Evicting A Problem Tenant Correctly
When I talked a fellow landlord through the eviction process with a problematic tenant I discovered he missed a critical part of evicting a problem tenant. I put this quick video together so you can learn from this and not repeat the same mistake!
Don’t let a problem tenant take control, when evicting a tenant make sure it sticks.
You’ve gone to the trouble of starting an eviction, why make a mistake that gives your problem tenant an opportunity to stay longer?
It’s important that you understand the steps required, the process involved and the proper paperwork to ensure that eviction does work out best for you.
If you’re unsure of the process we can provide two options for you at Alberta Eviction to help you get the results you need.
Problem Tenant
First, we have a step by step eviction guide for landlord that takes you through the entire eviction process using the Residential Tenancy Dispute Service (or RTDRS as it’s known). If you’re new to evicting tenants, if this is your first problem tenant or you just want to understand the process so it’s not as confusing (and so you avoid mistakes), you’ll want to order this guide immediately.
It’s a downloadable book, so you’ll typically have it within minutes after ordering and as time is a priority with a problem tenant you’ll be able to start moving forward right away. To order the eviction book, click here, Alberta Landlord Eviction Guide.
Second, I consult with landlords and give them answers and solutions as to how to move forward.
Have a problem tenant you want to evict, but don’t know where to start? I can help.
Have a professional tenant who seems to know all the tactics to avoid eviction? I can help.
Is this your first eviction and you have no idea how to begin? Again, I can help.
I’ve helped hundreds of landlords get started, get rid of confusion and get started on a path to removing their problem tenant from their property. Let me help you get the answers you need to resolve the headaches you’re dealing with.
Consulting calls are $50 for a thirty minute session and people who use my service routinely tell me it’s the best $50 they’ve spent as a landlord! To get started, visit this page for more details and to book a priority call within the next 24 hours (usually same day), Help Me With My Eviction – Eviction Consulting
Hi There,
I am a landlord of a house that has two legal suites – upper suite and basement suite.
My upper suite tenant has just moved in December 1, since then, my basement suite tenants, who have lived there for 3 years with no problem / complaints, have been complaining to me about the constant smell of cigarette smoke and marijuana. I have talked to my upper suite tenants multiple times that smoking is prohibited in the suite as it is affecting the health and well-being of the lower suite tenants. I have also sent an formal email warning regarding this. My basement suite tenants also talked to the upper suite tenants about the issue. Unfortunately, the upper suite tenants got upset, not only do they smoke cigarette and weed within the house all day long, they are also purposely slamming doors, stomping on the floors, walking in circles loudly so to annoy and disturb my basement suite tenants. My basement tenants already told them that they are very sensitive and allergic to cigarette smoke, but the upper suite tenants are acting like child by further interfering with the right and enjoyment of the basement tenants. I care very much about the well-being and health of my basement tenants and is trying very hard to resolve this. I have called eviction service company, but they said it is hard to prove the above. Other than non-payment of rent, there is nothing much I can do about the situation to evict the upstairs tenants.
Is there anything I can do? My basement tenants are the nicest tenants I have come across and I really don’t want them to go through this. I really want to help them.
Please help me!
Thank you very much!!
Glory
Hi Glory,
You’re doing the right things, but unfortunately you have some less than helpful tenants making this a challenge. It can be tougher to evict tenants in this situation, but its not impossible, the key to this is creating a paper trail showing you’ve tried to work this out.
To do this, after each time you talked to the upstairs tenants ideally you followed up with a written notice to them explaining, it was their first warning, then their second and finally if it occurs again you will have to move forward with an eviction. This provides some of the evidence and is just the start.
Additionally you’d need to show the history of the current tenants, provide as much evidence showing the misbehavior of the tenants and move forward to get them out. You may want to track down previous upstairs tenants to get statements about the quality of the basement tenants and more. All to show the real problems.
So while it’s not easy, and it could require a lot of work, it’s not impossible.
Bill
Hi there. We currently have a legal basement suite with a tenant who I believe is doing drugs and possibly selling drugs out of the basement. He is on a month to month lease and has been given notice. However I am really concerned about what can happen in next 30 days. He’s been out of work, paid rent late last month, I am sure that there is someone else staying there, odd people hanging out in cars outside my house, emergency service were called to his unit at 4am and all he would tell us is that it was a medical emergency (we found out from our neighbors because we were on vacation – we did to go the police station hoping to get more info but they couldn’t tell us anything more), and there have been a few days where the doors have been slamming and stumbling on the stairs and different girls leaving obviously under the influence. I’m worried that he’s going to wreck the place and that something bad will happen to someone in the unit. Is there any legal way to get him out sooner? My husband says to ride it out because he doesn’t want to make the guy mad but I don’t feel safe in my home anymore.
Hi TM,
What kind of notice did you give him? with a month to month notice, you need a valid reason to break the lease, so there is a good chance he doesn’t leave and it becomes rather painful for you.
It does sound like there is something potentially illegal going on, but unless proven there’s not much you can do. At this point you can make sure the tenant is aware to get his full deposit back the property has to be in good condition and perhaps you let him know you will refund it on the day he moves out if it goes smoothly.
By the rules you have ten days to refund after he moves out, so perhaps letting him know he can get it back might incite him to be good and not damage the property.
Bill
Good Day,
I live in Calgary and purchased a home around 6 months ago that had an apartment with a tenant already in it. We met him and he seemed very nice! He was in a really bad car accident a few months prior to us buying our home and he seemed not too bad of shape back then, but not perfect. All of a sudden once we move in and start making friends with him, the truth comes out. He mentions how he has seizures and medicated for it, and has fallen down the stairs before we owned the home. A couple of months ago he falls down the stairs while we now own the home. I had to call 911, he had cracked his head open and was in the hospital for 3 days. Then not even two weeks later he gets beat up while walking outside in the evening all drunk and I’m guessing pain med, med for seizures, ext. Now he seems to be getting worse and worse, SUICIDAL (my and my husbands opinion) He went to his mothers camp and I asked if I could check on things in the suite and he said sure! I went down there and THE SMELL!!! OMG!!! There was Moldy dishes, empty beer cans (450) to be exact, over 25 bottles of vodka! (my husband just went 3 1/2 weeks ago to return the empties. That means he drank that much on that time!!!! My husband return those also because we didn’t want fruit flies. There were flies, maggots, blood and vomit in bathroom! LOTS!!! I want him out!! NOW!! Then yesterday I come home to SMOKE all over my house! He fell asleep with a pot on the stove!!! My fire alarm went off and he took his batteries out, (so he told me) because the alarm was too sensitive!!! So I made sure he was OK! Drunk of course! Made sure his windows were all open and I then aired out my upstairs and went to bed (had to get up early) As far as I am concerned, he is incapable of living alone! What can I do??
