sign any kind of lease with him? You may have grounds on that basis to get reimbursed for the inconvenience. He is really supposed to have a reason to kick someone out and since it doesn’t sound like he has stated why, you have several options.
First off, you can’t withhold rent or that changes the terms of why he can evict you. Second, he cannot retain your security deposit fi there is no damage caused by you and third it’s much harder these days to have the police show up and remove someone, even under th eInnkeeper’s Act, unless there is an actual real problem. Doesn’t mean it can’t happen, but they tend to leave it int he hands of the landlord versus their hands unless there is danger of someone or something getting harmed.
I would suggest countering him and letting him know you will be moving on, once you find a place, but since he is evicting you without reason and has insinuated it is due to you being female, it now could be a discrimination case and you may pursue legal avenues. If he gives you enough time to move on, returns your full deposit without holding back anything and works with you, you will refrain from taking any legal action.
You can kind of paraphrase that last paragraph to suit you. Basically let him know you won’t be pushed around. At this point you likely don’t want to stay on there as it’s not that great of an environment it sounds like, so moving on would be beneficial for you as well, just make sure it’s on your schedule as the housing markets in Alberta are quite tight right now and if you get boxed into his 30 days it may not work.
Hope that helps a bit,
Bill
Hello,Bill
I am the landlord Lippmann who lives with two tenants, because I have three rooms but I rent out two of them. Depending on the condition, obviously the Tenancy Act of Alberta isn’t suitable to my situation. Probably the Inn Keeper Act is better for me.
Suddenly I got a note that was from Calgary government in order to the inspection of Alberta Minimum Housing and Health Standards. They will send a inspector to check my house. They sent me an E-mail that means they have the rights that without a warrant, at any reasonable time, enter any premises or place, except a private dwelling place that is in use as a dwelling.
Right now, I still do not understand their rights. if I actually live in my house, it means that the house actually is a private dwelling place because it is in use as a dwelling.
If they have a warrant but by law of the Alberta Tenancy ACT, because my condition isn’t by the Alberta Tenancy ACT， is their action legal to enter my house?
I know their inspection is depending on the Minimum Housing and Health Standards of Alberta Health department. the ACT is based on the Residential Tenancy Act.
Please tell me how I can treat this case, by your know and experiences.
Thanks!
Lippmann
Hello Lippman,
From what you tell me, you definitely sound like you fit under the Innkeeper’s Act. That doesn’t sound like the issue here though. I looked up the Minimum Housing and Health Standards purpose on line and it says their primary objective is “to promote the health and well being of occupants of rental housing premises and of those who may reside in the immediate vicinity of such premises“.
Their goal is to make housing safe, sanitary and fit and it sounds like either a tenant, a former tenant or possibly a neighbour complained about your property to them. This has nothing to do with Landlord Tenant Acts or Innkeeper Acts, but rather public safety and as such you are required to follow their rules and requests for inspection.
If you are a proper landlord who takes care of their property and maintains it to provide a safe environment for your tenants and yourself in this case you have nothing to worry about. If you are running a slum with substandard living conditions then you need to be shut down as landlords who run properties so poorly as to be unfit for people to live in shouldn’t be called landlords and make our jobs as honest landlords that much harder.
In your case, I’m hoping it’s just a disgruntled tenant trying to cause you trouble, but the bottom line is they have jurisdiction to come inspect your property.
Regards,
Bill
If I rent out rooms in home, do I have the right to ask my tenants to keep their rooms clean(as in vaccuum and wipe/dust furniture at least once a week)? I provide the vaccuum cleaner and cleaning supplies.
Hi Denise,
You have the right to ask, but it would be hard to enforce as it is their private space. When it comes to common areas it would be entirely different as it affects others.
It’s too late to do much after they are in unless it is extreme, but test the waters, you could initially only offer a one month lease, if they cannot deal with your rules during that time, simply don’t renew and they have to move on.
regards,
Bill
Hello,
I have an Innkeepers setting. The tenant and I had a discussion about a week ago regarding how difficult she is to communicate with and that those of us who live here (own the home) find her difficult and uncomfortable to come in contact with. She avoids us and this makes for an undesirable setting. I stated that she should maybe reconsider her arrangements as she does not seem happy here, but if however we can come to some agreement on some things then that would be alright. It has come to the point whereby we tip toe around her and it feels as though we rent from her, and we are the home owners… I did not get any agreements signed, nor a lease. She then informed me 3 days ago that she would be out at the end of the month (5 days notice) and expects her DD in hand at that time. Am I in the wrong to keep the DD / Security Deposit as she did not give me 30 days and I never told her she was evicted. The current situation was such that she paid month to month and not I am without notice and no renter set up for the next month. Please advise as to my rights.
Thank you,
Marie
Hi Marie,
Unfortunately sometimes renting a room out to someone doesn’t work out. In this case it sounds like it’s best that the tenant moves on as it’s turned your home into a difficult place for you to live, so keeping that in mind, here’s soem thoughts.
The Innkeeper’s act doesn’t have explicit rules about security deposits written right into it, so often the rules applicable to The Residential Tenancy Act get applied in both cases.
If you go that route, you have ten days after the tenant leaves to get them a statement of what amounts, if any are being withheld and for what reason along with the actual refund.So following this, you wouldn’t need to give the tenant the security deposit back the day she leaves.While it’s true, she may not have given you sufficient notice, you have to decide if you can live with that to get your life back.
The real question(s) for you is, if you don’t refund it on moving day, will it impede the tenants ability to move on? Meaning does she need the money to move to her next place or without the security deposit will she be forced to stay with you longer and is that what you really want? I suppose additionally, if you don’t return it the day she leaves, do you really want to meet up with her again? From everything you have expressed in the email, you just want her gone, this over with and then to move on to either another tenant or re-evaluate whether this is worthwhile.
If you’re not concerned about any damage, or if the damage is likely to be so minor versus the positive of having her move on, then simply give her the refund on move out day. If you suspect there will be some damage and due to this some deductions from the deposit, provide the tenant with some instructions in advance of your expectations of the room’s condition and how she can ensure she gets the majority of it back.
If your big concern is the lack of a tenant for the next month and the loss of the income, you could keep the deposit, the tenant could then take you to court to try and get it back (sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t) in which case you would likely have to give the remainder back perhaps less any advertising costs or repairs and you have lost a day or two attending hearings and getting stressed out.This would be the least preferable way to go due to the lost time and extra stress it would cause everyone along with the extra burden on the legal system, but of course this is just my opinion.
Bottom line, if you want it over with, just advise her how the room has to be left in writing, let her know you will do a move out inspection (you did do a move in inspection didn’t you? If you didn’t you have no grounds to retain any of the deposit.) and what potential deductions there may be if it’s left in poor condition and then on moving day just be fair with her and move along.
The market for a monthly rental property is very good for the landlord right now, so you shouldn’t have any problems filling it right away, so perhaps also be up front with her and let her know due to the short notice you would like to be able to show the room to new tenants and that she will need to make sure the room is kept presentable. You can infer the amount of deposit she gets back is dependant on how quickly it rents as well as a sort of incentive.
Hope this helps a bit and gives you soem ideas of what path to go along,
Bill
Hello Bill,
Thank you for your response, I appreciate it. So she stated this past weekend she was going to be out on the last day of the month. However when I got home last night she was just leaving. She left without me being able to go through the unit with her.
Again, for the second time she tried to get into a heated argument with me which I refused to engage in and ended the conversation again! It seemed as though she was attempting to get me to engage so she would have “grounds” to leave without notice. I just clearly restated that she was NEVER asked / told to leave and she decided on her own and did not give me notice. My understanding of a DD / Security is for damage as well as a renter leaving the rental without notice / paying rent? If not, renters could leave any rental without notice all the time which is completely unethical and unfair to leave me in this situation?
So am I wrong in the thinking…if the RTA would apply for notice as the IKAct does not clarify time frame, she would be bound to provide reasonable notice of 30 days?
I am now with out a renter, too busy to arrange a new renter at this stage. This would fource me into rushing to get a tenant and I am not prepared to “rush” and “settle” as this is my home and I want to be secure in who I rent out to.
Thanks,
Marie
Hi Marie,
Regarding the Security deposit or damage deposit, it’s true intent is to cover damages on the property, but technically it could be used to cover rent in the even of a broken lease or improper notice.
The reality though is that it’s rarely applied. The landlord is responsible for filling the property back up as quickly as possible, if you left it vacant for a month because you are busy, you couldn’t find the right tenant or you weren’t running ads the judge in a hearing would decide for the tenant and say you weren’t fulfilling your duties.
You can however charge the tenant for unexpected advertising costs, but you would then have to back it up with actual ads to show you were paying for them. If you advertise on Kijiji and Craigslist and not paid sites, again you would be out of luck.
So the bottom line is while the tenants are supposed to be liable for lost rent due to lack of notice, it’s rarely ever enforceable.
Regards,
Bill
Hello,
I am potentially going to be renting a room in my house. The individual has been given a great reference from a good friend I have known and trusted for a long time. We would be sharing the kitchen and laundry room and other common areas. I have 2 1/2 bathrooms, 1 of which is an onsuite off my bedroom. The 1/2 bathroom is on the main floor. We could each have our own bathroom and share the main floor bathroom.
Long story short, I am new to renting out rooms and was wondering what I should do to best protect myself and the tenant from any issues in the long run. Whether it is signed documents or information I should read up on, what is the best way for me to procede with renting out a room? Taking pictures of my house and possesions prior to his arrival and a typed out agreement on the amount per month and the damage deposit we both agree to is all I can really think of. Any advice would be appreciated!
Thanks!
RT
Hi RT,
Having everything in writing is a great start. There are a few more caveats when it comes to renting out a room in your property as you are sharing your home completely with a potential stranger. Since you will be sharing everything you have to make sure all the ground rules are laid out. Some of the biggest issues resolve around dishes, cleaning and guests.
Make sure you lay out in the written document how these areas are dealt with. Since you are living there as well, it has to be something that works for you also. So if the tenant has to do dishes immediately after cooking, you better be darn sure you can follow the rules as well. Otherwise the rules will fall to the wayside.
Additionally, you may want to also make sure the insurance you have covers you if the tenant causes damage or loss of use of your premises.
On the positive side, as a landlord renting out a room in your property you have far more rights than a normal landlord due to you falling under the Innkeeper’s Act, ao in reference to your email address, use this power wisely young jedi!
Hope this helps,
Bill
Great advice.
Thanks for the quick response!
RT
So I have a situtation that falls under the innkeepers act.. I just wanted to clarify a few things. I had a very verbally abusive roommate that rented my spare room. Things became so bad that I called the police and had him removed from my home. He now wants the damage deposit back. He when he was leaving there was garbage left in the room, sheets and blankets were ruined and I spent almost 8 hours washing walls and repairing walls from dents and scuffs that he damaged moving his things out. Do I have the right to keep damage deposit and is there any forms or protocols I need to follow to do so? This is the first time this has happened to I am not sure on what to do.
Hi Lacey,
the only way he can come back after you for the funds is to take you to small claims court. Realistically its going to be too much of a hassle for him to do this unless he doesn’t mind waisting his time. To ensure you don’t lose, just be sure to document everything (hopefully you also took pictures of the room after he left), document your approximate time and then how much it would cost to bring in a professional cleaner to provide the same service plus any associated costs to replace sheets, blankets etc.
Once you total it all up, if it amounts to equal or more than his DD, send him a nice statement breaking it all down. If it’s less than the D, then you might consider refunding a portion, but only if it’s considerably less.
Hope that helps!
Bill
Hi
I have been living in a house with the landlords for 3 weeks. It quickly became apparent there was a cockroach problem, the landlords are young and leave food and rubbish everywhere, have rented out rooms that are not legal and now there are 9 people living in one house and a great big dog. The parties go on until the early hours and the dog chews everything and has peed on two roommates beds.
I gave a weeks notice and after much swearing and slamming doors by one landlord have been told that they are planning to keep the damage deposit.
I can understand that it is short notice but the living conditions are terrible and not what they appeared and as we are not covered under the RTA we do not seem to have any rights. Are they able to keep the damage deposit? Is there anything we can do?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks
S
Hi, sorry to hear about your circumstances.
Some of the notice issues depend on what type of term you were in, I’m assuming it was month to month, which means you are theoretically supposed to give them 30 days notice. However, the residence may not have been what it was represented originally, so there is a chance they are in breach as well.
It could come down to a small claims court hearing to get your actual deposit back and depending on the amount, it may not be worth your time. But you have other options.
Obviously they aren’t cut out to be landlords and they aren’t following the rules, so here are your options. You can talk to the landlord explain that the property is not what it was represented to be and due to this, you are leaving early. You’re not giving them proper notice as the unit wasn’t what you expected, not should expect.
The power you hold right now and have to tell the landlord if he attempts to withhold your deposit, is that if the landlord decides not to refund you in full, you will report the property to the city for zoning and health issues. It’s quite likely they won’t be properly zoned to rent out nine units in one property, which could severely hamper his income. Also you mentioned several of the rooms are being illegally rented as bedrooms which could also affect his pocketbook. Finally if the living conditions are substandard, the health people could also potentially shut him down.
