Did you know you can use a 24 hour eviction notice when you have a problem tenant who is damaging your property or may be threatening you or other tenants in the same property? Technically this expedites the eviction and you can skip the 14 day eviction process.
You can immediately serve them a 24 hour eviction notice and the important part is this must be done immediately when the issue occurs, don’t wait!
If they don’t vacate within the 24 hour period you still have to go through the RTDRS but it speeds up the process a bit. Just make sure you make them aware you issued a 24 hour eviction so you receive a speedier hearing due to the severity of the issue!
24 Hour Eviction Notice Caveats
Now, before you simply use this for a tenant who accidentally put a hole in the wall, or who yelled at you last month, there are some guide rules.
It does have to be significant damage. Think damage that would be intentional or that would be far greater than the security deposit and that the tenant obviously has zero intention of repairing.
If it’s something the tenant could easily repair or fix there is a good chance the 24 hour eviction could be thrown out. If however it’s a series of holes in every wall, you probably have a much better chance of getting them out.
The other important consideration is timing.
If the issue at hand took place a month ago and you attempt to use a 24 hour eviction now, it will get thrown out as well. If it truly was serious enough to require a 24 hour eviction notice, shouldn’t the notice be served immediately rather than at a convenient time a month or even a week later?
It’s important to know when, and why, you should use a 24 hour eviction notice even if you never need it. If you understand how it works it can make a huge difference those rare times you actually do need it.
Who do I call to have a drunk unruly tenant removed from my property…
Bailiff, Sheriff…? I prefer not to involve the RCMP again.
Hi Dale,
Being drunk isn’t grounds for eviction, where as unruly depends on the level and you haven’t really provided anything to go on. If the tenant is threatening other tenants or yourself or damaging the property you can give them a 24 hour eviction notice. If they fail to vacate you still have to go through the RTDRS or the courts to legally evict them and with a 24 hour eviction it can usually be accelerated through the process if proper processes were followed. Since you asked this on the 9th and it’s the 11th now, it’s too late to provide a 24 hour notice as I noted in the article.
Without a court order though, neither the bailiff or the sheriff can actually remove the tenant for you unless they are endangering someone or themselves and in the case of the bailiff they would still call the RCMP in that situation. This still wouldn’t be an eviction, just a temporary removal so you’d still need to follow the eviction process.
Bill
We have tenant who has been renting our property from April last year with 6 months lease and continued until today. He has mental problem with episodes of yelling and throwing things at his girlfriend who is working and paying rent.Since then we had 4 tenants left. He also smoke weed and tenants downstairs complain about bad smell. We gave him numerous warnings. He would be ok for couple of days and it would start again. Rent is paid every month, sometime partially. Please advise. Do we have any other way to evict him or 14 days notice had to be served.
Hi Summer,
If your lease includes issues like smoking in the unit (and yes smoking marijuana is still smoking) you have grounds for eviction, additionally if he is disturbing the other tenants and forcing them to leave you also have grounds,and if he is only paying partially, you also have grounds for breach of payment, but if you are using a fixed term lease that doesn’t auto renew as monthly you can notify him you don’t intend on renewing and the lease is terminated at the end of the term and he will need to move out.
Bill
Hello Bill,
Elle here, again. Wondering if you’d share some insight if you had a moment. It sure has been a strange few months.
I decided to move out of the last place. Bad vibes. I found a place to live in the city of Edmonton. It is an apartment. The owner rents to a tenant. This tenant agreed to bring me into the second bedroom of the apartment. She did not want me to sign the lease. I gave her $500 for a security deposit. No rent yet. I brought my belongings to the apartment and stayed at the apartment one night only. The next morning the tenant tells me all of a sudden that someone else will be moving in to the apartment. News to me. I moved all of my things out of the place. The tenant will not give me my deposit back.
Any thoughts? Ever heard of such a thing? I think I may be out $500.
Elle
Hi Elle,
so no lease paperwork, no money trail and no receipt for your money you gave her? If that’s the case you are likely out the money. You may be able to contact the police as a fraud situation, but you would need some sort of paper trail to prove she received the money.
right now there are multiple fraud situations going on with tenants defrauding landlords with fake Id and info and tenants defrauding other tenants with similar scams to what you encountered, always get receipts and have a paper trail!
Bill
Hi Bill,
Thank you for such a quick response. I happened to wire the tenant the security deposit. I have no formal receipt issued by the tenant however, I do have my banking information showing the transfer from one account to another. Does this sound like a small claims situation to you?