Kathie (Calgary)
Hi Kathie,
I’m guessing you now know why the previous landlord wanted to sell..
Typically most leases have clauses regarding upkeep of the property and it sounds like he is way above and beyond those clauses. Since you’re dealing with human fluids also be aware you may want to have professionals come in and clean up once he is out as not cleaning it correctly could leave you exposed to future problems or claims from new tenants.
I’d start by contacting his mother or other relatives, explain the situation, see if they can get involved and potentially get some support services involved to help him get into a better environment. Sometimes the relatives simply don’t care and you may have to take the reins and contact some support services, this can be more of a challenge, especially if the person doesn’t want to cooperate.
Which pushes you back to going for an eviction due to lack of upkeep and possible danger to yourselves due to the bugs, potential disease and fire! Hopefully you did receive a copy of a signed lease with the purchase (if your Realtor didn’t make having copies of all the agreements a term of the contract I’d be extremely upset if I were you) and it contains some upkeep clauses. This might be a bit of an uphill battle, so it will be important to document and keep records of all of these issues as part of your evidence.
I just finished consulting with a couple people who had already filed an application, but were missing a ton of information they needed to ensure an eviction. Fortunately they contacted me with enough time to add to their application and the lesson from that for you is make sure you have lots of evidence!
Hope that gives you some direction,
Bill
Hello,
I am hoping that you can help me out. We have a basement suite with tenants that have not paid their rent for May 1, we gave them a 14 day eviction notice and they have started moving their belongings out of the house. Last night they were speaking with their friends how there were holes in the walls and they just don’t care.
My question is; the suite it illegal but can I still take them to the RTDRS for the damages they have caused?
Thank you
Hi Debbie,
Even if it’s illegal you can still take them to the RTDRS for damages. The RTDRS isn’t concerned about this as they only rule under the Residential Tenancy Act and not under city by-laws.
Bill
Hi,
I rented my house main floor only for a family in July 2015. Initial they were good and paid their rent on time. But from 2015 Christmas onward things got worse and they were not paying on time. We use to live in basement for some weekends, basement never rented. But he stop us saying that we cannot come in the house again and again and he hate landlord surrounded to him. Giving lot of excuses all the time and then the husband send threatening text messages he is going to sue us making fake paperwork it seem. We sent out two time eviction notice but before the 14 days expire they paid us the full rent. On 1st April we sent them notice giving them 1 week time that we are going to inspect the property on 9th April. We didn’t heard any reply. So on 8th April again i sent message that we will be there on 9th April. No one responded. So i called the wife and told her will be there for inspection she yelled at me and said they cannot do things according to me. The next day no one was there to open the door, we didn’t did inspection and i taped notice of termination of contract agreement giving 3 months to vacate. Husband called me threatening he will contact police for harassing his wife. Well he use abusing language texting and calling and always rude over the phone. I cannot tolerate these kind of abuses since i’m 6 months pregnant. Do you think its better idea to go to RTDRS and file complaint against them. I need to vacate them ASAP. Your response to this is greatly appreciated.
Hazel
Hi Hazzle,
You definitely need to file with the RTDRs to get them out. If they’re not being cooperative with your inspection notices, they won’t leave with a simple eviction notice, so you have to get on this ASAP.
I just filed an application in Calgary yesterday and my hearing date is May 24th due to the current backlog which is almost a month down the road, so don’t wait!
Bill
Hi Bill,
Thanks for your great support forum. I am would like to buy a package with leases, eviction notices, applications and walk through inspections. I only need those four so if that’s possible please let me know. I also have a dilemma I hope you can advise me on. I have a 17 yr old tenant renting my basement suite. Because he was 17, we entered into a month to month verbal agreement until he is 18 on January, 22, 2017. He came through a government program with his youth workers recommendation of his character. They also pay his rent. I felt this was a great situation as the money is guaranteed and if I should have a problem I could hopefully get their support because he is their ward and he was in a Home for teens. My terms and rules were clearly stated with him, his worker and myself during our interview. One being it was a no smoking home. Within days he was smoking marijuana with his bong using tobacco and pot mixed together. I spoke to him about it and I agreed he could use it once at night because he claims he needs it to sleep and he will be applying for a gov card to smoke it legally when he’s 18 in January of 2017. He then blindsided me by allowing two friends, one 17, one 18 by telling them they could stay here for a month. I made my rules clear that he will never be allowed to get a roommate, and when his girlfriend staying night after night for 3 weeks when I had never even met her, she’s underage, and I told them both he was not to leave her home alone without him, it didn’t go over well and they broke up shortly after so that took care of that. But she was extremely rude and said I didn’t have the right to tell the tenant who he could have living with him. I was also told by his youth worker he would be in school and then he would apprentice to be an electrician, but he’s been to school 3 out of 33 days and it’s only 2 classes from noon until 3:30 and he rarely goes now. For 3 weeks they laid in bed smoking dope, playing video games and only left to hang with friends. I feel I was very misled and duped by them all and he thinks he can make the rules and do what he wants. I will be telling him tomorrow that the dope and bong is over. Being underage can I call the cops if I don’t want him smoking dope? I will be giving him an eviction notice to cover all my bases. A 16 day and a 90 day just to cover my bases. I will let his worker know and if we can be civil and they agree to him getting a month and 7 extra days notice than I will be nice …if they play hard ball I will let the government know that they are knowingly supporting his drug habit because they were all aware of it before he moved in with me but they neglected to mention he smokes it all day and he doesn’t go to school. A letter from the school said they were removing him from the registration files because of his poor attendance. I have been more than patient and kind but when he can move two friends in, assuring them it’s for a month, while I am here in the house then I can’t imagine what he’s capable of doing when I am not here for my holidays away from here. He also knew that my father is moving here and he’s crazy if he thinks I will allow my 89 year old dad to stay in a house with three teenagers, 2 who are complete strangers to me and I’ve only just begun to know the tenant as he’s only been here 4 months. He breaks my rules continually and I’ve raised two great sons and I am not this kids mother. His friends were evicted for non payment of rent due to the landlord giving them eviction notices due to noise complaints from neighbors etc. They trashed the house and it was one of the 6 kids mother who put the lease in her name. Outstanding utilities, holes in walls, kicked in front door frame….are just a few of the messes she now has to clean up after her kids. Stupid is as stupid does. What I need to know is how and why can I get him out fast legally? Any information shared would be kind as I live on disability and need the income..I am 60 years old and so not feel one bit safe in my own home. It’s 3-4 in the morning, they are drinking and banging around down there but not enough to call the cops, yet. They will find his bong but only a few grams of pot which the cops won’t do anything about anyway. I did my homework and still got into a bad situation by listening to a youth worker who just needed him out I guess. If they had been honest I would have said nice meeting you but this will not work for me. Saved everyone a lot of grief by not being honest. You would think they would have advised him not to smoke pot without asking me first because they sure didn’t let him smoke in the group home. Well, if it’s okay in my home then let him do it in yours. And all my neighbors know because it reeks to high heaven and my family and sons are not happy with what’s happening to their mum. I am lost and don’t want to kick these 2 kids on the street but I can’t let them stay here drinking and smoking all day….where can they go in Calgary?