So you can use all of this leverage, plus let him know you will pursue this through the courts as well. Ultimately withholding your security deposit could cost him dearly (shutting down his whole rental operation of 9 units, facing potential fines, costly upgrades and cleanup etc.), so it’s his choice if he wants to hold your deposit for renting a place that wasn’t what it was billed to be.
You might want to wait until the last day to bring this up, just in case he tries to lock you out, as he obviously doesn’t understand the rules and may try some under handed tactics.
Hope this helps,
Bill
Thanks Bill. Helpful answers. Only reason why I’m asking the equivalent of two month’s rent for Damage Deposit is because I have furniture and appliances in the house which is worth about ten times one month’s rent and if the worst was to happen, want to ensure I am covered to a better extent (I guess typically, when people rent out a property they don’t live in themselves they would likely have cheaper furniture, but this is not the case in my situation).
Anyway, I’ve already had one tenant stay for a prescribed time we agreed and move on who made a 2X monthly rent Damage Deposit and to whom I returned the full amount and have every intention of doing so for my current tenant, as long as no damage is made. The monthly rent isn’t very high so I do feel 2X for Damage deposit is reasonable.
Thanks for the answers and clearing that up.
Naz
Hi,
I have three straight forward questions (hopefully that entail three straight-forward answers 🙂 ).
1. If you are renting a room within your home, does the Innkeepers Act apply and not the Residential Tenancy Act in all areas?
2. I believe the Residential Tenancy Act stipulates the equivalent of one’s months rent is the maximum a landlord can ask for Damage Deposit. I do not see such stipulation in the Innkeeper’s Act. Does this mean the landlord can ask, say the equivalent of two month’s rent as Damage Deposit?
3. Where can I get a copy of a Tenancy Contract suited for a short term Innkeeper/Lodging rather than a Tenancy contract for a Residential Tenancy type agreement?
Naz
Hi Naz,
Here you go,
for 1) it’s not so much that the Innkeeper’s act applies as renting rooms out of your home and having shared common space is NOT covered by the Resiential Tenancy Act, so it slips into the Innkeeper’s Act as the next closest legislation.
2) There’s not stipulation for security deposits under the innkeeper’s Act, so theoretically the skies the limit, however, at what point will you be too expensive for tenants and be shooting yourself in the foot? Also, if it was too high and someone took you to small claims court,t eh judge may apply some of the RTA rules anyway and not allow you to withhold any additional security deposit above a month’s rent. So it’s kind of gray!
3) Hopefully in the next several months, I’ll have a copy of my packages of forms available for sale on the site. Alternatively you could contact a lawyer and you should be able to get a fairly reasonable contract written up you could use for a few hundred dollars.
Regards,
Bill
Hello
My sister in law who is currently living with us. She is paying rent but she is causing problems between my wife and I. She is currently on student visa. Out of the kindness of my heart I let her with us and she’s turned my wife and kids against me and now my wife and my kids don’t talk to me. She convinced my wife to call the police on me and her story didn’t check out when cops came. And now my wife want to leave me if move her out. What I want to know is that does the innkeepers act apply to my problem. And if and when I take her to court my will be on her side. My wife says that she will tell the judge that her sister is not doing anything wrong but helps her at home. Note: I’m the one paying the mortgage. My wife is a stay at home mom. Please advice.
Hi Sonny,
It sounds like you are in a no win situation. You need to work this out with your wife and move forward from there. If you try to evict the sister and your wife contradicts your facts, you’ll lose. You can’t even sell the property at this point and move forward, unless your wife agrees, which might be the best plan, if things are that bad.
Regards,
Bill
Thank you first of all for the great site. I think my question is primarily answered, however I would just like a bit of clarification. If I own my home and I am renting out one room on the main level and one room in the basement with shared kitchen and living room (each room has their own assigned bathroom) and I am now in a position where I would like to have my home to myself, what kind of notice do I have to give to my tenants/roommates? One roommate left with no problem as she had another option to go to, however the other roommate says she refuses to leave. I gave her one months notice on the 2nd day of the month as I wanted to do it in person so this to me would mean that they need to move out by January 2, 2013. They say they will not! What recourse do I have?
Hi Lea,
Since you fall under the Innkeeper’s act versus the Residential Tenancy Act, there really isn’t a time frame listed in the Act.Just to be safe though the one month time frame should be good, although when you refer to giving someone a month’s notice, it normally requires a full month. So in this case, since you gave it on the 2nd, December wouldn’t count, they would normally have until the end of January.
However since you’re not under the Innkeeper’s Act, it’s just a technicality.
Explain to the lady that she has until the 2nd to vacate and that since you fall under the Innkeeper’s Act this is more of a courtesy and you could do it much sooner, if she doesn’t abide by this. Explain to her that if she doesn’t leave by the 2nd, you will be contacting the police under the Innkeeper’s Act to have her removed on the spot. Of course do this all tactfully and she should sense you mena business.
You may want to have a copy of the both the Residential tenancy Act and the Innkeeper’s Act to provide her and highlight the section in the Residential Tenancy Act showing where units where the landlord shares space with the tenants do not fit under the RTA.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Thank you very much, Bill
I already reported to 911 about that case at 6:14PM, on Nov28. Because of my poor English, the 911-lady required a Chinese woman to translate.
About 7:00PM, 3 policemen came to my house, I reported them the situation. Those policemen inquired the melicious tenant, but that guy distorted everything because he can speak English very well and he has lived in Canada for over 25 years(lots of experiences and made up many things). That is why he used to bully me by his mighty English and his long time Canadian experience.
I feel very wronged to live with that guy because of lots of his hostile position and bad behaviors.
I just reported the case to you a few days ago, and you replied me. You told me that my situation belongs to the Innkeeper Act.
The bad tenant refused to pay the rent of this month by many excuses on Dec 01/2012.
I really want to know when I can start the eviction program. Please let me know what is my next step.
Thank you for helping me to find my rights.
Due to the challenges you have with this fellow it sounds like you should probably hire an eviction services company to represent you and to help this go smoothly.
I’m not sure whether you are in Calgary or Edmonton, but where ever you are, I would suggest you find someone who has a Chinese speaking staff member to make sure they get all the facts and can best represent you. This might require you calling around a bit to find the right choice for you.
If he hasn’t paid rent and is being hostile to you, you can definitely start the process today and begin the steps to have him evicted right away.
Now you can do this yourself, but as you talked about, he has already talked around you to distort your words and if you represent yourself without a translator, it’s likely he will do it again and put you in a bad situation with potential to drag out his stay for months which isn’t what you want.
Hope that helps a bit.
Bill
Dear Bill. I need to continue discussing the last topic.
The malicious tenant is around 55, devorced Egyptian, labour worker, no any house property even no a car. He speaks English very well, and he likes making up anything be beneficial himself.
I can’t stand being patient so many bad behaviors of the bastard since I caught he stole my things. Because of my poor English, I don’t want to argue him. In particular, he made up the story of my ex-wife and me. He bullies me because he has more Canadian experience than me, and he knew how to cut legal corners. He said he has lived in Canada for over 25 years and questioned me how long do you live in Canada.
I gave him a notice of termination on Nov 28 at 6.14PM, but he got furious and threatened my witness. He refused to accept the notice and spitted to me. He said he would refuse to move out.
I have a lease agreement with him when he moved in my house. The clause 4 of the lease agreement says either side of both has the right to terminate the agreement by a written notice before hand within 30 days.
I already gave him the termination notice and 33days period. And then how can I start the eviction proceed?
He said he still has the right to live in my house for 3 months(hint he doesn’t pay any rent). And then He tried to extort my money. He said if I want him to move out except I have to pay him $800.
Could you help me?
Hi,
If he threatened your witness, you need to bring in the police. If he spit on you, again, you need to bring in the police. He is dangerous and hostile it sounds like, so call the police and explain the situation. You are a homeowner, with a tenant renting a room under the Innkeeper’s Act. He has become hostile and you need assistance under the Innkeeper’s Act to remove him.
The warning that comes with this is that is must have just happened within the last day or two, if this was a month ago, you missed you window of opportunity. If it was serious, it needed to be addressed immediately, not sat on or the seriousness of the situation disappears. It’s like calling for an ambulance during an emergency, if you call as it happens, it’s more of an emergency than if you waited three days and then called them to report the accident.
Failing this, you have two options, go through the RTDRS or the court systems. You can purchase my guide to walk you through the steps fo the RTDRS, but they will likely push you over to the courts anyway. There you can either represent yourself, and if your english is poor, this may not be the most effective as he may be able to get you tongue tied, or you can hire an eviction company to assist.
An eviction company will be in the order of $750 – 1,200 dollars depending on how hard this would be, but I don’t think it would be that hard if you can verify everything. This will take a few weeks to get done, but no where near three months, unless you have broken the law somewhere.
I would start with the police, then move forward from there.
Regards,
Bill
Hello, I am an Innkeeper. I rent a bedroom to a guy for helping to pay my house mortgage. We share the kitchen and washroom.
The renter is very cruel to treat me when he knew I was the new owner and lack of experience on leasing property. It isn’t only that. He used to steal my food indegrients even detergent power. I caught him several times when he stole my things until the last time. Because his bad behaviors, we got to argue twice. the last argument was in October and than I phone 911 to require police help.
I tried to require him to move out my house on Sept 01, but he asked me to give him some more time until he would come back in the end of November. I was worried about he would destroy my property, so I permitted he stay some more days until middle December. When he came back from his vacation on Nov 23, I tried to require him to move out my house in December again that he had promised to move out my house in December, but he changed his idea and refused my request.
Right now how can I do to evict this bad guy?
Thanks!
Hi,
Since you are living there and rent out a room to this fellow and have shared common areas, it sounds like you definitely do fit under the Innkeeper’s Act. That’s the good news.
The bad news is in the last year it’s been getting harder to get the police to enforce your rights as it seems tobe a gray area between the Residential Tenancy Act (RTA) and the Innkeeper’s Act even though it is spelled out quite clearly in the RTA that it does not apply if the landlord lives on the premises and there is shared space.
However, you can still give the fellow a deadline of say tonight and let him know if he isn’t out by then you will call the police and have him escorted off the property. Explain to him you have researched the situation, that you fall under the Innkeeper’s Act and that you can call the police in to escort him off the property. If he isn’t ready to go, he will have to arrange a later time of your convenience to pick up his items. Make sure to print off a copy of the Act for him and possibly even the section from the RTA explaining why he isn’t covered by the RTA.
If he leaves great, if not, call the police and explain you fall under the Innkeeper’s Act and need a tenant removed. Explain that you have concerns about damage to the property and hopefully you get soem understanding and helpful officers there shortly to assist you.
Regards,
Bill
Thanks, Bill! Appreciate all the help I can get right now.
I’ll make sure everything is documented from now on.
Hello Bill,
Thank you for this website! It is such a helpful resource after scouring the internet and not finding the information I need!
I am a landlord that is sharing common spaces in my home with two roommates, so I definitely fall under the Innkeeper’s Act. It is my first time renting out the rooms in my house and am having a big learning curve with it. We started in September and it was intended for a 6 month lease.
There are a couple of issues:
1. Our agreement is for six months – but on the rental agreement I did not count the months right and the agreement is effective from September 1 to March 31. (But we both signed to this.) I am thinking of giving a three month notice on December 1 that I am terminating this lease (it was supposed to end February 28, but my mistake as outlined above) with her. Related question: Can I post a Notice of Change of Terms about the date even if my agreement says that “The terms and conditions of this agreement are subject to future change by OWNER after the expiration of the agreed lease period upon 30-day written notice setting forth such change and delivered to RESIDENT. Any changes are subject to laws in existence at the time of the Notice of Change Of Terms.”?
2. I did not think that we needed written house rules (my mistake, really. Not happening again.) and one roommate’s room is filthy. Clothes on the floor, rotten food (I’m talking 3 week old burgers), and the cups/plates that she used (which are mine) have been hoarded up in her room for one week (and were moldy and crusty and GROSS). Her room was starting to smell and I was worried that the home would be compromised so I went in the room, took out the offending plates and told her via post it in her bedroom door. I might have breached our agreement that I have to give her 24 hours, but I was worried about the sanitary state of my home. I have a clause in my agreement that says “OWNER may enter, inspect, and/or repair the premises at any time in case of emergency or suspected abandonment.”
3. She is consistently late for rent. Her September rent was fine, but her October rent was late and her current rent is short by $150, with a promise to get the rest to me by the end of the month because her insurance company took out too much money, apparently.
4. Other violations of the (Verbal) House Rules: I have said that things in the shared kitchen sink have a maximum ONE DAY turnaround time, but she has repeatedly violated this. It was agreed between all residents of our house that we will take turns in cleaning the bathroom. Of the two times that she needed to clean the bathroom, one time it was shoddily done – I mean, the toilet and tub were not scrubbed and there were stains on it and she just wiped the sink and the other time was completely ignored. There is an clause on the agreement about house rules: “HOUSE RULES: RESIDENT shall comply with all house rules as stated on separate addendum to be agreed at a later time, but which are deemed part of this rental agreement, and a violation of any of the house rules is considered a breach of this agreement.”