Elle
Hi Elle,
I’d start by calling the police and explaining it so they have a record of it. If it’s a one off they may just refer you to the courts, but if this is a repeating fraudulent scheme hopefully others have reported ti as well which will amp up their interest.
Depending on how that works, next step would be the courts.
Bill
Thank you, Bill. Alberta Eviction has yet again proved to be a solid resource.
Hi Bill,
Many thanks for the resources and information you’ve posted. It’s been a great deal of help already. I had a question I hoped you might shed some light on.
An acquaintance moving to the province for work asked to stay with me for the week. She was looking for a place to rent by herself. After the end of the week, she suggested that she would contribute half the rent in return for the small bedroom.
I am the only tenant on the lease. For the first 7 months she picked up a few grocery bills. For the past 9 months she has paid, albeit on her schedule, late – always late. This month she skipped out on rent and went home to another province. I have asked politely in person at the beginning of the month, and via text message and phone calls throughout the past two weeks. She has ignored all texts.
Do I have any recourse? Can she be made to leave upon her return. All her things are packed in a suitcase by the door.
Or have I entered into some kind of agreement with her.
Again, she is not on the lease. We have no roommate agreement.
Any advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated.
Elle
Hi Elle,
While you’ve entered into an implied agreement, she apparently hasn’t held up her end. In a perfect world you’d have some sort of paper trail, either emails agreeing to payments or an actual lease outlining the deal.
Hopefully you can at least show a paper trail for payments, although in most situations with “friends” people tend not to give out receipts.
At this point you have a couple options. You can put all the pressure on her by letting her know she is out and perhaps ask the landlord to change the locks (at your expense). She could however take you to court, but with little documentation such as a lease it would be up in the air and you could provide proof you tried to contact via text etc., so would have a good chance of having it simply thrown away. Plus it’s normally very unlikely someone who can’t afford rent would pay for the costs involved with a hearing.
Or you could tell her that if she doesn’t arrange to have her stuff picked up by X day you will consider her vacated and dispose of it for her, again this could leave you open for a hearing, but might pressure her, or you could do a combination of the first two.
Finally you could take the long arduous route of evicting her via the courts, but you would run into issues as you need to serve her in person or ensure she was aware there was a hearing.
Personally I would go route one and assume she has vacated and then face any issues after. Just document all attempts to contact and update her just in case.
Thats my thoughts, and remember I’m not a lawyer, so there may be unintended legal fallout. But again, no rent money, no money for lawyers…. Just document and inventory all of her goods as well before doing anything.
Bill
Thank you, Bill. I appreciate the time you took to respond to me as well as the detail you went into.
I ended up following a version of the first route. I took all her things to a neutral location. She returned later in the week with the key. It was an expensive lesson to be learned.
Again, many thanks for your advice. It was truly kind of you to take the time to respond to me.
Elle
Hi Bill,
I have a girl renting a room from me, never signed an agreement or set parameters for the length of stay. Since moving in, her animal is constantly messing in my house, which I always end up cleaning, and every time it is brought to her attention, all I get is an “Oh. He must be sick.” No thanks, no offers to clean or pay for cleaning. Besides this, she uses my kitchenware which she has broken a few pieces of, leaves raw meat out for days on end, (i sometimes work out of town, so thats not a great smell to come home to), constantly leaves all the lights and tvs on when she leaves the house, and last but not least, has been leaving my doors open… not just unlocked, but open. Ive spoken to her a few times about it, and get “oh, i thought i did.” What are my options here, I need her gone, but dont have anything in writing aside from a few texts about the animal and the doors.
Hi Hol,
I’d start by documenting everything so you have a paper trail in case it does come to an eviction. Any verbal correspondence should be followed up with a written letter going over what was discussed, expectations and responsibilities. Again, more paper trail.
From there it might be time to have a frank discussion explaining this isn’t working out. Give her a deadline to move out (something reasonable like the end of the month) and to make it more appealing offer to refund a portion of the month’s rent if it’s sooner.
How badly you want her out can affect how much you’ll entice her with. If she leaves early perhaps you refund the whole month. If she vacates by X day she gets her full deposit back, even though dishes may be broken and it smells in her room. At the same time, let her know if she drags it out to the final day there may be extra charges for cleaning, damages etc.