Thanks everyone,
liseb521@gmail.com
Hi Lise,
Sorry to hear about your situation. I’ve also gone through a similar situation where I tried to help several of the support agencies years ago and allowed multiple youths who were supposedly truing to improve their lot in life along with some older folks in similar situations.
The lure of guaranteed payment, help if any issues arose from the support groups and the bonus of feeling good about helping out were all a strong attraction.
The reality was I discovered the majority of people in those situations are there of their choice and with the intent of milking the system. I know there are actually people who do need help out there, but my project involved 13 people over three months and 11 were evicted. I had two court appearances involving theft of a vehicle from another tenant and theft with a weapon, the other two tenants will never be allowed back in my properties. To add to it, I was given grief by one of the councillors for evicting one of the older tenants after giving him three chances and three warnings and the tenant failing to correct his behaviour (smoking in my non-smoking property and bringing people in too party in my homes).
At this point you need to start documenting everything and every infraction. The police will stop by if you call them, but for the minor amount of actual drugs there they will likely just consider it a nuisance and maybe end up giving him a fine, it won’t stop the problem although it can add to the documentation if you have to go through the eviction process and have a police report.
I’d make sure you bring up the issue of no smoking, including drugs to him and to his support worker and to let the support worker know there are no more chances. Any further issues and he will be evicted, or they can remove him now and find another place for him.
I’d also let the two additional tenant know they cannot stay there if they are still there. The challenge is many of these street kids take advantage of situations like this and help their friends out by bringing them int o stay secretly over night or blatantly in front of you as in this case. It’s just their way of life and how they help each other.
Your challenge isn’t where these kids can go (there are plenty of support centres with beds etc), that’s their problem as you’ve provided opportunity and they’ve abused or taken advantage of it. Some may think of this as being unhelpful, or even see you in a negative manner, but you can’t take responsibility for those that won’t be responsible themselves.
There are plenty of people who really do need help and I’ve personally helped a ton of them outside of the systems, so you just need to figure out how to get there and as you’re seeing these types of programs may not be right for you.
Bill
Im not a landlord, but I am wondering if there is anything that can be done about pot smokers on the balcony below me, especially coming into the summer months. It cost me a lot of money last year, I had to go out and by an AC unit because I had to keep my windows closed during the summer, not to mention what it cost me in power bills. Any advise would be great, I am sick and tired of this crap, I pay alot to live here and Im sick of this shit.
Hey Eric,
Start by talking to them, if that doesn’t get anywhere, talk to the building managers. As an owner or a tenant you have rights to be able to go out on your own deck or to not have your space impacted by others.
Bill
For Eric, I am faced with one smoking it in my suite….when I said no smoking I didn’t realize I should have included marijuana but if I won’t let them smoke cigarettes why would I allow dope which is mixed with tobacco they use in the bong they use. No smoking is in violation of the lease so I have 90 days but I’d like it to be sooner. I lived on the main floor of a complex and the tenants complained of a pot smokers on the third floor and they evicted them. If a landlord states he doesn’t allow marijuana in his building units then they would have to evict them. Make sure it’s written in the lease. Take pictures, video, smell isn’t enough. Witness statements by others would help. In Vancouver people can’t smoke tobacco in a condo they own themselves. Crazy. Good luck.
Hi
I had to evict my tenants due to multiple issues with the condo board, so they requested them out.
My issue is they have been smoking both cigarettes and pot in the house. Because they have broken lease and a signed non smoking ammedment, how much can I go after of the damage deposit? I am under the understanding hat this is not considered part of normal wear in tear.
I am looking to have the entire house cleaned (washed) professionally, carpets cleaned, furnace cleaned and the house ozoned to hopefullyremove any traces of smoke smell. This covers 95% of the deposit. Is this within my legal right?
When dealing with the final cheque and statement showing the itemized list of these deduction. Is just the estimates that i received from the companies okay or do I need to send or show the tenants copies of the receipts as well?
Hi Kevin,
Make sure you have estimates and use those on the statement of deductions. I would expect that would cover closer to 200% of the damage deposit if not more and leave you in the hole by quite a bit.
As you are supposed to get this off to them within ten days after they vacate it’s often not enough time to get everything done, so estimates will suffice, just make sure you keep records in case they do try to come after you.
Bill
Bill
Thank you
Hi Bill.
Tenant has three bounce cheque. Twice before my bank notified me he brought me cash and apologizing. both times he had had promised not to happen again. Third time I found out from my bank before he could bring me cash .. Third time I did charge him the bounce cheque $50.00 charge as stated on rental agreement. I do have copies of insufficient notes from the bank for three times it happened. I did talk to him verbally to avoid this kind of situations happening.
Last year he was complaining that fridge was not getting cool enough. So I did replace with new fridge. Within a month he came to inform me that fridge broken handle. I did get it replaced thru the warranty from the manufacture.
About a three weeks ago, he came to inform me that in the living room there was leak on the roof. Also in the master bedroom second floor there were bugs coming from ceiling light. I had contractor check those both out within two days. The leak was due to the toilet being broken from the flange. the whole toilet was moving as both screws on both side had been broken. There was damage to the ceiling too. On inspection on the attic there were no bugs found. It was found too be cleaned. The ceiling light in the master bedroom was also removed to show the tenant that there were no bugs. She still keeps on complaining about the bugs.
On first inspection of the property in the seven months they have moved in, I found that laundry room was filled with clothes till my waist. no space to move in the laundry room. The handrails leading to the second floor was covered by food oil. It looks they do not wash their hands after they have eaten to go to the bedroom to the second floor.
on inspection of the showers and toilet, they were both filthy, From my perspective both of them have not been cleaned for 7 months since they moved in,
I did ask him to pay for the ceiling damage in the living room and toilet seat flange being broken. I was inform by him that is my responsibility as that is structure related aspect and its landlord responsibility.