I don’t want to act like her parent and remind her when rent is due or if it’s her turn to clean the bathroom, or ask her to do her dishes. I’m very frustrated and this point and any help would be REALLY appreciated.
Last questions:
1. Does the Innkeepers’ Act supercede the rental agreement? Does that mean I serve a notice of eviction sooner?
2. Does her behaviour constitute substantial breach?
The past two months have been very stressful at home and I just want my peace of mind back…
Hi Ella,
Wow, you’ve asked a ton of questions, I’m not sure I can answer all of them right now, but let’s see what I can answer.
Regarding changing the agreement, both parties have to agree to change the contract, you cannot arbitrarily change it. If there was an error on the contract that changes everything you get into contract law which really requires a lawyer to discuss with you. You get into common errors, unilateral errors and they are dealt with in different manners.
I would skip sending an update on it.
House rules are a must in a shared accommodation setting. As they say, common sense isn’t all that common, so rules like cleaning, codes of conduct etc should be laid out. For the bathroom cleaning or other shared tasks, perhaps consider a checklist that needs to be signed off on? It might be a little obsessive, but it is your home, hence your rules and if they don’t like it they don;t have to live there.
Letting tenants pay late sets a horrible precedent. Any late payment should be followed up with a written notice of the breach, re-explaining of the rules and what the results of late payment can be (eviction). These notices become great evidence later of bad payment habits and make evictions even easier.
Innkeeper’s Act and the Residential Tenancy Act supersede any rental agreements in Alberta. If there are obvious breaches you can start the eviction ( late payment of rent, disruption of other tenants rights), if there are breaches that could sound nitpicky (he tenant wasn’t clean enough, they didn’t put the dishes back right) your case would likely get thrown out.
You need to have some solid ground to stand on. Her behavior at this point sounds poor, but other than the late payments your grounds for eviction are weak at this point. If you’re having this many issues, write them down in a formal letter for her breaking out the issues, what needs to be changed and that if they aren’t then you will have to take the appropriate steps.
If you document all of your interactions with the tenant it can be very helpful down the line if an eviction is required.
Hope that helped,
Bill
hello,
Im new to the sight and thus far it has been an enlightening experience. I have a very specific quastion and im wondering if you can help. I am living with a landlord in his primary residence , so i fall under the innkeeper act. i have paid a damage deposit, i have paid my rend ontime for 2 months now. we have had a disagreement about the parking situation and the landlord is threatening to kick me out without notice , which is fine , but he is also saying he will keep my dmg deposit as well as the remainder of the months rent which i have paid in full. so my quastion is IF he decides to kick me out mid month and keep all my money , how do i get my money back.
Hi Bob,
Thanks for stopping in.
You shouldn’t have a problem getting your damage deposit back as long as the room is in the same condition as when you moved in less normal wear and tear. the process for this since you are under the Innkeeper’s Act is to go through the court system though which requires filing at the local court house.
The rent itself though could be a bit more difficult and depends on the lease and the reason for the eviction. In your case if parking is the reason and it wasn’t specifically defined in the lease, you would have great grounds to only be charged for the time you were there. If it was a specific breach of the lease, you broke the contract and may be responsible for the remainder of the month.
I would suggest explaining to the landlord you understand your rights and if you do get evicted you expect your security deposit back and to be charged on a per diem basis for the month. If he doesn’t, let him know you will take him to court. If he keeps both the security deposit and the rent, I would definitely file to get both back in court, if he does refund the deposit, but keeps the rent, now it comes down tot he time you have to try and get it back versus the potential lost wages spent in court and in filing.
You may want to suggest to him that you understand this isn’t working out and that you will leave on your own at the end of the month. This might be the best solution as it will let him advertise well in advance and not cost him any potentially lost rent or court time and give you time to find a new place. If he’s rational about it, he might see this as the best solution as well, but you just never know!
Hope that helped Bob!
Bill
thanks bill , thats very helpful.
I rent a house and have a rental agreement with the home owner but am considering renting a spare room out. If I do, would the Innkeepers Act or Residential Tenancies Act apply between me and whoever I rent the room too?
Hi Stephen,
Technically you would fall under that category and you would need to makes sure you have proper agreements created, follow the steps listed in the Innkeeper’s Act (like posting the act in specific areas) and make sure you represent yourself properly.
The caveat is that your landlord has to be aware of what you are doing and that you are allowed to sublet. Most good leases do not allow the tenants to sublet space in their rental. They either require any additional tenants to be on the lease as renters and/or approval from the landlord of any new residents. This might be the area you start looking into first.
Regards,
Bill
So we gave him three months notice. He agreed to it. Now our only question is does he have to give us a months notice on leaving. The move out date would be nov 22. If he moves out prior to that what would happen? Are there any amounts that he owes us for leaving early?
Hi Jenn,
Sorry missed your comment. Are you asking does he need to give you a month’s notice if he leaves early? Technically yes, but realistically isn’t sooner better? I would prefer he moves out sooner as it’s harder to rent a place in December than it is in November and October is easier yet.
If he decides to leave early and you inform him he will be charged it could backfire and he stays until the final date. I would take an early leave as a bonus and then get it rented as quickly as possible and for more due to the incredibly tight market right now. Does that make sense?
Bill
Hello!
First of all, we have used your website before and you are very useful. Thanks so much for your help in the past.
Here is our current situation:
We have a renter that has been living with us since June 1 2011. He rents most of our basement with the exception of one room, and a shared laundry facility. Up until a few months ago he also shared our kitchen space, so we had a small kitchenette put in downstairs.
When we interviewed him as a potential renter, we were under the distinct impression that he was going to be a full time pshycology student with possible part time job on the side. His family member of his was paying his entire way through school, including rent.
We have had a few concerns throughout his rental period. Firstly, his rent has been one or two days late a few times. When he moved in, he told us that he plays the drums, which we informed him that he could when we’re not home. He also has a set of drum pads, (very quiet practice versions of the drums). He tends to play the pads at all hours of the day and night. He has at times woken us up and our child up playing the pads as loud as they will play. They are still quiet, but at three am they sure carry. We have talked to him about this, and the problem got better for awhile but has resumed again.
He has not at any point during his rental period been a full time student, nor has he been employed anywhere that we could tell. I’m not sure if we have any legitimate reason to be bothered by this.
He in fact, seems to be home nearly 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He rarely ever leaves the home at all, except to go to the corner store. This has frequently bothered me, if only because of the fact that we were led to belivee he would rarely be home, which was what we were looking for in a renter. Also because I am a mom with a small child, it sometimes makes me uncomfortable to know that he is always aware of my every action throughout the entire day.
Lastly, he is not the cleanest of people, and his entire place is extremely odorous,which we have talked to him about. He has what apperas to be baking soda spread along all the edges of his living space, and if his bedroom door gets opened a horrendous man-sweet smell wafts up the staircase. At times, it is literally nauseating.
We finally decided to give him a full three months notice to find a new place. We may have a relative moving in downstairs, we have a new child on the way, and frankly we are just tired of the above forementioned issues. My husband gave him verbal notice on the 23rd in the evening, and that he would get written notice the next day. My husband was trying to as diplomatic as possible, but did mention that sooner would be better.
We were unable to give him written notice however, because he left in the early afternoon Friday with a backpack of things and hasn’t been home since.
Considering his previous tendency never to leave the house, we are becoming concerned that he has left with all of his things still here. (smell and all)
What are our rights? I am seriously tempted to pack up his things and have a new renter in here for the first, but what are we entitled to do?
Can we revoke our earlier three months notice and simply evict him in full tomorrow? (considering some of the things that have been concerns in the past year)
Occasionally we have exchanged texts for this or that reason, and I texted him earlier today asking if he had found a place, etc. I have heard nothing.
Please advise us as to what the best course of action might be.
Sincerely,
Jenn
Hi Jenn,
I’m glad you’ve found the information here helpful. It sounds like you may have originally been able to fit this under the Innkeeper’s Act due to the shared kitchen, but fi he now has his own space for everything it’s more likely to be a Residential Tenancy Act situation.
Sooooooo. You cannot clean out his space.
Now considering it was a weekend, perhaps he went away for an extended weekend, either way you’re kind of tied up at the moment until at least the 2nd. If he’s gone, he won’t be there when rent is due. If he hasn’t paid by the second, I would suggest proceeding directly to the RTDRS for an eviction.
I would also follow up with his family to see if you can get some updates from them. Your issue currently is you don;t know if he has vacated or not and without firm proof, you can’t really touch anything, unless there is a hideous smell and you are concerned something dangerous is happening, like potential fire hazard or mould issues.
Make sure you provide a notice to him now that if he isn’t around by September 1st, you will have to go through the RTDRS as well, just to cover yourself and to show you have warned him.
You can’t evict him now unless he breaks a part of the lease. So if he continues to make noise for instance, but I would also provide him written notice that if it happens again you will be evicting him. Just try and document everything so you have backup if it does go to court and he pretends he was totally unaware there was a problem. By documenting and giving him written notice you are covering yourself.
So at this point, you’re in a holding pattern. LEt me know if that makes sense or is just getting confusing!
Regards,
Bill
So if he were to say that my place is a mess and that it isn’t a good fit and that there is an odor emanating from my space. Does he have the right to evict me by giving me three months notice. I am on a month to month agreement
What are my rights?
Hi Joe,
He wouldn’t be out of his rights. There are certain expectations when there are multiple suites in a a property and this is where it can get a bit vague or gray. On one hand if you are leaving excessive piles of laundry, garbage and general junk in the common spaces you share it would be an issue.
On the other hand if you left a couple boxes outside your suite and happened to cook fish in your oven the same day it could also be construed as a mess and smelly to some people.
In either case the landlord would have to show that it is a continual problem, not a one off and that it is hampering their living experience.
Your rights at this point would be to appeal it and force the landlord to go through the courts or the RTDRS to move to the next step of the eviction or to not leave at the end of the three month’s notice.
Appealing would be the better route, by simply not leaving it could leave the impression you didn’t take the eviction serious or could leave you open for additional costs or losses if the landlord pursued them. They may not win, but it would get more complicated and by not appealing it puts you in a more open position.
Alternatively, you could discuss with the landlord what you need to do to stay. Find out if there is one or two things that the landlord objects to that you also would consider adjusting to accommodate them and make this work. If the landlord really wants you out, it is just a matter of time and they could seriously impair your ability to acquire a new place as well, so just be aware of that.
With a tighter rental market good properties, which we are currently experiencing in Alberta, go fast and if your current landlord is evicting you, it’s pretty unlikely you can use him for a reference. If you negotiate with him and can come to a happy arrangement where you get to stay, it’s win win, if you cannot come to an arrangement where you can stay, perhaps you can turn it into a more favourable reference if you agree to move out as quickly as possible. Also potentially a win win.
does that help a bit?
Bill
Hi I live in a home where the owners live in the top of the house. They have the entire upstairs along with a room downstairs. I currently live downstairs in the living room and the other bedroom is mine. I have my own stove fridge, sink and bathroom. We currently share the laundry facilitiy, the entrance ways and obvioulsy the hallways donwstairs. Would the landlords be under the inkeepers act? or the RTA?
I’d like to know what rights I have as a tenant.
Thanks
Hi Joe,
If you have your own separate space that includes fridge, stove sink and bathroom you would most likely fit under the RTA versus Innkeeper’s Act. If this separate space has a locking door making it a self contained unit, then you definitely fit under the RTA.
The Innkeeper’s Act covers units where tenants typically have one or possibly two rooms and share cooking facilities and other common areas like bathrooms.
Does that help point you int he direction of knowing your rights, or did this create a separate question I might be able to answer?
Regards,
Bill
Hi Bill, I have read a lot of the comments on this page but I need some clarification.
I live in a situation that falls under the Innkeeper’s Act, I rent a room in the basement of my landlords home. The basement is undeveloped except for my room. The rest of the house is pretty much shared space except for their rooms of course.
Outside my room in the basement there was a area full of construction trash. I had some of my own property that was right outside my door but in front of this trash. About a week ago she had some workers enter the basement and remove the trash…they also removed my property. I informed my landlord when I discovered this and asked to be reimbursed for the items. She then ignored me for a week and is now trying to evict me.
She served me with a notice to vacate where it notes her reason is, “a breakdown in our landlord tenant relationship”. Is this a valid reason? She does have to have some sort of reason right? I have done nothing to her or the property and haven’t caused any disturbances. If I read the act right she is responsible for my property being removed even if it was unintentional.
What can I do to fight it if she is in the wrong? And how can I go about being reimbursed for my property?
I’m grateful for any light you can shed on my situation.
Thank you.
Hi TC,
It sounds like she is trying to avoid reimbursing you by simply getting rid of you. Her reason for the eviction is pretty weak, but depending on how she presents it, there is a chance you could be escorted off the property by the police if you were to try and fight it.
Unfortunately for tenants under the Innkeeper’s Act you can’t really stop the eviction if the police work with her. Fortunately though it seems the police are stepping back more often from getting involved, there just doesn’t seem to be a definitive line in the sand where they do become involved.