Worst case, if you start documenting you can try a) deadline and then ask the police to assist which they help with some of the time, but usually only if the tenant becomes aggressive in a situation like this with a roommate situation (see articles on this site about the Innkeeper’s Act) and b) court hearing if everything else fails. Since this is outside the scope of the Residential tenancy Act as you live there it has to go to court making it a little more expensive and formal.
Hope that gives you some ideas.
Bill
P.S. If you intend to carry on with renting out a room in your place you will want to get a lease/rooming agreement to avoid many fo these problems in the future. They are available for sale on this site under the Forms and Leases section.
Bill,
First off – thank you for putting this site together. The information here is incredibly useful and the user community with public comments is great as a resource. I did some searching and I couldn’t find anything relating to my specific situation so I’m hoping you can provide some advice.
I have very recently (less than two weeks) took possession on a property with an existing tenant in a basement suite. I used a standard Alberta lease agreement with one or two minor edits.
I gave the tenant 72 hours notice that there would be work crews and contractors in the upstairs unit doing demolition for two days and construction for nine. I advised that work would start and end according to Calgary noise bylaws regarding construction.
Post-possesion date, one the first day of work the tenant came upstairs and berated the contractors for starting early and was verbally threatening. I addressed this with the tenant (documented) and seemed to have a resolution and understanding.
A few days later, the same situation happened again and the contractor felt threatened and left.
In your opinion, do we have cause for a 24 hour or 14 day eviction? I was planning on asking the contractor to provide a written statement with dates as well.
Thanks again Bill.
Hi Elias,
Thanks for the feedback about the site. It’s been of great benefit to a large number of people over the years!
You’re following the right process by addressing this all right away, but it may not be quite enough to get a 24 hour eviction. It’s close and a written statement from the contractor may help, but you’ll want to make sure you have all of this documented as well. Any verbal conversations you have with the tenant about this should be followed up with a written copy either delivered in person or via email going over the discussion.
You’ll also want to have a stern discussion with the tenant explaining that if the contractor feels threatened again or if he complicates matters you will be moving forward with an eviction. It’s up to him via his actions how quickly this occurs or whether everything stays as it is.
You really want to make sure you have a rock solid case and there is little to no leeway for the tenant. He is putting your reno at risk, he is potentially costing you your contractor and he is costing you money, but if you lose, it may make it harder to get the eviction it sounds like is in your best interest anyway.
This is always the danger of purchasing a rental property with the old tenants. you don;t know if the previous owner sold because they reached their goals and were moving on, or if the tenants wore them down and they are simply giving up their landlord business due to the headaches involved.
Bill
I’ve just issued a 24 hour eviction notice to one of my tenants for drug use and threatening other tenants. Do I have to reimburse him for the remaining days in June he’s paid rent for? Can I still wait 10 days to issue his damage deposit?
Im selling my condo and my roommate is not making it easy as far as cleaning and keeping everything clean. Do I have any options here?
Hi Marcela,
When it comes to roommate situations, the majority of the resolutions are supposed to be laid out in the roommate agreement or lease used by the owner. The problem is, most people use standard residential tenancy leases which don’t really apply as roommates and owners sharing a space aren’t covered by the Residential Tenancy Act which standard leases are designed for.
That doesn’t mean all is lost, it just adds challenges. First step is always to try negotiating. if you can come to some sort of peaceful resolution that works for both of you, great, if not on to step two.
Step two, depending on whether you have a signed lease and any stipulations within it, you may be able to assist your roommate with their decision to move on. In roommate situations, while not under the Residential Tenancy Act, you may be bound by the terms of the agreement in place. If this agreement states you’ll follow all the rule sunder the Residential Tenancy Act, you may have more issues.
If you don’t have a signed agreement in place or your agreement is tailored to your situation (roommate rental situation) you may have multiple clauses or paths to apply. these would include rules under the Innkeeper’s Act, stipulations for cleanliness outlined that the tenant may be in breach of that could qualify for an eviction and more.
At this point, it’s in the tenants best interest to derail any sale, so they have no incentive to help and your job may be to create an incentive. This can be either through a carrot, where you could offer a suitable refund to get them out sooner, or the stick, where you may be in a situation where a potential breach of your agreement could allow you to accelerate their moving out.
With out specific details of your lease or what’s happening hopefully this gives you some ideas to work with,
Bill
I have a roommate that has refused to clean after himself which has lead to more than one confrontation on this issue we dont have a formal lease an he has now taken it upon himself to utter threats against myself an other tenants that he has lots of people thay wish to cause myself an the other tennant harm. Will my landlord be able to evict him with a 24 hour notice or will this be a long drawn out struggle
Hi Shawn,
If he has physically threatened you and/or the other tenants you need to make your landlord aware immediately. This is grounds for a 24 hour eviction, although if he doesn’t leave in 24 hours the landlord then has to go through the hearing process which can take another seven to fourteen days depending on backlog.