Bill please advice course of action .
Hi Sheinul,
Priority at this point would be to get this tenant out. They aren’t paying as per the agreement, they aren’t cleaning/maintaining the property to the proper level and it sounds like they simply aren’t treating it with respect.
Ideally each time you received a bad check you provided them written notice it wasn’t acceptable complete with dates. You can use copies of the notices from the banks, but the notices are much stronger as it shows you warned the tenant.
Since we’re mid month and the issue occurred most recently a week ago it may be a bit late to evict for it now, so I’d suggest giving them written notice in the next day or two that if you receive another bounced check you will be forced to evict them for continuous breach of the payment terms of the lease.
Additionally, add that they need to clean the property as it is not being maintained as per the lease agreement and that you will be arranging another inspection beginning of next month to verify this has been completed.
Hopefully this gets them to change the way they are dealing with this or if they don’t you have additional evidence that they didn’t comply. It can be harder to evict for cleanliness, but if they bounce one more it should be reasonably easy to remove them.
To make it easier for you I’d suggest you consider picking up my eviction guide which walks you through all the necessary steps, explains what you need to do to prepare and covers all the details once you get the eviction. You can find it here, A Landlord’s Guide to the Eviction Process in Alberta Using the RTDRS.
Regards,
Bill
Hi Bill,
1. if I include ALL breaches, do I still need to include the clause that the tenancy will not be terminated if the tenant pays up within the 14 days? Once he pays up, does it mean the other breaches won’t count anymore? Won’t that negate the purpose of including all other breaches?
2. I rented out my duplex. The police entered the upper unit 2 days ago with guns drawn. They even searched my basement tenant’s unit. Guns were also pointed at her when she opened the door. They didn’t tell her what or who they were looking for. But they asked her to lock her door and stay inside before they left. Naturally she is freaked out and complained to me. According to her, parts of the street was cordoned off and a truck parked outside the house was also towed away by the police. The truck does not belong to the upstairs tenant but was parked outside the house for the past few days.
3. I do not know if a crime was committed by the upstairs tenant or if it was committed inside the premise or elsewhere. But based on the basement tenant’s description of guns and street cordoned off, it’s probably something more serious than domestic violence.
4. She also told me she heard arguments and things being smashed since Christmas.
5. The upstairs tenant is not picking up his phone. I am not sure where he is. The tenancy is under his name only but his girlfriend and kids live with him there.
6. Based on these, do I have other grounds to evict him besides non- payment of rent? What if he is hurt/ hospitalized or locked up? Do I still have the right to evict him just by leaving the notice inside the unit?
7. To be more effective, can I paste notices on the front and back door and also slip extra copies under the door? Is the eviction notice deemed to have been sent once I do this even if there is no one inside the house to receive it?
Thank you so much in advance for your help.
Hi Dave,
If you have multiple breaches if the tenant pays up it won’t negate the additional breaches, so it’s still valid.
I’d make tracking the tenant down a priority so they understand what is happening regarding the potential eviction. I know of previous evictions and judgments that have been over turned as the landlord couldn’t prove the tenant knew about the eviction, the hearing and the judgment against them. This may involve written notes taped on all the doors of the property and following up to see if they received them or if they have disappeared and documenting all of it.
If he is hurt or jailed he is still responsible for his payments and is still legally able to be evicted.Perhaps you can refer to his contacts listed on his application to follow up with his work or relatives?
finally if only the girlfriend is there and they are not on the lease you can evict them, but before you do anything drastic like that make sure to talk to them and let them know you may be able to work with them if they contact you and tell you what is going on.
Bill
Hi Bill,
Thank you so much for your advice.
Best Regards,
Dave
We own a duplex and our neighbors have contacted us about high traffic, marijuana smell and screaming fighting of our tenants at 2am or very early morning hours. This has been happening for two to three months. Whst do we do so we can evict based on the drugs?
Hi Mari,
The onus is always on the landlord to prove the tenant is in breach. Proving marijuana smell and even smoking can be a tough one, but screaming and disrupting the lives of other tenants/neighbours can be much easier.
If it’s only happened once this again presents challenges, but if it happens multiple times it gets easier. If you haven’t done this already, you’ll need to build up evidence to assist you with the eviction. I’d start by immediately writing a letter to them advising them of the issues, explaining what has to be corrected and that if it isn’t dealt with you will have to proceed with an eviction or that that lease won’t be renewed.
Building up the evidence may require a couple notices, statements form neighbours and photographic evidence and it may take some time, but this i how you’ll have to start in order to have concrete evidence that you warned them, evidence that they didn’t correct their issues and a paper trail showing you tried to warn them and to work with them.
Bill
Hello Bill,
I stumbled unto your website while looking for information on how to deal with an harassing property manager, and felt the need to ask for your advice.
I have lived in my apartment for 11 years. Things started out great, but went sour after about 1 year. My only explanation for his behavior towards me stems from when my character was misjudge because of a friendship I had strike up with another tenant in the building, who turned out to be problematic for the property manager. Although I am yet to know EXACTLY what his issues are with me, he continues to make every attempt to evict me, and in doing so, continuously harasses me.
Since early 2013, I have occupied the apartment with my common-law partner and our two young children. The rent is very affordable, the landlord is a wonderful person, and repairs and maintenance are done in a timely manor, hence, the reason why I am still residing at this place. My family and I do intend on moving eventually, with the hopes of saving enough money for a down-payment, which is another reason why I do not want to move; we can save a lot of money in a short period of time with the amount of rent we pay.
The property manager is a bully and an arrogant prick! He is not liked by most, maybe all, tenants. He uses his authority to control and manipulate tenants. I believe his inability to control and manipulate me might be another major factor as to why he seems to dislike me. Over the years I have endure false rumors about me spoken to other tenants, threatened verbally with eviction without good reasons, verbally harassed on different occasions, mocked while walking the hallway, my apartment being entered without my permission (only assumption, no solid prove, but little evidence points to him), disrespectful words and gestures being utter about my family to other tenants, and much more. His verbal harassment had spiral out of control on one occasion that he was required by the landlord to write an apology letter to me. I have been saving all documents and emails between the landlord, the property manager, and myself since all the nonsense began, in the event of any court appearance.