If you dispute this and she brings the police in to remove you, they may view her rationale for the eviction as insufficient, or they may decide to side with her, so it’s kind of a risk either way. If she fails to get you removed with the police assistance, she may have to resort to the courts and in the majority of situations with a weak reason, they will decide in your behalf, you just have to get to that point.
So from what you tell me it really appears she is in the wrong and just trying to cover herself with the eviction. To get reimbursed for your goods your option will likely be to proceed through small claims court and you will have to prove what you lost and the value.
You can try and fight the eviction, but if she involves the police it could go either way, so be on your best behaviour. If you come off as an angry tenant, your odds go downhill, if you come off as someone wronged, you will most likely get to stay. Ultimately though, the relationship may indeed be damaged enough you might want to consider moving on anyway as I can only imagine it will become more hostile.
At this point I would make sure you document everything in case it does end up in soem type of hearing or if you have to show anything to the police. In addition, you may want to try reasoning with her and explaining that you will leave (if that’s what you decide), but you need to be reimbursed for your items and will take her to court if necessary.
Remember, I’m not a lawyer, so you may want to secure some additional legal advice in this scenario, but hopefully it gives you soem ideas of what to expect.
Regards,
Bill
Is there a specific form to use for the ‘Inn Keepers Act’ like the tenancy agreement forms? If so, where Can I find them.
Thanks so much for this site/information. So valuable. I really do try and help people who stay at my house, but oh my gosh, some of them!!!!!
Hi,
There aren’t specific forms that I was able to find, so we developed custom room agreements along with other specific forms to make everything work. We used to sell the complete package of these for $75, but are working on redoing the package as it originally had everything one would need to set up a rooming house including inventory checklists.
If you’d like updates as to when that might be available again be sure to register for our emails at the bottom of the page.
Regards,
Bill
Hi there
I have a room mate who falls under the inn keepers act. I no longer wish to have her as a room mate, so I gave her a written thirty day notice (even though this is not required). Upon receiving the notice she went absolutely crazy, she even had her mother call me (she is 21). She has caused me endless disturbances and disputes, and I can’t handle her. So I told her ahe needs to be out tomorrow by 12:00.
She paid me August rent which was $400, and it’s the 3rd today. We have no written agreement it is all verbal. I told her I would give her $200 of her rent back and the rest I would use for the days she was here as well as some damage she has caused to the bathroom. She threatened to call the police as keeping her money is “theft”. I contacted the police and this is in fact not true, they have told me it is completely within my rights to keep her money. I did not give her any reciepts and nothing for proof was written down. Help! Is this true? Can I keep her rent for all the inconvenience she has caused me?
Hi,
I think you did the right think by offering to refund a portion of the rent to her and it’s probably the best way to continue moving forward. Because you are falling closer to the Innkeeper’s Act rather than the standard Landlord and Tenant Act or Residential Tenancy Act as it’s known, the rules become foggy.
Because this is a civil matter rather than a criminal act, it would be extremely hard for her to charge you with theft. She could however take you to small claims court and try and get some money back. If you kept all the money, there would be a potential for you to lose the hearing unless you could plainly show how you deserve to keep it all which is unlikely.
Since you are only keeping a portion of it and are applying it to damages and a pro-rated portion of the month’s rent it is much more reasonable. Just to cover yourself on this though, I would document all of the costs, and damage expenses in case it does go anywhere. By documenting it you can show you did actually incur costs.
If you simply pocket the money and don’t do the repairs then you would be taking advantage of her and there is a good chance you would have to repay her. Personally I wouldn’t have a problem with keeping $200 if the damages and rent were close to that, but I would find keeping the $400 for inconveniences ethically wrong. Now I haven’t seen the damages, so it may cost more than you think to repair, so perhaps get a quote form someone or price out the materials and time to repair it yourself and judge accordingly.
Bottom line, you need her out as soon as possible so dangle the $200 to leave now and let her know if this drags out, extra damages occur or other issues arise, that $200 she is supposed to get could quickly become additional expenses to you and she could miss out.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hi , I stupidly let my brothers friend move into my home which I own. She paid rent until the 22 of July. Although after the first week she let a girl she was cheating on with into my home and stay there when she went to work. Then she disappeared for a week and stopped coming to the house to sleep. so I was unable to discuss things with her. She stopped by twice to get some things and talk with me about the living circumstances. She informed me that she would take her belongings on Friday july 7 but never showed up. So I texted her and attempted to call her. In the heat of the moment i told her that her stuff needs to be out by 5pm today because i am terrified she will steal my belongings and I am staying at the house hostage. I believe I fall under the innkeepers act because I live in the home and I own it. I am unsure of what to do with her belongings and when I can legally change my locks. She is an alcoholic and I am afraid even though I believe her to be non aggressive u never know. There was no legal paperwork signed and it was only verbal agreements. I learned some valuable lessons and will never do this again however in the meantime how can I protect myself, my home, my animals, and my personal property???
I have worked too hard for my home to be a prisoner inside it until the 22.
Hi Chelsea,
You are going through one of the worst experiences right now. You try to help someone out and then get taken advantage of, but i think I can help you with your question and make this a little easier.
First off, you should try to contact her and potentially tell her she has to get all of her stuff out today if possible, or tomorrow worst case as you are changing the locks. Hopefully you are around for the rest of the weekend just in case she does come by. You do fall under the Innkeeper’s Act here in Alberta, so that is your saving grace and is what allows you to change the locks.
Also let her know you will pack up her belongings and there is a potential for charging her for storage. It does require more work on your behalf as you have to inventory it and provide extra paperwork to verify you stored it if it ever came down to a small claims case from here, but it might light a fire under her. the verbal agreement will stand upo, especially if you have receipts or can verify the payments.
As for the additional rent she has paid you, it would be proper to refund it to her, but I would only do so if all her goods are picked up by your deadline, otherwise you may have to apply the rent she has paid for storage fees.
Hope that gives you soem ideas fo how to proceed!
Regards,
Bill
Hello,
Here is my dilemma: I live in a 3 bedroom condo that I own. I rent out the other two rooms and I love one of my roommates and get a long great with her. The other roommate, not so much. I feel very uncomfortable with her living there. She never speaks to me in a normal voice and is always yelling and screaming at me when I speak in a normal tone of voice with her. She broke a very expensive chef knife that the other roommate (I’ll call her roommate 1) had to tell me that roommate 2 had broken it. Roommate 2 waited 2 days to let me know she had broken the knife. I have also given her a months’ notice to move as that is the agreement we have come to the we both have to give the other 30’s notice to move out. She agreed to this and even signed an agreement with me.
On June 1st, I gave her 30 days written notice and she proceeded to tell me she wasn’t moving. When I gave her that notice I was trying to call my dad and her words to me were, “Go ahead. Call the cops. I don’t care.”
My question is, do I, under the Innkeepers Act, have the right to ask her to leave my home. If I do and she is still there on June 30th, what do I do or what can I do to get her to leave?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Hi,
I would follow her advice and call the cops, or at the very least let her know you will and let her know she doesn’t fall under the Residential Tenancy Act, she falls under the Innkeeper’s Act. If that doesn’t get her moving, then call her bluff and call in the police to remove her. Your call at this point is whether there is sufficient issue to evict her right now, or whether you want to wait until the 30th.
If you want this to go smoother make a point of explaining how the Innkeeper’s Act applies in this circumstance.
Now as a side note, the police have become more reluctant to removing tenants in situations like this. There is more and more confusion as to where this situation falls under, but the Residential Tenancy Act specifically states that when it involves properties where the landlord and the tenants share a common living area it does NOT fall under the RTA.
It doesn’t specifically state it falls under the Innkeeper’s Act, but this is the closest legislation it does fall under and hence where it ends up.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Thank you for that information.
Just to clarify… I don’t need to have a reason to want her out, right?
Hi,
You do require a reason, but this could be something as simple as causing a disturbance in the house. So if an argument broke out about here leaving on time ……
Regards,
Bill
I understand. Thanks, Bill!!!
Hi, I have a home in which I live full time that has a secondary suite in the same house. The suite has it own separate entrance but is under the same roof and on the same property. We don’t share living spaces but they suite is considered one of the rooms in my single family house. In our lease agreement that the tenants signed we there was to be no smoking and no pets. They smoke weed in the suite and are now hiding a dog in there portion of the house. Does this situation fall under the Inkeepers act? Can I evict then with no notice? If they paid rent for the month do I have to returned the remain balance of the rent for the month? How would I go about evicting them.
Thanks again
Hi Josh,
To fit under the Innkeeper’s Act you need to have common space like kitchens and living space. As it is self contained with a separate entrance you fall under the Residential Tenancy’s Act.
You need to either give them a 14 day eviction notice or proceed directly to the RTDRS or the courts to file an eviction for breach of the lease terms.
To get started learning the steps, you should probably go to this resource page, Landlord’s Guide to the Eviction Process
If you want a step by step guide with advice and tips on how to evict a tenant using the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Serivce, I have a guide that you can purchase available here, Evicting Tenants Using The RTDRS
Hope that helps,
Bill
Thanks guys!! Really helps! I will let you know how it goes! My landlord was also here today and i explained the situation and he let me know (i have not receive the lease agreements yet for some reason) that there is no subletting without his permission so there is another reason he must go! Thanks again
Hey there!
Gave my tenant his 14 day notice although he moved in a few days after beginning of the month. Now he is stating if he’s out in two days he wants his rent back and otherwise can stay until the day he moved in next month. What do i do here? He is getting very rude, as i said i feel uncomfortable when you stare at me etc in which he replied ‘don’t glory yourself’. I am not dealing with this, what can i do?
Thanks!
Since his accommodations fall under the IA and not the RTA, you can have him removed immediately if you want to. You don’t even need to give him 14 days notice. Giving him ANY notice is you just being nice.
If he is causing you to feel physically threatened by his behaviour, you can call the police and they will escort him from the property. To the best of my knowledge, a refund of rent is not required as he breached the contract.
If you want it to go smoother, offer to refund him half if he leaves right away or the offer is off the table and he will be out all of it if you have to involve the police. Plus he will be out quicker.
Regards,
Bill
P.S. Great reply Christy, thanks
we want to throw out a roommate who is not on the lease i belive this would be called month to month renter?. we allowed him to live with us temporarily with the understanding that he would find a place of his own in the city quickly after five months of not even looking for work he finally gets a job but we are at our wits end between offensive remarks to not only my boyfriend but his sister we are asking him to leave. there is no written agreement between us stating how long we would allow him to remain in our home. we are offering to buy him a plane ticket home. do we need to give him a eviction notice not being on the lease can he take legal action against us in any way. the fact is we agreed to rent him a room in our home which he only a month ago actually payed us for and has five months of rent still owing. as i said we are at our wits end and would be thankful for any info you could supply
Hello,
This is an example of why you should have signed agreements with people who you are renting or subletting too. In the case of a short term scenario which this initially was supposed to be, you may not think it necessary, but when it drags out longer like this you will have soem stronger backup if it deteriorates.
This would end up being a month to month rental at this point. Offering to purchase a ticket for him home is extremely generous, but perhaps you have to put some restrictions on it. Where he has to use it by the end of the month or you will be asking him to move on would be the ideal restriction.
Like several other questions that have been appearing on the site recently, you fall into the gap between Residential Tenancy Act and Innkeeper’s Act. Since you are renting out a room in your property, your scenario would allow you to evict under the Innkeeper’s Act, but you fall under the Residential Tenancy Act and may be violating the lease by having a roommate staying with you.
Although it was initially short term, by extending it, you may be causing problems for yourself, so getting him out would definitely be the best tactic.
If you were to write him a notice explaining his options, without necessarily locking yourself in with an “eviction notice”, it might be a better tactic for you as you can then proceed down either path, later. The written options letter will give you more evidence that you tried to work with him and definitely made him aware of his options and if it does come down to having to go through the courts or leal system to get hin out it will definitely help you out.
Hope that helps a bit,
Bill
Sorry! Didnt realise my other comment got posted! Anyways, have spoken to him dozens of times! He is standing behind me as we speak!
Please help!
Spouse and i rent a upper duplex, 2 bdrm. Rented to our roommate may 12 for 450 (rent is 500) because he moved in at a later date.
He is driving us crazy! Showers so long there is no hot water for spouse and i to get ready, is VERY perverted, i have to cover up completely in my own home! (i mean this guy actually watches me out the window when i leave) talks non stop, stands behind the couch while spouse and i are watching t.v, eats our food (i am also pregnant, on strict diet) and tons of other things!
What can i do? He is breaching our privacy, even getting in to our cable and internet company and ordering things (blocked him from doing that now). We did not require dd from him, nothing like that. So! What can we do? Again we are renting, he moved in on the 12.
Thanks!
Hi Brandi,
I think I answered this int he earlier comment, but again, it’s a matter of either asking him to leave at this point, or going through all the house rules and reminding him there is a zero tolerance policy.