Delaying any 24 hour notice will weaken the case.
Bill
Hi There,
I am writing on behalf of my Girlfriend and landlords who are looking for more information.
The situation is that there are 3 tenants in a house in a fixed term i believe and the my Girlfriend and the other tenant (her Friend) would like to have the 3rd tenant evicted.
He has been consistently partying, making messes inviting unwanted into the house, there has been times when they cant even use the washroom because there are people in there doing drugs and refusing to leave. and we have caught the dog choking on beer caps left around the property and chewing on drugs.
This guy has been talked to before about some of these issues and just has no memory of the events or of the conversations between the three about some of the issues.
. My girlfriend has felt unsafe in the house and felt unsafe for the pets in the house as well with everything that has been going on and when confronted about leaving the tenant had gotten into a verbal fight leaving my friend and other tenant to actually feel the need to vacate the premise that evening along with their possesions out of fear of possible backlash or having him and his friends steal or break things things. Today we had moved things back and have applies locks to the bedrooms of my friend and the other tenant. The landlord at this point has said that they would try to serve him with a 48 hour eviction notice or 24. but are unsure of what they can do exactly.
The landlord had also said that we may need to state a police complaint as well as a restraining order but we are unsure if we can cause there havent been physical threats towards them as far as i know
So im just wondering how these 2 tenants and the landlords can make this happen as soon as possible or if it is not possible.
Hi Dylan, sorry for the slow reply to an important question but as always, everything always happens at once!
Priority in this case is if the tenant threatened the other tenants the landlord should have been informed an an immediate 24 hour eviction notice provided to the tenant. If this happened several days ago the seriousness of a 24 hour eviction is severely reduced. It could be argued the landlord was just confirming information or verifying the correct path, but still if it happened a week ago and no further issues or threats occurred the seriousness of it could be called into question.
That would be the first route, second route is a little more problematic and I don’t have a specific answer, but have to refer to what I’ve seen in the past.
Other landlords have evicted everyone on the lease in a situation like this and then resigned a new lease with the one or two tenants they wished to keep. This applies to having to go to the courts or the RTDRS as everyone on the lease is supposed to be included in an eviction application.I am unsure if you can just pinpoint a single individual if everyone is on the lease.
If you can’t go with the 24 hour notice, I’d suggest the next step would be to have the landlord provide written notice to the tenant asking him to vacate by X date with the laundry list of problems you’ve mentioned with X being a reasonable amount of time to a) light a fire under them and b) time for them to find a place.
As I am replying on the 15th, perhaps as long as the 1st of May if no other issues occur or possibly as soon as the 19th which gives them until the weekend. The notice is intended to pressure them to leave while at the same time providing evidence in any potential hearing the landlord gave them a chance.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hello,
Long story short.
While I was away with work, my roommates friend stole my car / damaged it / and stole all its contents. Filled a police report, and the friend was actually pulled over on a traffic stop. Due to many lies, the theift of over $5000 of stuff in my car, and the fact im leaving again with work…. I want to get her out ASAP. I own the condo, and she pays me rent. I don’t have a lease with her. Please help
Thanks
Scott
Hi Scott,
The biggest issue at hand is the lack of a lease. A lease is required to outline the basic rules or the in-depth rules, depending on your situation and requirements. It’s in your lease that you can include details like breaking the lease.
Since your roommate is renting a room from you and you live on the property, you don’t actually fit under the Residential Tenancy Act, you fit in a gray area and it’s why it’s more important in these situations to have a written lease.
Without specific legislation covering this situation, often it falls under the Innkeeper’s Act, but not always. The Innkeeper’s Act would allow you to immediately evict a roommate who is aggressive or causing a disturbance, but it’s not always handled the same way and it can backfire if you don;t know what you’re doing.
Alternatively you can file through the courts to evict her, but you’d need grounds to do that.
Since you made the mistake of not having a lease, you may want to try negotiating to have her move out.Give her until X day and explain if she doesn’t vacate you will likely need to evict her, it may be enough to help her move on. Barring that, you could raise her rent to force her out.
Going forward, if you do intend to rent out your room to someone else, you’ll want to do a much ore thorough job of screening them so you know what’s going on and I also provide roommate leases on the site which you can find her, Roommate Lease For Alberta Landlords.