Although the property manager and I do not communicate often, he still on occasions find reasons to try to harass me. He is not that ‘bad’ now, and I think that might have to do with the landlord involvement, so he is pretending to be on good behavior. Honestly, I am not afraid of him nor am I worried about being evicted, as he has nothing on me to evict me. I only want to live here peacefully and avoid paying rent double what I pay now if we are to move.
What angered me today, and cause me to look for information; my friend/neighbor called me to tell me that as she was walking with the property manager towards her apartment, they both past by my apartment and heard my 4 months old daughter crying, to which he utter, ” For f**k sakes!” I honestly am fed-up with this man, and I am now seeking my legal options as to how to handle him. I have avoided researching and pursuing any legal approach because I felt we could have handled our differences in a more appropriate, professional, and civil manor. Now that he seems to want to target my family, he is definitely overstepping his boundaries, and I refuse to have that happen.
I need to make movements that would encourage the property manager to leave my family and I alone. What advice can you give for my situation.
Hi Marium,
I really think you need to keep on documenting everything and to bring this up with the landlord again. He may be secretly harbouring resentment towards you and your family and at any opportunity could try and make trouble for you, so best to stay on top of this.
This may be the only issue and he may be a good property manager so the landlord may be reluctant to replace him, but they do need to be aware.
Bill
Hi
I’m hoping you can help me. I have two people living in a house I own. It’s a two bedroom and they each had a room and shared the rest of the house. Things where fine until they started fighting and one moved into the basement which is finished but doesn’t have legal windows and isn’t meant to be a bedroom. Now the tenant who is upstairs wants me to evict the one downstairs because of their fight. In an ideal world they would just make up and all live like they were originally. Unfortunately I don’t see that happening. Now the tenant upstairs is threatening to call the city on me if I don’t have the one downstairs removed. They are both are month to month so there is no lease for me to give notice at an end date and everyone is paying their rent on time. I don’t see how I can force them to move back upstairs but leaving it as it is strikes me as I could be facing major fines or charges. Also the one upstairs has filled the spare room with their own stuff and won’t allow the downstairs to move back upstairs either.
Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your help.
Hi Christy,
My initial thought is too simply evict both of them and start over. If they want to act like children, it likely won’t get better and anytime a tenant threatens to “call the city” on me, it never ends well. At least for them.
However you want to proceed, it will all start by giving them both written notice of the problems. This would include that the basement is not a valid bedroom/living area, that the one tenant must remove the items they filled the spare room with and that they need to either settle their differences or leave.
From there you’ll just want to see hwo they react and move forward accordingly.
Bill
Thank you for your advice. I’ll send the letter we will see what happens. Thank you for your help.
Hi ,, ? My family and I have been living in a unit for 4 years ,I called the health inspector and they have been involved since 2012 and it 2015. The reasons are for black mold that the company refused to fix my family started to not feel well so I called Rancho reality … Is going around giving tenants letters saying we are not wanting to renew the lease and gives us 30 days to move … I have the health inspector involved for good reasons because as a tenants we have that right to live in a healthy unit .. Can they do this ??????
Hi Kim,
Not enough info. it’s different if it’s a fixed term lease or month to month, whether it is the end of term, or why you’re refusing to sing the lease if there is a new one. Document everything, take them to the RTDRS for the mould issues and get a jump on this.
Bill
Hello Fellow Landlords;
Eviction process UGH
Bill, I have every form and read everything.
We have tenants who have drugs in suite, have violent outbursts against each other, have violated at least two “rules” in fixed term lease, small damage of each other property as well as small amount of damage to the home and they have young ones living there. One of the tenants asked us to evict, gave us videos, photos and text messages as proof of the drugs and violence. So we issued a 24 hr eviction notice and have a hearing date (3 weeks away). 24 hr and even 14 day notices are a joke I guess.
One tenant left. the other is still there and is being horrible. We are soo frustrated. Afraid the tenant will take a baseball bat to the place and then fly in the wind. All contacts given for future reference are gone, number changed etc. So potential repayment will be impossible.
This is one of the reasons we waited so long to purchase a rental property
Hey Frustrated,
The eviction process can be a trying situation, but there are some positives. Once you’ve gone through the process once, it’s so much easier the second time and you have a much better understanding of what you need to do to accelerate the process if a second instance comes up, plus you pick up tips on preparing for the hearing.
Once comment I hear over and over from people who’ve picked up my Eviction Guide is how it’s given them the confidence to deal with problems immediately in the future as it removes the fear and uncertainty of the process.
Of course the first defence is always making sure the bad tenants don’t get in there to begin with. It sounds like your particular tenants may have not been quite up and up to begin with if all their references have evaporated. It’s a pretty common tactic from subpar tenants to use friends as references or even to pose as previous landlords as they really can’t afford to have you contact their actual landlord and learn the truth.
If you haven’t already, I’d suggest you zip over to register for a free course I put together on screening tenants. It shows you the extra steps you can take to avoid potentially getting burned like this int he future, you can find it here, How to Screen Tenants. This is over on my landlord education site so you may find plenty of other tips and information that would also help you there.
That site is NOT Alberta specific and we have landlords from around the world who visit us for advice and tips.
Hopefully round two works out better for you Frustrated!
Bill
Hi there,
My daughter and I have been living in a rented property for almost a year and a half and had no concerns until just before Christmas when the plumbing was backing up into the bathtub. I contacted the landlord and he had a a friend who was a plumber but, the plumber couldn’t come until after Christmas so, we used our shop vac to daily clean the bathtub out. It was all we could do because we did have to use the water facilities in the mean time. As well, we seldom go to the basement as this is an older house so the basement isn’t used for more than storage. We discovered that the sewage was backing up into the basement as well.
When the plumber did arrive, he used a snake for the tub and downstairs (and repaired the toilet because it was always running but, that was a minimal concern versus the sewage backup). The plumber said he was sure it was from the city line that the back up was occurring but, that is all that was said or done about it. A little over a month later, the sewer backed up in the basement again. We called the landlord and he sent his friend back again. This time he brought an auger with him to grind up what might be in the line. He told me he’d come across some roots which he’d said wasn’t uncommon in older homes. He said there were homes he went to twice a year to remove the roots from main lines. He told our landlord however (who really didn’t want to have to pay again) that he’d found the lines to be backed up by personal hygiene products, not roots so when it has now happened again, (2 months later) our landlord said he will have his friend the plumber come again and he will come with him. He said if when they snake the line there are no roots, we will have to pay!
I made some calls and spoke to 3 red seal plumbers and they all said, when a problem is recurring, a camera should be used in the line to find where the problem is. They said a snake and even an auger can remedy most problems but, based on the fact that this is a home from the 1940’s when they used materials for the lines that are prone to collapsing and perhaps roots have grown into the main line further than where the current plumber is augering and snaking, the problem will just come back again.