The more I’ve looked into it, the more your situation falls under the Innkeeper’s Act so you have more leverage to get him out. The negative side of this is, unless your lease states you can sublet or you have written notice from your landlord that it is ok to have roommates, you might be pushing your limits with your lease.
Best scenario is you ask him to move on by the end fo the month as it simply isn’t working out and see wehre it goes.
Bill
Hey!
Just curious if i’m standing on the right grounds here…
I rent an upper duplex, only me and the spoyse, two bedroom. Recently we got an older roommate. There is no written contract, nothing of that sort only verbal. Now, I am pregnant, and docs have put me on a strict diet for extra vitamin intake etc. Well, this guy is eating all our food!! Nevermind the large lunches my spouse must take each day for work. We spend an upwards of 130$ for food EACH week. Nevermind that, he constantly talks, farts around us (disgusting!!), doesnt care of personal space (i found his toothbrush on top of mine one day, invaded our towel rack) has boxes upon boxes of junk in our kitchen, beyond other things. I may sound like im complaining out my behind but its become very annoying, especially for a pregnant lady! I have spoken with him, my spouse, which he just nods, politly agrees with us, still nothing has changed.
Anyways! Long story short, what can i do here? I feel bad just leaving him on his behind, and he only moved in last saturday. Thanks for your time!
Brandi
Hi Brandi,
It sounds like you need to take a stand with the tenant and very clearly define the house rules. Also make it clear that if he cannot follow the rules, well he’ll just have to move on. I would also recommend that there be zero tolerance if you decide to keep him on.
Without knowing all the particulars it sounds like he is sharing space with you, so would be closest to fitting under the Innkeeper’s Act, so it should be fairly simple to get him out if need be.
With a child on the way and the property only having two bedrooms you will likely want him gone eventually anyway.
Regards,
Bill
Hi Bill:
Thank you- I e-mailed my #s – I have reached to the point where I am so frustrated, I cannot take another office telling me I have to wait for 30 days for these people to leave. I suppose you are right – I am not using the correct terminology as this is definitely not my area of expertise. I await your call.
Thanks again. Nadine
Hi Bill:
I currently have a tenant who is supposedly “a friend” and her boyfriend. I live at the property sometimes as I also work out of town. I received complaints that they play loud music so much so, that they police had to be called several times and they eventually received a ticket (they lied to me and told me the police only came there once).
They are yet to pay the damage deposit (they have been there a year now) and I am trying to evict them and cannot seem to get them out before 30 days (I got them to finally sign a 30 day notice).
I was so happy when I say the inn-keepers act, however I called the Police to serve the 24-48 hour notice and was told I don’t fall under the Innkeepers act because it is not a commercial property (hotel/motel) it is a private home.
Please can you help to clarify this as I feel as though I am going in a circle and cannot get these people out of my house. I want them out of my house.
Thanks in advance,
Nadine
Hi Nadine,
Many landlords in your situation run into the same problem with the police. The police are not allowed to become involved in issues that involve the Residential Tenancy Act, so often they lump situations like yours under that category. In your case, you don’t fall under the Residential Tenancy Act since you reside in the property and share common areas with the tenants.
This puts you squarely under the Innkeeper’s Act, even though you don’t operate as a business like a hotel. You also don;t need to deal with a 24-48 hour notice, but rather you can give the tenants a heads up, that if they aren’t gone within 24 hours you will be calling the police in to remove them. Or if you are completely frazzled at this point, accelerate the process and call the police right away. You just have to stand firm with the officer you are talking to, explain the situation and even potentially print off the Act so you can refer to it and point out how you qualify.
Being under the Innkeeper’s Act puts the onus on the tenants to come after you later if they feel their rights were infringed. They can take you to court, but it rarely ever happens, but just to be prepared, make sure you document everything. Bottom line, call the police again, stick to your guns and if you have to break it down for them and show them how you qualify. You will want to pay attention to section 1,(b) in the Innkeeper’s Act as this is where it relates to you!
Hope this is helpful1
Regards,
Bill
Hi Bill:
Thanks so much for your prompt reply. I tried showing the Act to the two officers that came – they would not even look at it. They kept telling me I am wrong, that this is not a commercial rental (hotel/motel). Do I call back the Police again and see if I can find officers who will actually listen or try to understand? It seems as if tenants have all the rights and landlords have none. The officers kept telling me, I will have to wait until they leave in 30 days and next time I should think about the consequences of renting out my place!! I cannot believe this is happening…Help!!
Hi Nadine,
Stick to your stance, the police are their to help enforce these rules and as per the Act you fit under this definition,
Definitions
1 In this Act,
(a) “inn” means a place of which the innkeeper is the keeper;
(b) “innkeeper” means a person who is by law responsible for
the property of the innkeeper’s guests and includes a
keeper of a hotel, motel, auto court, cabin or other place
or house who holds out that to the extent of the
innkeeper’s available accommodation the innkeeper will
provide lodging to any person who presents himself or
herself as a guest, who appears able and willing to pay a
reasonable sum for the services and facilities offered and
who is in a fit state to be received;
If they won’t help you, just continue to take it up the ladder so to speak until they do. This has to be pretty frustrating to you, so hopefully the second time is the charm.
Bill
Hi Bill:
Thank you so much for the info – I am going to call back the Police and see how it works the second time around. I really hope it works like a charm as it is almost two weeks now I am trying to get them out.
I will let you know how it works out.
Thanks again
Nadine
Hi Bill:
I just called the Police and they said they cannot help me!! They gave me a Lawyer helpline to call..their office is closed until Monday!!
Help!!
Thanks
Nadine
Hi Nadine,
You have a few options now, you can wait until Monday, try the lawyers hotline and see where it takes you or you could try again with different people on the phone.
I know dozens of other landlords have used this with few problems, although some have had issues initially convincing the officers they were not under the Residential Tenancy Act. My initial thoughts are the wording you are using when you are talking to the police.
I would avoid using the word tenant when you are talking to them next time and instead explain how you have people renting a room from you in your personal residence that are causing problems. They have been causing a disturbance (refer to the police showing up previously due to the complaints, although this may be nullified if it was weeks ago), they refuse to leave, you feel threatened in your own home and according to the Innkeeper’s Act you can request assistance to have them leave.
If you still have concerns, email me the best number for me to call you early this evening and I can discuss my consulting services with you.
Regards,
Bill
My wife and I share our house with a few roommates. Since this is our permanent residence, I understand that the Landlord Tenant Agreement does not apply and instead the Innkeepers Act should be followed.
One of our roommates owes us money (this is not the only issue), and on May 1, 2012 we gave him notice to move out by May 5, 2012 at noon. The roommate refused to sign the bottom of the eviction notice letter that acknowledges that we gave him notice. Since my wife and had no other witnesses present, we took a picture and texted him the letter and we also videotaped ourselves sliding the eviction notice letter under his door. We misspelled his name on the letter (his last name on facebook was a nickname that was close enough to his real last name that we didn’t notice there was a difference. He called me asking where he got the spelling of his last name (We are not on his facebook), and I formalized the conversation by saying that I “got the spelling of his last name for the eviction notice letter from Facebook…etc”. I did this to try to have written proof that he acknowledged reading the letter.
Question 1) What documentation do I need to present to the police if he does not move out before May 5, 2012 at noon?
Question 2) From the above comments, I gather that we can have the police remove him immediately. Where in the InnKeepers Act does it state that we do not require much notice (i.e. 24 hours), and how much notice is required?
Question 3) If the roommate claims that he did not receive an eviction notice (I beleive 24 hours are required), then do you think we have enough grounds that the police will help us remove him, if necessary?
Hi Mike,
You are correct regarding falling under the Innkeeper’s Act which in this case makes the eviction notice more of a nicety rather than a requirement. Under the Innkeeper’s Act eviction notices aren’t necessary and if the tenant is causing a disturbance in the property the police can be called and he can be escorted off the property.
In this case for Question 1, you would simply need to prove you were the owner of the property and resided there and that the tenant is causing problems, you don’t even have to wait until May 5th, you could do it tonight if you like. You’ll just have to explain to the officers why he needs to be removed and you are good. The only issues you may run into is the police are not allowed to enforce anything under the Residential Tenancy Act, so you must show them this fits under the Innkeeper’s Act which allows them to assist you.
For Question 2, this falls under section 9 of the Innkeeper’s Act and regards a tenant causing a disturbance. Not paying would be causing a disturbance, because I know it would get rather heated if it occurred to me.
Question 3 is irrelevant as notice isn’t required. Giving him until the 5th is really just being nice.
One last thing to be aware of is that the police can help you with this, but if he feels he was unjustly kicked out, he doesn’t get to just move back in, he would have to go through the courts and try and get some type of settlement against you for unjustly kicking him out. If you have everything documented showing all the issues this would be highly unlikely and he would end up just racking up a nice hefty bill upon himself.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hello Bill, My boyfriend and I are renting a room from a couple,who want to evict us,A.S.A.P. there reason for doing so,is they have a new tenant moving in.We moved in on about the 12th of March,so we are still paid up for a couple more weeks.They refuse to give us our damage deposit,claiming we damaged some walls,[ The house is quite old and damaged.]We didn’t do a walk-through to start.I think they just go through suckers and profit off their damage deposits.What rights do we have?I really just need 2 more weeks to get a new apartment in order.
Hi,
You’re stuck kind of between the rules here. If you are living in a property with a shared living space like the kitchen and living room and just renting a bedroom your situation falls under the Innkeeper’s act, as long as the landlord lives there. If the landlord resides elsewhere, you still fit under the Residential Tenancy Act.
Either way, they require a reason to evict you, especially if you have paid in advance.I’m going to assume you are under the Innkeeper’s Act in this case, so correct me if I am mistaken. Although it might be harder to evict you without just cause in that case, you still have the right to go after them in small claims court for any money they hold back from you. In this case you should make them very aware you will do that plus your costs.
It might cause them to reflect a bit more on this and give you adequate time to move on. Without a walk through of any kind it would be very hard for them to prove you caused any of the damage, so there should be no reason for them to hold onto your security deposit either.
It would likely be in your best interest to get out of there as soon as possible as it does sound like an undesirable property and probably not a place you want to stay. Just remind them that you are leaving and that you will proceed through the courts to recover any money they withhold from you and perhaps they will allow this to drag out until you are gone.
Hoep that helps,
Bill
Dear Evection Alberta,
I rent a 5 bed/ house (shared common areas and put locks in the rooms). I set up with furniture,internet,cable etc, like lodging house.I am trying to evect a guest/tenant that has been in my residence for 2 months and now that he has met the home owner and he knows my bussines he is trying to by pass me and he wants to rent the house directly from the home owner and keep the place.
he had said a lot of lies to the homeowner to the point that she gave ME an evection notice for renting him a room in the house arguing that” i dont have her consent to sub-rent rooms in the house
“. however she and her agent quilified me since the beggining of the rental know what type of bussiness i do and she has been in the house before and seem my guest. In the residential agreement that we signed says that i am allowed to have company/guest for not max of 30 days on a calendar year.
Today May 01 is rent day and he said he is not going to pay me rent and he will wait till the evection notice has been applied to me and he will start from fresh with the home owner.
Meanwhile, he insults me everytime that we get accross in the house,and laugh at me saying that hopefully days will go fast so i can be out of here.
I had to call the police already because he tried to stop from entering in the house, he kick my car.
I already gave landlord the objection notice but I am still dealing with this person that is continuously intimidating me and harassing me.
I need your wise advise please !
Hi,
You are kind of stuck in a rock and a hard place. If your lease states you cannot sublease, you are in breach. Now they may have verbally agreed to allow this, but you have to provide enough proof to make the verbal agreement stand.
Technically you could evict the tenant you have for non-payment. You didn’t mention the timeline you are on for your eviction, so I;m not sure where this would fall versus your eviction.
Right now you need to prepare to contest the eviction on the grounds you had a verbal agreement, but again, if this cannot be proved it won;t get very far as it sounds like you signed a lease stating no subleasing. This is why it’s very important to get everything in writing or in this case to have crossed off the sub lease clause and have both the landlord and tenant initial agreement on it.
You’ll need to be prepared to bring her agent as well as the tenant in to the hearing and also will need the police report from their visit..
It’s hard to confirm with the information you’ve provided, but there almost sounds like something is missing here. , so it’s best to get everything resolved in the courts, although from what you have said you may need to make plans to move on, so be prepared for the worst case.
Regards,
Bill
Thanks for your quick response Bill,
unfortunately my tenants/guest at that time are gone because my rentals are in a very short term, the people that i have right now is different.
however i have a witness how was with me at the time of her visit to the house where she saw that i was not living just by my self and she knew they were my tenants.
the eviction notice for substantial breach to the residential agreement she gave me is due on May 11,
she gave eviction notice to my guest/tenants May 31.
but i want to remove them from the house immediately because they refused to pay this month rent and they are wasting my utilities on purpose an they harassing me.
I already gave her my objection notice as well.
Can i still evict them under the Innkeepers act?
If this apply to me and police says that they can not enforce them, who can i ask for help?
thanks,
Hi Lulu,
The important factor may be that you signed the lease stating there was no subletting, the witness may help, but it may come back to the lease.