Bill
Hi there my hubby and I rent out a room in our basement to a girl and she is one month behind in her rent. And also shes always in my business standing on the stairs peeking up stairs listening to our conversation and shes always coming upstairs asking what we are eating . Shes even texting me upstairs asking what we are eating. Shes got a boyfriend thats homeless and shes bothering us non stop asking if he can stay he comes to visit ive caught him showering here also shes hides his shoes and sneaks him in her room. She will text us continuously about her boyfriend coming or staying. And shes even bothering my hubby at work about her boyfriend . I know she has stolen laundry soap on diffrent occassions. We are very frusterated with her and shes a month late with rent. We did not charge her a damage deposit theres no reciepts of any kind or lease or rental agreement can we give her a 24 hour eviction notice?? Oh and shes always bothering us about her dog coming here when she was told before she moved in no pets!! Please help me get her out thanks!
Hi Lawona,
This wouldn’t be grounds for a 24 hour eviction as there have been no threats and no large amounts of damage taking place. The only grounds you currently have is for the unpaid rent, which you can either use a 14 day eviction notice for or go through the court system to evict her.
Without a damage deposit, lease and no receipts you have dug yourself a bit of a hole, but it’s not insurmountable. However having said that if the tenant really understands the rules, your lack of all of this could turn it into a real nightmare scenario for you. As it is, she could trash your place and you would have pretty well zero recourse. Hopefully that has scared you enough that if you continue renting to new tenants you learn some of the rules and get things right next time.
You need a lease, you need a damage deposit (paid before they get access) and you need a walk through inspection report all completed and signed before you ever give a tenant keys.
Bottom line, at this point you may want to start with a 14 day eviction notice, and to start compiling written notices to her informing her of what acceptable means of contacting you are, the disappearing soap contacting your husband at work etc. These will be pieces fo evidence you can use later on if a hearing ends up being required.
Bill
I have a tenant who rents two rooms and i have a third in the basement area. We shatevthe kitchen and the laundry as well. Last night i stumbled across an ad where they were trying to rent out one of their rooms without my knowledge. They have been smoking both marijuana and cigarettes in the bedroom with the window open. This is just the tip of the iceberg so to speak. They have proceeded to verbally abuse me and the other roomates . Can I proceed with a 24 hour eviction based on these issues ? Thank you
Hi Cathy,
For a 24 hour eviction you would require threats against you or the other tenants, so depending on the degree of verbal abuse and what was said it can make a huge difference.
You don’t really fall under the Residential Tenancy Act though, the closest legislation you fit in is the Innkeeper’s Act which gives you more leeway for evictions. It does also present other problems as it is not enforced consistently.
If smoking is against the lease you have and subletting as well, these would both be valid reasons to evict, so you could also go that route.
Bill
So let’s say a tenant has this great guy she met and for the last three weeks has had him come over on weekends. Everybody likes him and he’s cool . The tenants room mates then sneak into tenants room and go thru his bag while him and tenant are out to the store. Room mates google his last name and find out he has bad criminal record. So roommates give tenant twenty four hour eviction and keep damage deposit. Saying reason is for guys record. Can the tenant do anything to get there deposit back? Is this allowed? Thanks
Hi Jen,
So let’s say that this tenant is you, just for fun. I’d seriously consider moving out of there as quickly as possible if I couldn’t trust my roommates to go through private items in my room, whether they are mine or not.
Under the RTA there is no validation for him to receive a 24 hour eviction and it’s illegal to evict someone for their past record. As for keeping their damage deposit, again, it’s illegal and the tenant should be taking them to the RTDRS or small claims court to make their life difficult and to get their money back.
Bill
Hi, I have 2 renters at my property they are on fix rent. they wanted to reduce rent then we discussed and I explained we must keep it same as they are on fix rent term. they were ok with it, but one renter’s mother who is not even renting with me and neither on the lease has called me & sent me threatening messages to reduce her kid rent (he is adult not kid). I am very upset. can I serve them a 24 hrs eviction notice asap?
Hi Shaya,
Unfortunately you can’t as the actual tenant hasn’t threatened you. You’ll have to stand your ground and let them know that the rent will stay where it is and if they find it too high they will have to move on and that if you receive future threatening calls you should report it to the police.