I let my landlord know this and assured him we are sending nothing through the lines that might cause this problem, he refused to accept the idea. He said his friend said a camera is just a waste of money and the only logical explanation is that we are causing the backups.
Prior to living here I owned an acreage but, after almost a year in hospital following major spinal surgery I had no choice but to find a rental property in the city. I am telling you this because on an acreage, we learned over the years that it is absolutely necessary to be careful with the sewer system on an acreage. Being accustomed to not allowing anything unnecessary to fall in the drain, it has become a habit. We are probably more careful than some when it comes to what can and cannot go down a drain and I refuse to believe it is something we are doing to cause this recurring problem.
I attempted to convince the landlord to allow someone to camera the line but he said if that is what we want to have happen, we can pay for it ourselves. I am at a loss.
I should also inform you that when we moved in, the landlord said we would be the last tenant in this property as his intention after we move is to demolish the house and build a duplex however, he has since changed his mind and is selling the property. I do realize that if the plumbing is found to be a major issue he will have to disclose this to the buyer and he will be at risk of selling at a reduced price. I am thinking that perhaps this is the reason he is choosing to not completely resolve the issue as opposed to band aiding it.
My question is, do I have the right to choose a plumber if the landlord and his friend the plumber decide the problem is ours to pay for? Or is there something else I can do to try and resolve this problem? I would love to just move however, at the moment that is not an option for me as the cost would be more than I can afford until my damage deposit is returned (which it should be as our tenancy is a month to month agreement and there was no walk through).
I appreciate your opinion,
Susan
Hi Susan,
If it’s a sewer backup you can often call the city to come clear it (at least in Calgary), but if it happens repeatedly they will investigate further or inform you/the landlord they have to take additional steps. Try calling 311 to see if they can come help or clean it up which they will do for free as it is a basic service involved with the sewer systems and a health issue.
They may provide some information on the forms they leave behind giving you more evidence that it’s not a minor problem. They’re usually very good about providing information about the problem which can assist you.
I had a very similar circumstance to yours with the sewer repeatedly blocking up and it was as you described, a combination of the root systems and older style pipes that eventually collapse due to how they were made. It was an expensive fix, but it was my responsibility as the landlord to pay, not the tenants.
If you don’t get very far with the city and then the landlord after getting feedback from them, your next step will be to possibly talk get the health officials involved and you may want to let your landlord know this if the first part doesn’t help. the last thing he will want in a situation like this is the health people showing up, but as i mentioned leave it as a last resort or if you can’t get any movement from him.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hi,
I just stumbled on to your site. My family and I have bought our home which is half a duplex located in edmonton. The person who bought the other side have decided to rent it out. We had two months of peace untill it was finally rented out, and when the 5 tenants moved in it seemed to be going ok, until the they started parking in our private driveway when I was away. They had numerous fights which ended with the girl and two kids moving out. Now the 2 tenants they smoke pot and cigarettes which comes through the basement. They flick there cigarettes every which way off there Belcany and one ended on our side. Listen to loud music which Ive asked them to turn it down, but they seem to always forget that someone lives next door. I’ve talked to them twice about the pot smoke. Both times swore up and down no one was smoking weed. I’ve even got the landlord involved and they said the exact same thing to him. Even going as far to swear on his kids. Now me and my wife have been documenting everything. Pictures, smells, loud music etc. what are our options, we cannot move as we lived in this place for only 5 months and we own it.
Hi Chance,
You really need to talk to the owner in this case and make sure he is aware of everything going on. He or she may be completely unaware that anything is happening next door and may even be assuming all five tenants are still there. On top of that he may also have a non-smoking policy, but until you get a hold of them, you won’t necessarily know.
You’ve mentioned talking to the landlord, but you may also want to continue documenting all the instances as well. This could be helpful for the landlord if he has to evict them at some point as well.
If he fails to do anything about this it might be just because he is inexperienced, or you’ll need to keep updating him until he deems it best to have them move on.
Bill
Bill
I have a slight problem I apperantly have a $95 fine for a late rent payment ( do too my bank switching programs which disabled automatic withdrawal; the bank payed me back) so that was fine and dandy and I payed them the cash, and now they are saying I didn’t pay them, which occurred during there management changed, so perhaps there was a mistake somewhere? And they said if the payment isn’t received in 2 days they said they will take action and I don’t get payed till next week, should I fight this? What can I do? What can they do if I don’t pay it in time? Ps I’m in a year lease should I report this to the RTA as well? Thank you for time, Jo
Hi Jo,
You should definitely be fighting it, just because there was a management transition it shouldn’t mean you are required to make double payments. Also, depending on the type of penalty it was it may not even be enforceable. However having said that, even if it isn’t enforceable, it may lead to them not wanting to renew your lease forcing you to move anyway, just later.
Hopefully you were given a receipt, even though you were paid cash, and can provide this to them showing it has been paid and resolving this quickly.
You’ll want to follow up any verbal conversations with emails to them confirming what was discussed as well so that if it does end up in a hearing of some type you have evidence you tried to work it out versus just ducking your head and ignoring it.
Jo did add an additional comment about this taking place four months ago, but to keep this in one thread, I’ll just mention it here. Even if it was four months ago (strange they waited this long) make sure you discuss this with them and even take it up higher than the management if possible.
Bill
Hi Bill,
I am a manager of an apartment condo building. I am also an owner of my suite. Last fall the neighbour moved into the suite beside me and signed a long term lease. The tenant smokes pot like a fiend. I don’t really care what a person does in their spare time however I don’t like the fact that the smell enters my suite. I asked the tenant to either refrain from usage or go down to the parkade to smoke his drugs. He apologized and said he would stop. He did not. I brought it up to the landowner and we spoke with him him together to say that it must stop.
The tenant left for the summer and sublet the apartment, the very first night they were here i smelt pot again. I leaned over the balcony which we share and informed them of the no smoking policy as per their lease( or their subletee’s rather). They were quick to oblige and I never had any problems with them again.
Now that the tenant with the lease is back the acrid smells are back, I went over to knock on his door while he was clearly in there puffing away and he would not answer the door. I wrote him a note saying that he cannot smoke drugs in this building. I left my name, phone number and suite number and said to please contact me with any questions.
My wife came home to a very nasty letter saying the next time I come over to their suite I will be deemed and dealt with as a threat. My wife is very scared he will do something crazy. He also wrote on the same note that I am stupid and without getting into specifics… I should end my life.