So she has given separate eviction notices to your tenants as well? We’re getting into some gray areas that are beyond my experience. The issue here is you are subletting in a property that, as per the lease, doesn’t allow subletting. On the other hand, you are also renting out rooms in a shared accommodation as per the Innkeeper’s Act.
I believe her rights will trump yours and you will likely have to move on, however you should still be able to evict the tenants you’ve rented to under the Innkeeper’s Act. You will likely have to confirm you are the lease holder for the property and produce evidence that the tenants are indeed renting from you. Remember, I’m not a lawyer and this is beyond what I normally see, this is just my interpretation of how it should play out.
This has been as clear as mud I imagine, but hopefully it helps explain it a bit more.
Regards,
Bill
Hi,
I own a house with multiple bedrooms that I rent out individually to different people. Everyone has their own contract with me. Everyone has their own bedroom, and then there are common areas that are shared use. I provide cleaning services for the common areas. How does it work if I want to come over to check on supplies, or talk to a tenant, or show a room to a potential tenant. I do not live at the house.
Regards.
Hey Luke,
Great question, I run several properties just like this and run into the issue where tenants tell me I have to provide notice to access the property. Simply put, they are wrong, but there are some qualifiers.
We need to provide notice if we are going to access their room, but if you are renting out the rooms with individual locks on each room door and then everyone shares a common area, you can still have access to the common area without notice.
This would be entirely different if they were renting the entire space, or if the rooms didn’t have locks (although it could be argued that they are still only renting the room, it’s just not as definitive as them having their own private secured space).
Also, if you don’t live on the premises you still fit under the Residential Tenancy Act as far as evictions, notice periods and the rest of the Landlord Tenant rules and laws, however you still don’t need to provide notice for accessing the common area.
Side note from this, if you are getting heat from one of the tenants regarding this, it’s usually a sign they are doing something they don’t want you to see and I would take it an an indicator that they need to move on.
Regards,
Bill
Thanks Bill.
Oops, typo: ‘legal advice’ not ‘legal advise’
Hi Eviction Alberta. Please stop giving out false information to slumlord landlords who don’t want to comply with the law that actually governs rental accommodations. Hint: You and your readers are not actually operating a hotel.
In the future, it’d be in your best interests to refer your readers to seek legal advise rather than consulting a stranger through a website.
Have a great day!
Thanks for your thoughts Michael, except I’m not giving out false information. And I’m not dispensing legal advice, I’m offering up my understanding and opinions of the rules and laws contained within the Residential Tenancy Act and the Innkeeper’s Act/ This understanding I have developed through multiple dealings with evictions service companies, the RTDRS, the government of Alberta Landlord and Tenant support lines and numerous other services.
You are absolutely correct when you tell me and the readers we are not operating hotels. None of us are, but some of my readers who visit here do rent rooms out of their personal properties and those situations are not covered under the Residential Tenancy Act, they are covered by the Innkeepers Act, at least in Alberta.
Also, if you took the time to read through the site a bit more you would see at no point do I provide methods outside of the law to remove tenants. I help both landlords and tenants when they are having problems with people who are breaking the rules and as I often point out, you must have a valid reason to evict a tenant.
So bottom line, thanks for your feedback, I just wish you would have taken the time to actually read more before forming a biased and potentially uninformed opinion.
Regards,
Bill
P.S. It doesn’t take a lawyer to evict a tenant, nor does it take one to fight an eviction. It takes an understanding of the Residential Tenancy Act and how it applies.
Hi Bill
your site is great! Having issues with a tenant in my home of where i live in as well. I the Landlord tenant act did not apply to me as a home owner. But this innkeeper act has provided me with some solid ground to stand on thank you. Do you have format available for the type of agreement that I should sign with a broader?
Hi Rob,
Thanks for the feedback.Just remember there has to be shared common areas like kitchens and living rooms. If it is a self contained unit, they still fall under Residential Tenancy Act.
We used to sell a complete package of forms and documents for rooming houses, but we’ve taken it off the market. It needs an update and some repackaging. It’s one of my side projects right now, but if there was enough interest I would consider making it a priority project.
Bill
Hi Bill,
What a great resource! Thank you for all your info on here.
My situation: I have 2 basement suites in my primary (only) residence that each contain their own kitchen, but share one bathroom and common laundry facilities. My furnace and mechanical/tool rooms are down in the basement too..I always thought these ‘basement suites’ fell under RTA, but now, reading about renting rooms out of one’s primary residence, I am unsure which one I really fit under (Innkeeper’s Act or RTA). I have looked at your other links, but because they have a private kitchen, does that mean they are ‘self-contained’ suites (RTA), even though there is a shared bathroom and laundry facilities? We did sign a lease agreement under the RTA..If this actually falls under the IA, would that void the lease we signed?
Please and thank you.
Christine
Hi Christine,
I would suggest they fall under more of the RTA than Innkeeper’s Act. They may crossover a bit, but you may also have other concerns as to the legality of the “suites” if they were called suites.
Now, I’m not positive about which way it would fall, but since they don’t seem to share the kitchen or bathroom specifically with you and I would think your suite is totally separate, this would be how it is ruled.
Bill
Hi Bill,
My husband and I have a roommate/tenant whom we’ve evicted due to nonpayment of rent and she’s been given until Friday night to get out. I agreed to allow her to leave her large furniture stored in our basement until she has a truck that she booked for next weekend (the original time that she was planning to move out) but the room and bathroom must be cleared out. She’s not awful but is just young and is learning a harsh life lesson that her parents did a disservice by not teaching her before now (you don’t pay, you don’t stay).
I firmly believe she never intended to pay for the half month’s rent she was going to be here for this month and that she was under the impression she could ride a 14 day eviction notice. She wasn’t aware that our situation is under the Innkeepers Act and not the RTA… I can imagine the look on her face when I informed her of that last night! Now I do have some concerns that she’s going to try and say “screw it, what can they do about it” and just refuse to leave on Friday. Either she will sit in the room and refuse to leave or she will disappear to boyfriend’s house and pretend not to receive my texts. In situation 1, I know I can just call the police and have them mediate to force her out but in situation 2, can I do the same thing if she’s not here? Do they track her down/call her and make her come here to pack up her belongings (I can’t imagine them spending time to do that when there are murderers to catch instead)?
Our other option is if she disappears, we’ll video record packing her belongings and moving them out of the room so there is no future issue with her claiming we were rough with her things and broke stuff etc. I’m just wondering if you have experience with this type of process and where the police can be brought in and how to go about it/what to say if I have to call them etc. Just figured I should get all my ducks in a row if it comes to the ugliness!
Thanks!
Hi Christy,
Good job of understanding your rights and taking control. It’s amazing how many people who rent out room sin their home don;t understand about the Innkeeper’s Act.
If she disappears or avoids you, you have every right to change the locks, at least under the Innkeeper’s act, for those of you who fall under the Residential Tenancy Act, changing locks without following specific procedures is an expensive no no!
I would attempt to track her down if you suspect she will disappear before Friday and make sure she is aware you will be changing locks etc. The police won’t get involved if she disappears, but if she does try to re-enter the property, she can be charged with trespassing or if she has to break in due to changed locks, there could be more charges.
Everything else you seem to have a firm grasp on!
Good luck,
Bill
Hi Bill,
Thank you kindly for your quick reply and for the information. So if she just stays on Friday, we would have to wait until Saturday to call the police and then they will have her removed? I think she will leave as she did pack some of her belongings yesterday but you never know what friends/boyfriend is whispering in her ear and possibly giving her ideas to the contrary.
Your site is a wonderful resource for landlords. I knew we didn’t apply under the RTA but I’ve never been able to find info online about the Innkeepers Act until I found your site. Even then, a google search for the IA points me here and there’s nothing on the Service Alberta site (that I could find) or other landlord/tenant sites, that mention the IA at all so I think that is partly why many landlords are uninformed. I’ve sent an email to Service Alberta asking them to include information on the IA on their site.. I urge all landlords who read this to do the same (the more of us who gripe about it, the more likely they’ll actually do something about it) so that the information they need for renting a room w/shared common areas in their primary residence is readily available. This is also good information for tenants so they don’t move into shared accommodations under false expectations.
Thanks again Bill, you’re fantastic!!
Hey Bill,
I own a house in which my son & I live on the main floor. The basement is finished as a legal suite,with a seperate entrance in the back. I have, in the past, rented the suite out as a contained unit under the RT Act. But having had a bad experience with that, I’ve decided to furnish the basement and rent the bedrooms out individually. Will I now, be able to use the Alberta InnKeepers Act to support my situation in the future if things don’t work out? Can I put in my lease that the laws will be applied according to the Alberta InnKeepers Act, so that the tenants are aware that this law applies to this situation??
Hi Penny,
While renting our furnished rooms can be much more lucrative, it too comes with it’s problems. In your situation, because the lower unit is self contained, you will still fall under the RTA versus the Innkeeper’s Act.
For it to qualify, you need to have shared common space like a kitchen and living room. It sounds like you have your private space and they have their shared space between them, so legally you couldn’t go this route. So it may be hard to enforce.
Bill
I have a no contact order against me. I am not allowed on my property witch is co-owned with my wife.I am not allowed to speak to my wife The proplem i’m having is partly due to the statement made to the police by one of the people that boards with us. I want him out. There is no agreement in writing.
Without a valid reason to evict someone, you cannot evict them. If a written agreement has a term, you don’t have to renew and the tenant has to leave at the end of the term. If you have a written agreement and the tenant breaches one of the sections of the agreement, you can evict. If you have a verbal agreement in place and can verify it, and the tenant breeches one of the conditions of the verbal lease, you can evict. If the there is no written agreement and the tenant breaks the law, there may be an opportunity to evict.
Bottom line, without a written lease, you have very few options at this point.
Bill
Thanks for responding so fast 🙂
Should i hand him an eviction notice or just tell him to leave?
Thanks again
I the only one on a lease renting out a three bedroom basement suite. I rent out one bedroom to someone who has been here since march.1 2012. It is now march.21 2012, and he has proven to be a violent and aggressive man. He has the breach the units lease by smoking in his room, he has violently yelled in my face, he took out his screen for his window and has not put it back after i ask him too. He ripped the the screen off the patio door saying they were was a rip in it and he wanted to put a new one on, but he hasnt done anything and the old screen has been on the patio floor for 2 1/2 weeks now. He leaves his garbage and dirty dishes laying around for days. He swears and throws things in his bedroom. He slams doors in the middle of the night.
I feel i have just causes but how to do i go about evicting him?
Hey Alex,
Best case you fit under the Innkeeper’s Act as you are subletting the room to him and sharing a common space. In this case you can tell him it’s time to go and ask him to leave today. Under the Innkeeper’s Act you can call the police in to help as well.
Worst case if he is violent you could evict him with a 24 hour notice which may involve going to court or the RTDRS and having him out in a week or so. This falls under the Residential Tenancy Act, so I would avoid it as once you start trying to pick and choose where you fit it muddies the waters later when you really need someone out.
Regards,
Bill
Am I allowed to send a eviction notice to the tenant by text as the tenant will not be here till Sunday?
I have one last question. If I can’t give an eviction notice in person to the tenant, how do I let them know that they are evicted? Especially if this tenant does not respond back to text or calls. Then I can change locks immediately right?
Thanks for the information. This is helping very much.
Hi Paul,
You will have to make a reasonable effort and be able to prove such. I would suggest you leave a message stating that they have until X:XX time and date to respond to you or you will consider them vacated and under the Innkeeper’s Act you will be boxing up their goods and selling them to recoup the outstanding funds owed you. You will also be changing the locks and any re-entry on the premises by them will be considered trespassing and potentially break and enter.
Also make sure you send it via text and if need be post it on the entrances to the property in case you believe they may try to enter in the next day or two. Make sure you document all of the attempts you make, take photos of anything you post and basically CYA in case they try and sue you later.
Regards,
Bill
Just wanted to know how I can get the tenants stuff moved out if the tenant does not come to get it. The tenant has not paid rent in 2 months. There is no monetary value, except her laptop. Do I need to hold onto it for a while? Can I change my locks? What if the tenant pays rent? What if the tenant doesn’t pay rent. We can’t give the eviction notice as the tenant will not reply back since two weeks ago.
Hi Paul,
If you have kicked them out via the Innkeeper’s Act, you can first try to arrange to meet them to collect their goods. Let them know that know that they have been kicked out re-entry to the property is trespassing and you will charge them, so they must meet with you.
Once they are out, you can change the locks. If they don’t respond to your attempts to contact them after a couple days, box up the items and store it, just make sure to document the process and the items with photos and video if possible. From your earlier comments it appears you don’t really want the tenant anyway as they are not holding up their end of the original arrangement. So if they do pay great, they still have to go.