Bill
Thanks for your fast response. one of the renter threated to hit us. can I give both of them notice to leave within 24 hrs? I m worry for my safety it is getting very serious. Thanks
Hi, just to add to above, I have now called cops as I m worry for my safety. they asked me to pay full deposit back & then tenants agree to leave in 1-2 days. I m not sure if they will cause more damages at my property before leaving then I won’t have their deposit to deduct anything. what I should do? do I have to do what cops asked me to do? Pay full deposit first then wait 1-2 days for renters to leave? Please help. I am stuck. Thanks!
Hi Shaya,
As a tenant has now threatened you directly, you can accelerate it to a 24 hour eviction. As for giving them the deposit to leave a couple days prior, that would be crazy as you indicated there is no reason for them to not damage the place.
I would however make an arrangement with them that they can receive their full deposit back if the place is clean and undamaged on the day they move out, less any pro-rated days that they stayed. If they have issues with that, usually because they need the deposit for the next property, the alternative is to let them know you will carry forth with the eviction and you don’t have to provide them with the deposit or any part remaining until ten days after they vacate.
It might open their eyes to this being a good deal.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Thanks for your help and the info. We let our renters go with their full deposit otherwise they were not willing to leave and we were not feeling safe to stay with them. They owe us money and we don’t have their forwarding mailing address. How can I do it?
We gave them eviction notice because of threats they gave us and they think they don’t have to pay us rent because we gave them notice to leave.
Sorry, I know I am asking you too many questions and you may be feeling annoyed.
I really appreciate your help! Thanks a ton. You are Awesome!
Hi Shaya,
Glad to hear you have them out and can move forward.At this point I wouldn’t worry about trying to get any money they owe you, but rather focus on getting new tenants in. With the low vacancy rates in most of Alberta, you should be able to fill them fairly quickly.
Once tenants are gone it’s a huge hassle and very rarely fruitful when it comes to recovering money owed, so take the win of just having them out and the ability to potentially get better tenants in to replace them.
You might find this free course on tenants screening I put together helpful for you as well, Tenant Screening 101
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hi
Thanks for your initiative in starting this website. Do u think it is appriate to give a tenant a 24hr eviction. Him n his friend are fighting n have destroyed our condo unit. One of them has signed n agreed to them fighting n destroying the unit. I need them out ASAp before more destruction.
Please advice on my next step.
Thanks.
Hi Hally,
If it just occurred yesterday yes, you can provide them a 24 hour notice. If it was a week ago, you will need to continue with a regular eviction through the RTDRS or the courts and by pass a 14 day eviction.
So next step depends on when it occurred!
Bill
I would like to talk by phone. Can I contact you?
Hi Tanya,
I typically reply to queries on the site within 1-3 days for free, I’ll answer emails with simple questions as I have time and I usually deal with phone calls as part of my eviction consulting which is $50 for a 30 minute call on a priority basis (typically same day). More information about this service here, Eviction Consulting
While I would love to help everyone for free, I have my own businesses to run. This is what led me to having to remove my phone number from the site last year. For the most part all of the information on this site is free to landlords and tenants with the exceptions of the guides, forms and consultations.
If you would like to email me, you can reach me at info@albertaeviction.com, or you can use the link above to set up a consultation and I should be able to get back to you yet this evening.
Regards,
Bill
We allowed one of my husband’s contract employees stay in one of the rooms in the basement of our rented house where we have 2 other workers “renting” rooms as well. We allowed this particular worker and his girlfriend stay without any payment on a temporary basis because they had nowhere else to go, the room is empty, we felt bad for them so we let them stay.
Since being down there almost 2 weeks now, they fight constantly. Yelling and screaming, things being thrown around, doors slamming drunken fighting. The other guys down there have complained about it and it happens every other night it seems.
Just 2 nights ago they were at it again and this time was especially bad. 3 hours it went on, and although I know I should have just called the police, but in trying to avoid the inconvenience and in attempt to just get them to be quiet so me and my husband could get some sleep…I went and banged on their door. No answer so I opened the door…it was unlocked and yelled down the stairs “what is going on down here”. The girlfriend came out and started yelling about how her boyfriend was throwing her things outside. I told her “ok look, it is 1 am, I have been listening to you scream and yell for 3 hours and I just want to sleep. So you have 2 choices, you can calm it down, or you can leave” She replied by telling me she didnt care if I have to sleep, he’s ruining her dresses etc… I went down the stairs to the landing and I said “Again…2 choices, shut up, or get out” She then got in my face and insulted me by yelling that I am gross, fat, disgusting..a number of other things and repeatedly yelling “EWWWWWWWWW” at the top of her lungs. I admit, I should have just turned around and gone back up the stairs but I kind of lost it and I hit her.