I again phoned the owner if the building the next time I smelt pot and asked him to please come over and ask him to stop. He came over and did smell it, tried knocking on the door and again it was unanswered. At this time another note was placed under the units door stating to phone either of the owners for resolution. Phone calls were placed and the tenant hung up on the owners and has not replied other than to say that they will not leave the building and we will be seeing them in 3 courts of law ( I don’t understand what that means but I think it’s a promise of litigation)
The owner issued a 14 day eviction notice and served it to the tenant. They again responded with I’m not leaving and see you in court. I have read your previous discussions and I believe that you would be able to point me in the right direction. Is there a way to speed this up? Or to have some closure with a degree of finality? Or are we stuck to wonder if we will be hurt and continue to out up with the brutal smells?
Hi Matthieu,
You definitely have a problem here, but you do have some avenues to get them out. Smoking pot is still against the law, and breaking the law within a rental space is listed as a breach in almost all leases I’ve seen. The response to your note to them can also be seen as a threat to you. Tenants cannot threaten other tenants or landlords in Alberta and this is part of the Alberta Residential Tenancy Act, so it could also be considered a breach. Them providing you with it in a written format is even more helpful.
At this point you are stuck waiting until the 14 day eviction notice comes due, but since they have already acknowledged they won’t be leaving you can start preparing to file an eviction through the RTDRS. With a 14 day notice in place, they won’t allow you to book a hearing until after the 14 days have passed, so typically once you are around day ten of the eviction period and they haven’t vacated you can move forward with filing an eviction application.
From there, you just have to go in prepared and follow the processes of the system to have them removed. Now the RTDRS site does explain the process, they don’t do a very good job of it and many people simply end up confused by the government speak and the confusing layout. To help combat this, I actually put together a guide years ago to walk landlords through the process of using the RTDRS that helps break everything down.
You’re stressed out enough by the process, having it laid out and logically explained helps take some of the stress away of an eviction for you, plus I include extra tips and tactics to make sure your fully prepared and have the best odds of making sure your eviction sticks.
You can find this guide listed across the top on the menu, or here is a direct link, Landlords Guide to the Eviction Process in Alberta Using the RTDRS Hopefully that gest you started.
Good luck,
Bill
I have a couple questions,
First of all, my landlord did not want to do a lease up when I moved in so there is no written agreement. We have the Alberta health board involved and he has some things he needs to fix. One of the things is I rented a three bedroom at the time i was 6 months pregnant with two small children. Since the health board came involved it turns out one of the windows is not large enough to call it a bedroom. So now im out one bedroom. He has to replace all windows as they are not sealed and all of them have a draft. After discussing this with my landlord he doesnt seem to want to make the one window larger so i can use it as a bedroom. Is there anything i can do about this? I would really like to use that as a bedroom again. Also back in November I told him i couldnt afford to live here anymore and id be out for the end of the month but he said he would stop charging me interest ( 10 bucks per 100 per week ) and spilt it up into two payments of 600 once on the 1st and once on the 15th. Now he gave me a letter today requesting I have the full 1200 come the first of the month? is there any notice that needs to be given on this? also the notice is asking me not to smoke cigarettes or marihuana in the house. I dont smoke marijuana in the house but the illegel basement suite he just shut down the tenants were trying to blame theyre pot smoke on me. Im just wondering is this if viable and i can no longer smoke in my house on the weekends when my children are not in my care. Also i informed him that sunday is my day of rest (religious) yet he still comes and knocks on my door. Yesterday he showed up 2hrs earlier then he was suppose to… are these things allowed? dont I get a lil peace? oh and that was the other thing he was suppose to repair/replace my kitchen counter because it is water damaged. The first time he came he just scrapped off the mildew and caulked it, so that didnt pass. This time he came and glued down the water damanged counter and saw that it was all moldy in the back but proceeded to replace and seal in the sink again. Is there anyway I can have him do things right the first time? Just seems so wasteful.
Hello purple,
It sounds like the landlord is way behind on taking care of the property and is now in a bit of a mess. The expense of changing out the windows and doing the other repairs may have put him on the edge financially, so getting that third bedroom turned back into a legal bedroom may not be a possibility.
Not sure what you’re really looking for here. It seems like you were leaving and changed your mind? Now that you’ve reported the property to health services, it’s probably opened up new dilemmas and costs to the landlord putting him in a position where he either can’t afford to do the repairs, or to be vindictive and is simply waiting for you to leave.
You’ve been pretty fortunate to have found a landlord that allowed you to split your rent payments into two payments and to smoke in the property and the majority these days won’t allow either.
Yes you are allowed your own peace and quiet and I don’t know the specifics of the landlords situation. He may have other commitments to work around to see you so the onus for you in this case is if you want to plead “religious day of rest” and have him do repairs on the weekend somethings got to give. While he may have been two hours early, maybe that should have been seen as a bonus as it was an attempt to work on it early.
It really sounds like you have a ton of issues with this place and rather than wasting all the negative energy on trying to stay in there, perhaps you need to pursue a new place to live that will work out better for you.
Bill
Bill I have a landlord problem . I have rented this home in Cal. for 7 years. I am a Garden Designer & completely landscaped Landlord is a person who retaliates against others.
Two years ago things really went airy . I asked hime to please move all of his old windows out from the place I am living & he starting being mean to me . unscrewing the locks on my gates , coming onto the property when I was away.
Hes made many promises to me that have yet to be done .
Never had a set date for rent . I have always paid my rent 7 years . never a problem.
Keep my place spotless.
They both have a huge drinking problem as well. this I feel is the root of our conflict.
I have gotten verbal abusive phone calls , etc.
The got mad @ me in April over not remembering our verbal agreement to Have rent paired on the 15th of the month starting in March 2014. & threatened to raise my rent & none of their other 6 Tenants.
June 30th they stuffed a rent increase with a month to month Effected July 1st > $200.00 a month increase = over 10% Is 60 day notice. Notice was not sealed or mailed stuffed in my box . When I paid my rent as per the $1400.00 as always for 7 years. I wrote him that the notice was filed not to Calf. State Law I when he served it properly I would respond > I did not sign any this. I the got a not nice phone message from him that day.
He then served another rent increase properly On August 1st Effective Oct1st 2014
with another increase of $75.00 dollars , totalling $275 a month.
I am looking for a new place to free myself from all of his abuse & violating my rights.
What are my rights & do I have a right to get some free months of rent until I get a new place & or compensation to move for all the improper treatment.