Regards,
Bill
one more thing my sister doesnt contribute financially in this house nor the rent part she leaves here without paying jus does groceries for herself and mom as of lately
this is regarding family member,,, we all together as a family consisting of 4 adults and one infant .. the house is under joint ownership wit my mom she pays mortgage and i take care of bills including property taxes house insurance her life policy and grocery for the family plus my own expenses. i have wife and infant and along with my younger sibling 27 yrs old wit uni degree and stable job a property under her name and is vacant at the moment but she leaves with us i paid for for her uni studies half portion so she have decent life after school and help her buy this property for her. There was confrontation one day and she piped out that i live in this house for free and i dont have no rite,,, anyways there was heated conversation she said thing which i didnt appericiated and i told her if she doesnt like it here she can leave at her own leisure and my mom is supporting her … my mom dont realize that is she using her for money etc… i was jus mad and i jus pushed but claims that i had assaulted her i had a officer talk to me about the situation and i explained that to him and he said i can ask her to leave and she thinks that she has a rite live here cus this is her dads house and moms… i have no problem wit that. but the way she talk to me that day i jus dont trust her anymore and she says she doesnt want to leave mom and they want me leave the house wit my wife and baby and empty handed wat are my rites in this situation i tried explaining my mom she can move with her in the property she own and mom can leave both places mom doesnt want leave this house and she wants her daughter wit her…. can anyone help me please i jus dont want to look like bad person in this situation….i have no bad intension either.. i am trying to be peace full wit these ppl but they are not cooperating wit me
Hi Sam,
Unfortunately this isn’t really an eviction issue as much as a family issue, so I don’t think I’ll be able to help.If you are a joint owner you may have more rights in this situation to go down the eviction pathway, but it would require the agreement of your mother and may ultimately result into other legal issues.
Sorry,
Bill
Hi I am a friend to the landlord who lives on the premises. We have had a falling out because the landlord decided to increase rent which was not agreed upon on the contract signed before I moved in. Can he do this and do I have the right to collect that money back? I know under the RTA I am allowed to but because he lives here too I have no idea the actual legalities.
Hi Andrea,
This is an excellent example of why friends shouldn’t rent from friends and why landlords shouldn’t rent to friends. If issues do occur later it can be quite painful.
I need a bit more information about the arrangement and the contract to properly answer, but here are some generic answers. If you are living in the property and are renting a room and have shared communal living areas like the kitchen and living room, you fall under the Innkeeper’s Act and the rules are pretty loose under that Act as far as increases.
If you have your own self contained suite, you would fall under the Residential Tenancy Act and in that case the rules are much more specific and the landlord can only raise the rent once every 12 months.
In either case if you have a signed arrangement where the lease was a fixed amount for the duration of the lease, it cannot be raised during the signed period. If it was a fixed term however, and the term is up and the 12 months have passed, the landlord can raise the rent.
Finally if it was a month to month lease and you have been there for over a year, the landlord can raise the rent, but has to give 90 days notice (three full months) to raise the rent. So hopefully the answer you need is in there somewhere. The issue may be determining whether this fits under Innkeeper’s or Residential Tenancy.
As for getting your money back, if the increase was illegal, then yes you have rights to get your over payments back. If you determine you fit under the RTA, then you can go through the RTDRS to get your money back. If it’s under the Innkeeper’s Act and it was raised illegally, I believe you will have to try and recover it through small claims court, I am not positive on this, but I do know it doesn’t go under the RTDRS.
Hope that clarifies things a bit for you!
Regards,
Bill
So I have been here 5 months. Rent was raised 4 months ago. I live in the condo on the top floor and share living room and kitchen and downstairs te laundry. I have a signed contract stating rent would be a certain amount and it was raised to cover a cable or utility bills. I was never shown the bills to know how much I was contributing. I did not agree to the raise but was told either I pay or move out. I had just moved in so I paid.
Hi Andrea,
It seems a little underhanded if you weren’t at least shown the bills to verify the increases. If you have a signed contract and the contract changed without you signing off on it, you would have a legitimate complaint to try and get your money back. The question for you will be how much work will it be and how long will it take.
I’d recommend you seriously look at finding a new place right away as this “friend” doesn’t seem to be that good fo a friend.
Regards,
Bill
Hi Bill, and everyone else who makes this site possible!
It contains some great information for people renting out property. I had no idea the Innkeepers Act existed! Let me get this straight though. If I’m renting out a room in my house, I do NOT need to give the tenant the three months notice required by the Landlords Act? For any reason?
Thanks for the help!
Thanks Jim,
The Innkeeper’s Act is pretty helpful for those who rent out rooms in their personal property. You always require a reason to evict someone, but the rights you have under the Innkeeper’s Act are much more liberal than under the Residential Tenancy Act.
Also, it’s more of a dictatorship when it comes to an eviction. You don’t have to go through the courts, if they disagree, they still have to leave, but they have to go through the courts after the fact if they feel they were wronged.
Make sure you read through the Act so you really understand the rules. Also, make sure you sign up to receive our information on the top right of this page. Not only do you get information about the basic eviction process (which you may not require now), but I also send out a series of tips after that to help landlords manage their properties and deal with tenants. These tips have been getting some great feedback and I would recommend them for any landlord.
Regards,
Bill
Hello, I owned a house with a friend of mine and our friend with his family lived there. He pay for the whole mortgage but everything is not on paper since we know each other. Now its more likely he is not going to pay us and Mortgage is mortgage, What can i do to have them evicted??? I don’t live on that house its the whole house he is renting and our verbal aggrement is that he will pay for the mortgage which he did and most of the time its delayed. I just want to kick them out but i want to know the proper of way to have them gone…
Thank You….
Hi Charles,
I’m not sure I understand. Is the mortgage under your name, but they are paying for it? Or in this case suddenly not paying for it? If this is the case, and you have a verbal agreement you can proceed with evicting them based on non-payment of rent, although it is far easier with less chance of problems if you have an actual lease.
If the mortgage is under their name and you supplied money to purchase it, hopefully you have some form of signed joint venture agreement you can fall back on. In this case you wouldn’t be able to evict them, but instead would have to go through the courts to get your money back or take some type of legal action.
Hope that gives you some ideas.
Bill
hi, i just moved into a house where the owner lives. i have a bedroom and am supposed to be able to share common kitchen,bathroom, and living room areas. i paid a months rent and a half a months rent as damage deposit. what i wanst told before i moved in was the owners 2 dogs regularly use the only bathroom to defecate and urinate. so when i come home from work in order to use th facilities i would either have to clean the dog’s mess or live around it . (neither i find appealing). the owner seems to usually not come home until 7 hrs after im home from work. after complaining to the owner about this issue he has put up a baracade preventing his dogs from messing in their usual area , the bathroom. my issue is i now hav dog messes in the common areas to contend with. can i move out without notice (there was no rental agreement) and legally expect a full refund for my damage deposit and prorated rent? ps: i love dogs , but just believe it is unsanitary to live where they defecate and urinate. that should be outdoors!
Hi tj,
Well, I wouldn’t exactly call that healthy living arrangements! Sorry to hear about your problems. In this case the situation is not as advertised, so he should be giving you your remaining rent back and since you haven’t caused any damage, your full damage deposit back. He could argue you haven’t given him enough notice and claim he is keeping rent for the month, but you have the leverage in this case of also taking this to both the health services people and the animal control. It’s simply not right.
The only issue that may affect you is how long you have been there, if it’s only been a few days, you shouldn’t have much issue, if it’s a few weeks it could be argued that you should have moved out sooner if it was a problem. Does that help?
Regards,
Bill
I have one question tho, i am a consultant and I travel a lot for work. But i do come over on the weekends. Since I get my bills either emailed to be or posted to the current address since i dont want the hassle of late payment of disconnection of utilities. How do i prove the the house is my primary residence? Appreciate your thoughts.
In your situation it almost appears as you have two primary residences, a week day one and a week end one. I wouldn’t focus as much on worrying about it being my primary residence as your residence and see where it takes you.
Regards,
Bill
Thank you Bill for drawing attention to this site and the act. I didnt know this existed. This seems a good way of getting rid of problem tenants.
Thanks
For a landlord renting out a room in their home this information is crucial as it changes the entire method in how you deal with tenants.
Bill
Thank you very much for the info!
You are welcome, thanks for stopping by!
Bill
Hi Bill
I have researched a LOT about my situation, but I have yet to find a reliable answer. I own a condo and it is my main residence. I have a roommate who pays me $600 and has his own room (the rest of the space is shared).
As far as I can tell, my property would not be considered a “rental property” as its main function is to be my residence, not to gain me income.
Do I have to claim the $600 a month as income? If so (or if not), is there somewhere online you can direct me to that specifically addresses this situtation? Thanks for the help!
Craig
Hi Craig,
This is a little bit out of my scope and any answer I provided wouldn’t likely be accurate. In your case the money you are receiving from the roommate would be used to cover costs, but technically it is money you are getting paid, so it would be called income. Your best bet is to continue to track it, but consult with an accountant who can guide you. It might cost a couple hundred dollars for the consultation (hopefully less!), but they can advise you about the best way of looking at this. Depending on your personal tax situation there is a possibility it may even be a tax advantage for you making it well worth the expense of looking into.
Regards,
Bill
Hello, Im currently living at Hotel style Inn with my boyfriend. We pay monthly because he is here at work.
They moved his car one day because they had a whole construction crew there and ripped up the pavement, they did so all around his car THEN came to me to move it, It’s a japanese car so I certainly DID NOT know how to drive that bad boy. They didn’t give us any notice constrution was going to happen and then TOLD ME to give them the keys so they could move it. As i said it is a japanese car and the one who moved it caused Damage.
ALSO, one day sitting in the room, my boyfriend at work, they came to the door and told me I had to step outside that a safety inspection was going on right as we spoke, I had to stand outside in my nightgown with a quick thrown pants on undernieth.
My question is don’t they have to atleast give us some type of notice the night before and of this stuff is happenening so we can prepare? The saftely check included moving personal objects of ours outside the room and the next door nieghbors (working with m y boyfriend so I knew them) All thier things were put outside and put back when the inspection was done. They had NO IDEA that any of this was happeneding with thier stuff and wouldn’t have unless I was there. Are they allowed to touch such belongings without even TRYING to contact us?
Hi Cheyanne,
It sounds a bit unusual to say the least. The should be providing some type of notice about the parking lot construction and the safety inspection. Although depending on the rental agreement you may have with them, some of it may be partially built in there.This would be illegal under Landlord and Tenant bylaws, but the rules are different for Hotels/Inns and may require a pretty serious look at the agreement in place.
Still you may want to ask them for advance notice or have them create a notice posting area to update all the guests when events like this are occurring.
Regards,
Bill
The house would need to be separated into 2 dwellings for her to not be able to enter the spaces (living and bathroom) the bedroom she should not be entering. this is under my impression that you are renting in her house with out separated dwellings. easy way to figure out if she is allowed in your living and bathroom, are you sharing a kitchen? are you sharing laundry facilities? do you have your own entrance, are your spaces separated (lockable door)?
If no to the above then you are going to be considered living in a “boarding house” and your rent is for your bedroom, the use of the rest of the spaces and amenities are shared and she is allowing you to use them. the use of the spaces could be considered yours if you have made an agreement prior to, but if its not in writing then its a game of “he said, she said”.
Be weary of your actions living under the inkeepers act it gives more power to the “innkeeper” then the tenant. She can pretty much evict you at anytime if you push her.
The rent was for 3 rooms on the top floor bedroom, sitting room and bathroom these are the rooms that she was renting out to me and the communal areas were the kitchen and Laundry facilities and back yard. There was a living room but I never ever sat it in or used it. As for clean it was clean it just wasn’t setup the way she wanted it. She threw out my property and took property that did not belong to her from my rooms which she did give back to me. What are the laws on returning the damage deposit that I gave her?
Hi Linnell,
It sounds like you would fall more under Innkeeper’s act in this case due to the shared kitchen area more than anything. She would have the right to rearrange common areas, but not private space. This could be tricky as the bathroom and sitting area could be called shared as well. Ultimately though, she cannot throw your property out, she did give it back, so she is pushing it and I don;t think you will be able to do anything unless she did throw it out. As long as the unit is int he same shape as it was when you moved in less normal wear and tear, there is no reason to withhold any damage deposit. She also cannot charge you for cleaning the space while you are there until after you move out.
It;s always best to take plenty of pictures before and after you move in or as a landlord before and after tenants move in and out just for the record.
Bill
I have 3 rooms that are not shared space it is this space my bedroom my living room and my bathroom which are the spaces she went into without conscent. There are other rooms which are shared but these rooms strictly are privately mine! I as per law gave her a 30 day notice and will be out by the 31 of June. So did she have the right to go into my portion of the unit?
I would like to know my rights as a tenant. I rent 3 rooms in a house where my landlord resides. She has come into my room without being invited and yesterday she came into my space rearranged my living room. Threw my magazines in the garbage removed pillows from my space and took them to her room. She cleared all the things out of my shower. I asked what she thought she was doing and she said she was cleaning for a viewing she was going to have. 1 she gave me no notice oh yes a 1week ago she said she was going to show it and then I agreed I have not had notification since then. the fact that she came into my space and rearranged my furniture and put things away and removing my property from my space. Did she have the right to do this?
Hi,
I guess the question here would be, is it a common area, or do you have a whole suite? If it is a common area the landlord can go in the area, tidy up and throw garbage away. The landlord cannot remove the tenants pillows permanently or tenants possessions without confirming with the tenant first.