Needless to say, she called the police who came the next morning to arrest me on an assault charge. I also got a no contact order put against me.
Now the problem remains that they will not leave our house. The police officer told us that as soon as we let them move their belongings in, they became tenants. Although no paperwork was signed, no agreement was made verbally or otherwise, no payments were recieved…as far as I understood, they were guests. Now they won’t leave, saying they have no money and no where else to go…. police will not remove them, I am at a loss on what to do…. advice???
Hi Anna,
Oooops, looks like you’ve learned a few things already, the hard way.You have a couple options potentially here depending on how you’re set up. First if you are really operating this with just renting rooms and you have shared kitchen and living room that everyone uses, you fall under the Innkeeper’s Act.
If that’s the case, it’s very easy. Next time they cause a disturbance, simply call the police and get them escorted off the property. Under the Innkeeper’s Act, if guests are causing a disturbance, then the police can escort them off the premises. Some will have issues with this as the Innkeeper’s Act and the Residential Tenancy Act fall under civil versus criminal matters which the police don’t enforce. They do cover the disturbance part, much like unruly guests at a hotel can be dealt with.
Alternatively, if the tenant was an employee when he moved in, there are provisions for providing housing to employees and terminating them when the employment ends. This may be your other alternative to pursue.
Hope that helps give you some avenues to pursue.
Bill
I have a tenant who is very disrespectful . He fuses n swears at me. He was 5 days late paying his rent he has been late 3 out of the 3 months he has been in the suite. So on the 5th day he was late I put an eviction on his door. He phoned n left a message on my cell cusing n swearing at me n threatening to sue me for demeaning him . Can I give him a 24 hr eviction for notice for verbal threats. He has emailed a money transfer to me for the rent but not the late charges or the water bill that he said he put in his name but didn’t and water co sent me the bill.
Hi Iona,
Short answer, no, although you can evict him for continuous breach of payment. This would be a 14 day notice, or more effectively if you believe he will fight it, going directly to the RTDRS or the courts to file based on him continually paying late.
If he threatens to hurt you, or your property, then you can ramp it up to a 24 hour notice, but you must do it immediately, delaying two three or more days after the incidence will weaken your position. If you want them out in 24 hours, but it took three days to take any action, it is deemed less serious, if it’s issued day of the infraction, then you appear much more serious in the eyes of a court.
Regards,
Bill
We have a tenant whose fixed lease is up end of july. With the recent flood, the house was evacuated. 10 days later we were allowed in, and the house was cleared as the flood did not damage the house. 1 inch sewer back up in basement which was cleaned up in 2 days. The tenant is now refusing to pay rent for july. Him and his wife are going through a divorce and she has moved out. He is refusing to pay rent because supposedly the house is not safe for his children. (the house was not damaged by the flood. His job takes him away and he is not at the moment living at the house. He is refusing to move his things out of the house and refusing to pay rent. What do we do? the lease is up in less then 3 weeks. He is now threatning us with a law suite as he is going in all the way ” his words, I make more money than you do” What do we do, we want them out of the house but also the rent money. The house is such a big mess, it is filthy as they have not looked after it. What should our first step be?
Hi Jane,
The floods have caused a huge issue for both landlords and tenants. In this case it sounds like the tenant may be leveraging the situation to his advantage, so you will need to take some type of action. If you sit and wait to see if he does leave at the end of July you won’t likely ever collect July’s rent and while you may be able to retain his security deposit to cover rent, you will be out the cost to clean up the property and to get it back to a rentable condition.
If you take him to the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service or to the courts, you should be able to get a judgment ordering him to pay the rent which should be your primary goal. Once he’s gone getting a judgment is a painful process and collecting is even worse.
Your first step is to decide whether to go forth with the eviction yourself or to hire an eviction firm. If you need to keep costs down, I would suggest picking up my Eviction Guide reading through and taking them to a hearing via the RTDRS.
If you want someone else to deal with it, you will need to hire an eviction service company and let them do it. This will cost around $800 and up depending on how difficult the eviction and the tenant is.
Hope that points you in the right direction, if you have more questions feel free to leave another question.
Bill
i have sublet a room in a house in EDMonton , i left 3 days ago and gave notice to vacate by sept 30th or sooner, however my roomate stayed behind, last night his girlfriend went knocking on neighbours door with blood on her, in fact the neighbours door still has marks of blood on the door, neighbours on all sides are afraid of what will be next. Does this qualify for a 24 hour eviction??? If it does i will be happy to get your book.
Hi Pierre,
I’m a bit confused, can you provide soem extra information? I think what you’re saying is you are renting out a room in your property, is that correct? If it is, you might have different avenues than a 24 hour eviction as you would likely fit under the Innkeeper’s Act.
A 24 hour eviction notice applies to situations where the landlord or other tenants are threatened by a tenant. In your case I’m not sure if they were threatened by the girl, or just scared. This could be grounds to turn it into a 14 day eviction, but not necessarily a 24 hour eviction.
Providing them a 14 day eviction notice would be counter productive at this time if you’ve already given them proper notice to be out on the 30th. I would suggest talking to them, letting them know they have upset the neighbours, see if you can have them clean up the blood and reinforce to them how important it is to be out by the 30th. Also, make sure you document all of this, but a bit more in depth.
At this time you don’t require my guide, but if it ends up you do have to go through the process of evicting them through the RTDRS, I would think you would find it very helpful.
Bill
Hi Bill, I am currently overseeing my father in law’s property while he is away. My brother in law resides at the property as well as another renter. Unfortunately no formal lease was signed to the best of my knowledge and the renter pays monthly at the agreed amount. There have been recent issues with the renter where he has allowed others to stay at the home wihtout getting approval from my father in law or myself. He has also threatened to fight my brother in law on a few occassions and most recently was involved in a physical altercation with one of the people he allowed to stay there. The police were involved and have charged him with uttering threats towards my brother in law. I served him a 90 day eviction notice on June 29, 2012, but would like him out sooner.
He is not allowed back to the residence at this time due to the charge and the police putting conditions on him not to attend. I read some of your articles and just want to confirm, do I or do I not have to file with the court to get a 24 hour eviction notice? If and when I get the notice, how long do I have to serve him with the notice as we do not know where he is at this time.
Thank you!
Hi Graham,
You have a bit of a predicament here. Since the incident occurred almost two weeks ago a 24 hour eviction notice would probably be easily fought, to use a 24 hour eviction notice it must be used within 24 hours of the incident (note this is a just a guideline, not actual fact). 24 hour evictions are deemed very serious offences and by delaying the seriousness is also diminished.
Technically in Alberta we don’t have a 90 day eviction notice, you can do a 90 day termination of a lease, even a verbal one, but since you called it an eviction you may have a workaround. You should be able to file an eviction directly with the RTDRS, or the court house depending on where you live in the province, and potentially get a hearing within a week or two.
The issue being you need to serve him the hearing paperwork and without knowing where he is currently staying, this can be a bit daunting. Do you know where he works? Do you have any contact emergency numbers you can call, an email address or post office box number? Any of these may be a viable method of serving him once normal methods fail.
I really haven’t run into this issue when it involves what appears to be a restraining order, so you may have to actually contact the RTDRS or the courts just to see what your options are for serving a missing tenant. You can reach the RTDRS through the government toll free service at 310-0000, then dial 780-644-3000. I would love to hear what they suggest so I can pass it on as well.
hope this helped a little,
Bill
I UNDERSTAND U HAVE VERY INFORMATIVE PROCEDURE – BUT DO YOU PERSONALLY HANDLE THE EVICTION? IF YOU DO – WHAT ARE YOUR CHARGES?
THANKS
RITA
Hi Rita,
I don’t personally do the evictions for people, but I do consult for people who need guidance. If you require someone to take it all the way through from filing to the courts, there are several companies available to help you.
In Calgary, I have dealt with Foster and Co quite successfully there number is 403-259-0029. If you are in Edmonton or Northern Alberta, you can talk to Associated Eviction at 780-455-1101.
These services start at approximately $800 and depending on how difficult the eviction or how long it drags out it can be quite a bit more.
If you want to do the eviction yourself, I provide a guide with a detailed walk through of the entire process. The guide walks you through all the steps of an eviction and “demystifies” the process. It’s available for $37.95 and you can find more information about it here, https://www.albertaeviction.com/eviction-guide/. With the purchase I’ll also provide email support for any questions you have.
If you need a little more guidance, I also charge $100 per hour for consultations about evictions and although I am not a lawyer, I can help provide strategies and answers to the majority of the questions out there.
Or if you have simple questions, leave them on this site and I typically respond within 24 to 48 hours and the questions often help other landlords (or tenants) with similar problems.
Regards,
Bill