If it is a self contained suite, while technically she did give you notice, she also needed to do it in writing, so she didn’t follow the rules. This could become a he said/ she said type of scenario.
Bottom line a landlord has to give 24 hour written notice to a tenant regarding showings unless some other type of written agreement is in place. An example I have is I have tenants sign off to allow showings during the work day if I am selling a property and requiring 24 hours notice for weekends or evenings.
Hope that helped.
Bill
I appreciate your comments as for trespassing and moving my things in my area rented to me which is not a common area is she in the wrong. My thought is how dare she touch my property I did not give her permission at any time to go into my rooms and as she says clean it was clean the furniture was placed to symmetrical for her taste. I have Paid rent until the end of June. That also begs the question because she as she said cleaned can she deduct from my damage deposit? I have not left the premises yet?
Hi Linell,
From what you have told me, yes she appears to be in the wrong. She needs to give you advance notice in writing and if she does she can enter the unit. She cannot deduct the cleaning from your security deposit for this. You have to understand she would want it clean for the showing as an untidy unit (even if it is just a few things lying around) can impede renting it to someone, but she doesn’t have the right to go through and remove items, so she was wrong.
Bill
Hi Llinnell, it seems I may have just gotten out of the same place you had. Sounds eerily familiar with this woman going through my things, re-arranging my furniture etc. I had the 2 upper bedrooms and 1 bath in the Lakeview SW of Calgary. Same place??
Can you tell me more about the “Right to detain personal effects” section?
I evicted “guests” under the innkeepers act this morning but they still have a debt around $2500 owed to me.
Can i hold there effects? the police that were present told me that this is only allowed if the property has been abandoned. The act doesn’t state any criteria for holding effects, abandoned or not, just for anyone indebted to the keeper for board and lodging (the bulk of the debt is for past due utility payments that we agreed will be equally shared between everyone in the residence)
Hi Brian,
This is a pretty vague section and honestly I’m more familiar with how it works under the Residential Tenancy Act. The basic rules there state you have to hold onto the items for 30 days at which time you can sell them to recoup your losses and to cover outstanding judgments. Part of the process involves getting a judgment for the outstanding amount which can involve applying to small claims court to get this judgment or via the RTDRS in the case of a regular lease situation.
No matter what you do, it’s very important to catalogue the items to avoid disputes later when he remembers how you still have his Rolex watch his father gave him. I tend to video tape the room, the possessions and especially anything of potential value.
The onus will be on you to prove they were indeed supposed to pay the utilities and that they do owe you, that is usually the biggest hurdle. You can also charge a reasonable amount for storage if you need to remove the items and store them elsewhere so you can rent the space again. This can also be added to the charges.
It never hurts to mention this to the people you evicted so they are aware that if they don’t pay you a) their stuff will be sold and b) if they don’t pay you soon, there will be additional costs!
Hope that helps a bit, I know it’s not a definite answer, but it is pointing you in a better direction hopefully.
Bill
I have 2 bedrooms in my basement that I rent out. I live upstairs with my children so I know my situation doesn’t fall under the RTA. A couple rent out one room and the other room is vacant. A family member has come to me asking to rent out the other room but the couple already here do not approve of it and said they’ll move out within a week. They will not give me next month’s rent since they didn’t give me one month’s notice of moving out. They say I need to give them one month’s notice of the second room being rented out. The living quarters downstairs (living room and bathroom) would be theirs and they would not have to share it with the new renter. What’s your view on this?
Do I have the right to keep their damage deposit (for May’s rent) since they’ll be moving out April 1 without notice?
Hi Dionne,
I just answered this in the other reply to you, hope it helped!
Bill
Hi Dionne,
First comment would be never to rent out to friends or family. It can create some real tension. However in this case the real issue is the current tenants. From what you have written it does appear you fit under the Innkeeper’s Act versus the RTA, I’m assuming there is common areas shared by the people renting the rooms downstairs and potentially you?
If you have two rooms down there it should have been apparent that you rent out both separately, if not you may want to ensure it is apparent in the future and it may help prevent this from happening again. The question that comes up right now is what your rental agreement with the tenants stipulates. Since you are outside of the RTA, you cannot apply the standard RTA rules for damage deposits, so it may come down to the terms within their agreement.
If your leases state they need to give 30 days notice you can likely hang onto their deposit. If it doesn’t they may have a legitimate case to try and get it back, but it would require going through small claims court and may become too tedious for them to pursue.
Again since they should be aware you rent out two rooms and it is likely the lease does not mention having to give them notice, they are most likely bluffing you hoping you will cave.
If you are renting to them monthly I would offer them this. If they leave early in April, they are still responsible for April’s rent in full, but if the property is left clean and in it’s original condition, they will receive their full deposit back. This would give you two or three weeks to market and potentially even fill the property early, give them the deposit back so they don’t harbour a grudge and just be a feel good solution. The important part to remember is that it is your property and they cannot dictate who you rent to. Would that work for you?
There seems to be a pretty good influx of people moving to Alberta right now, so odds are you can fill it quickly and even potentially for more as supply dwindles and demand increases. Let me know hwat you do and how it works out! Or call me crazy if you don’t like my solution 8′]
Thank you. First and foremost, we never entered into an agreement in writing. Verbal agreement only AND of course, they don’t remember me saying I could rent it out at any time. Either way, they’ve decided to leave without paying April’s rent. I haven’t discussed the damage deposit with them yet either. Not sure how it will go, but they’re gone and my family member will be moving in. Oh, and the family member is my Dad which will be great. I’m not worried about it at all! Thanks for all your help.
Hi Bill, I have a question for you I run a large staff housing building. I was wondering where I can get more information on the Inn Keepers act do you sign an agreement, do you pay a damage deposit and do you have to provide housekeeping if it is for a term of 6 months? Any information that you can provide would be helpful. I just don’t find a lot of valuable information in the actual act. Thanks
Hi Beth,
For my properties I do sign an agreement outlining responsibilities of both parties, the rental amount and any deposit amounts. Note these are “agreements” not leases. It might be a technicality, but I do like to differentiate.
Thee is a clause in the Residential Tenancy Act that applies to you. It is Section 2,2,d and it says;
This Act does not apply to:
(d) a hotel, motel, motor hotel, resort, lodge or tourist camp, a
cottage or cabin located in a campground, or a trailer park,
tourist home, bed and breakfast establishment or farm
vacation home, if a person resides there for less than 6
consecutive months,
Note it says for less than six months, so you may need to look at that. You may also want to look into section 11 which covers “notice to terminate tenancy of employee”. They are both important for you to be aware of and it looks like in your case you fit under the first one which excludes you from the RTA.
So to fully answer your questions, yes we have an agreement, yes we take security deposits and as for housekeeping, here is what we have found. We used to provide monthly cleaners that came through the properties and did everything from baseboards to floors to dusting light fixtures. We found once many of the tenants understood this, they felt they no longer had to clean up after themselves. It was like staying with their moms who picked up after them.
We switched to coming in every other month and it became better, but some people understood the system. Now we have abandoned that, put extra emphasis on them letting them know they are responsible for cleaning, we provide supplies and as part of the agreement if they don’t take care of their share the agreement is terminated. This has made the entire process simpler and easier, although we still run into people who don’t get it. So we just help them understand or ask them to move on.
Hope that helps Beth!
Hi Bill,
Thank you for drawing my attention to your site. It is a blessing to know that I can make some extra money and still be in control of my residence.
Just thought I could throw in my experience related to this.
I was having trouble with a couple in one of my rooms downstairs and had to tell them I wanted them out. They argued and without much knowledge of the Innkeepers Act per se, I threatened to call the Police, which I did. I simply asked the policewomen over the phone if I could evict them.
The only question she asked that seemed to matter was whether the people were related to me. It therefore meant that the rules do not seemingly apply if that is the case. Other then that, she said that if they refuse to leave I can give the police another call and they would come to escort them out.
I told the couple exactly that and they left within the hour without a hitch.
Now I know I can make them leave immediately and help them pack even (according to Shannon above), as it is a risk to let them pack and take along some of your belongings with them because they feel we owe them.
I say this because on another occasion the female of a different couple was making herself too comfortable and taking advantage (to cut a long story short). She said she could not leave until her boyfriend came home at 5 pm. I allowed her to stay and true to her style this gave her time to pack one of my best pillows and some linens along with her belongings.
Learned to be more assertive and less lenient with someone undeserving. Now I know I can take immediate action knowing the law is behind me.
Hope this helps others that visit your site.
Thanks Bill.
If the Innkeepers act is right, Do land lords have the rite to charge a last month rent if they have the rite to evict you at any given moment.Keep your last mo0nth and pocket it like theafs they are.
Hi Robert,
Without a bit more information it’s rather hard to determine whether the landlord acted illegally in this case. It’s not a matter of whether the Innkeeper’s Act is right, it’s an Act of Law and is to be followed. The question in this case would be whether the Act applied to you, were you renting a room from someone who resided in the property? If so, then you fit under the Innkeeper’s Act, if you rented a property that the landlord did not reside in, then you fit under Residential Tenancy Act.
There are proper methods and time lines for evictions to take place depending on which scenario you fit. Innkeepers Act allows landlords to evict on the spot when tenants breach the agreement or cause a disturbance, Residential Tenancy Act calls for an eviction notice or use of the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service to clarify whether it’s right or wrong (you can also apply directly to the courts, it’s just longer, more expensive and more formal). For either situation though there needs to be a reason to do the eviction.
As for keeping your last month’s rent that you referred to, that is more of a term from Ontario or some of the other provinces. Did this occur in Alberta or somewhere else? Innkeeper’s Acts are different depending on the region as are Landlord and Tenants Laws, so it’s important to understand what applies to you in your jurisdiction. If you really mean security deposit, which is the normal term in Alberta, it would again depend on your circumstance.
Was there money owing for unpaid rent? Then the security deposit could be applied to this, was there damage to the property, again a portion of the security deposit could be applied to this as well. Did you breach the agreement you signed? As part of this agreement there may be something in the agreement explaining what may occur if you breach and any loss of refund that may occur. This of course is all superceded by the Act you fit under though and may not apply.
While I feel for tenants who are taken advantage of by bad landlords (and there are many bad landlords out there!), the majority of people visiting this site are landlords with tenants who are problematic. Hopefully both the good landlords and the good tenants can learn from this site.
Well we did it. I took what you said and went to the different Landlord and Tenant agencies in our area (both locally and provincially) and both agreed that we did not fall under the RTA, therefore neither us nor our tenant were protected under its rules. Tonight, we entered our tenant’s room (using a 24 hour Notice of Entry submitted 2 days ago) and gave them 10 minutes to pack up – actually helped them, to speed things along! – and they are gone. We may – or may not – hear from them again but…at least our problem is solved.
I cannot thank you enough. Before I discovered this site, I had just accepted that we would be going to the RTDRS and that I should consider it an opportunity to just learn the system a little bit better but then…lo and behold…I discover this site and this “tidbit of information” and it actually saved me at least a couple more weeks evciting this guy, as well as the money it would have cost to hire a bailiff. I’ve learned a lot about who not to rent to, how to protect ourselves better in the future from people like this, but most importantly…I now have new knowledge which will allow me to rid myself of problem tenants faster, in the future. Thank you! Very indebted.
Great news Shannon, glad we could help. For everyone else reading this and to clarify, Shannon’s situation was a property where they rented rooms out of their private residence and due to this it fell under the Innkeeper’s Act rather than the Residential Tenancy Act. The big difference as she discovered is, you do not need to go through the RTDRS and you can evict tenants immediately if they break the residence rules. The tenants in this case do not have any recourse through the Residential Tenancy Act.
If you rent rooms out of the home you live in, this could be the most important information you need to know!
Thanks for providing us with the outcome Shannon!
Thank you very much for your response. To be clear…so technically, if we lived in the upper floor and rented out the lower rooms (even though they are completely separated from the main floor via an entry door – both floors do have access to the back door from inside the premise), we could evict a tenant at any time if they broke one of our house rules? And we could get the police to help us with that immediate eviction? Thanks, Shannon
I’m not sure of the definitive answer, vaguely they say if you rent out a room in your home. The interpretation of that sounds like it should include your situation. It would likely have one address and hence it would all be part of your residence.
So from what I can read into this , yes you could have the police assist in evicting the tenant as you would fall under the Innkeeper’s Act. Looking forward to hearing how this tenant eviction goes!
Hi. We have a rooming type house where the basement is developed into 5 private rooms with shared kitchen/bath and the upstairs is a whole suite where we also rent individual rooms. Beginning November 1, my partner also took over a room there. Does this property now fall into the Innkeepers rule book regarding eviction of a tenant (even if the tenant is in one of the downstairs rooms) OR do we still proceed under the normal rules with the RTDRS?
Hi Shannon,
The distinguishing point you need to be aware of with a rooming type house is that it ONLY falls under the Innkeeper’s Act if it is your primary residence and you live in the property. If it is a separate property, you fall under the Residential Tenancy Act.
Regards,
Bill