I have all receipts on work I did at home $ spent all paper work on work needed to be done that has yet to be done. Paperwork to back up everything. !
Also have the original paper work from Rotor Rooter from A broken sewer line that is leaking into the ground for 3 years now & has never been fixed. Possabily seeping up into my Gym space !
Any advice would be wonderful
I am contacting Legal on Monday 8-4-2014
Thank you Frances
Hi Frances,
Unfortunately, I don’t think I can help you. It appears your based out of California and the California rules are entirely different than the Alberta Canada rules I am familiar with.
Now I am aware there are specific rules regarding landlord and tenant laws in California and even without specifically knowing them I would suspect your landlord is operating outside of them. you may want to do a quick search for California landlord and tenant info or advisory boards as there is most likely a service there that can guide you a bit further along through this eviction issue.
Hope that helps a little Frances,
Bill
Hey, I am in a bit of a bind and I’m unsure of what to do regarding my living situation.
My supposed landlord has sent me an email saying I have until “the end of January” to find a new place to live. This is based on marijuana smells coming from my room due to smoking which has definitely not happened. We live together with other room mates and he has since walked by my room when the door was open and saw a personal handheld vaporizer which he mistook for a pipe. He is not the owner of the house, he is merely on lease. When I moved in I signed a rule sheet which includes NO SMOKERS but did not receive a notice of landlord or a copy of the lease.
My question is, how legitimate is this notice to end tenancy? It was sent via email, there is no signature, there is no date besides “the end of January”, there is no proof although I have vaporized in the house before.
I want to move anyways as I do not enjoy my current living situation, but I may need more time than 28 days to find a place to move. What do I do?
Hello Vapor,
You appear to fit in the cracks between the Innkeeper’s Act and the Residential Tenancy Act. The person evicting you is apparently subletting to you, so he is the landlord and that turns this into the Innkeeper’s Act.
Normally under the RTA, he would need to follow certain protocols, such doing it in writing with a set time frame. Under the Innkeeper’s act, it’s much simpler, it’s like getting kicked out of a hotel for causing a disturbance.
Since you wish to leave anyway, I would run with the 28 days and if things don’t look good as you get closer see if you can negotiate some extra time. Under the rules, he could accelerate this quite a bit causing you to be out sooner and making it uglier for you, so work with what you have.
Hope this helps,
Bill
Hi. I have tenants above me who are very noisy. They have only been here a short time, but the partying and traffic are quite a disturbance. I brought this to the landlords attention, but he said without proof there was very little he could do. I then reported the 3 times daily smell of marijuana, and the landlord’s reply was to phone the police. I have now phoned the police 2 times for marijuana and once for noise violation.
So today, I again phoned the landlord about the whole month of December smelling weed from upstairs. There was a lot of back and forth between us, but to cut to the chase, the landlord stated there was no way he would kick them out for marijuana use. There are more issues, but this is the pressing one as we share a ventilation system and they control the thermostat. What can I do to have them evicted despite the landlord’s reticence to do anything. He even said they pay more rent than me, but I have been here for 6 years
Hi Scott,
The problem with a tenant smoking pot is the landlord has to prove it. Now he may be able to take you into a hearing or use your statement as evidence, but it has to be provable or the eviction won’t necessarily stand.
Now in the landlords case here, he may simply not be interested in the extra work involved to evict them, especially if he is getting paid consistently and making good rent. The opposite part of this is if they break the property rules so easily, who says that won’t change as well.
You have a couple options, you could potentially tell the landlord if he doesn’t address this, you will move, or you could inform him that if it’s not dealt with you’ll inform the authorities. If the property is legally suited this won’t be an option, if it is not, then this may incite him to take action.
However, the repercussion of this is if you do report it, it is illegal, you are also out and still have to look for a new place. So it’s a fine line between the threat, pushing forward and finding yourself homeless.
Sorry I don’t have more answers,
Bill
I have lived in a basement suite in NE Calgary for over a year. The remnants upstairs are being evicted for nonpayment of rent and pets. The called 311 and complained to the city of Calgary that my basement suite is illigal. After checking city of Calgary website I noticed separate heating systems are required. My question is this. If the city required I move out, how much time do they usually give?
Hi Justin,
It’s unfortunate that the upstairs tenants were so vindictive. There are a few different ways this can play out. Depending on the area and the zoning the property may actually be legal, it could even be grandfathered to fit the old rules.
At this stage you typically still have plenty of time, the city still has to do an inspection, verify whether it is illegal or not and then move forward. If it is, typically the landlord will still have to provide 90 days notice to you, so you should have some time. Make sure you stay in contact with the landlord and if a city inspector shows up, don’t allow them to view your space unless the landlord has given approval or they are there.
In some circumstances the landlord may have some details that you or the inspector may not be aware of, so having them there can be the difference between getting shut down, or getting a reprieve.
hope that helps,
Bill
Thank you very much for the information!
You’re most welcome Justin,
Bill
Hey there.
I’m in a bit of a pickle. My landlord was refusing to fix all the problems in our basement suite and was harassing us at all times of the night (my boyfriend and myself) for over a year. She would continue to knock on the door if we did no answer, threaten to lock the laundry room if we did not immediately take our clothes out (they would leave theirs in for days and a few times they have taken our clothing out while it was wet and even pushed some of the clothing behind the drier and ordered us to pick it up) and the landlady constantly screamed at her husband. She was/is also abusive towards her dogs.. which bark at all times of the night. These problems we tried to ignore because we come from not so good homes and are trying to live a healthy life away from abuse. I also don’t currently have a job (always looking) so money is a little tight.
Recently, we had a health inspector come in and inspect the premises. She told us that it was an illegal suite and if the landlords don’t fix the small windows and mold (the roof was also leaking, we have no idea what is causing the leaks) that the suite would be “condemned” in a sense. She called up the landlords per protocol and informed them that she had been there. She also informed them that they must fix the property or face the consequences. Well, wendy, the landlady, has refused to fix anything. We now have till October first to leave. The good news is that since she never inspected the premises prior to renting, we will be getting our damage deposit back.
I’ve been researching as best as I can on all and any information regarding the Landlord and Tenant act of Alberta. An interesting bit of information I have found, and I quote: “The law relating to frustration of contracts can be complex, but in most residential tenancy situations it should not be too difficult for the parties to wind up their relationship. The Frustrated Contracts Act of Alberta provides that money paid to one of the parties to the contract is recoverable and that money owed is no longer payable. If expenses were incurred relating to the contract before the contract was frustrated, a court may allow those expenses to be recovered.
In the situation of a tenancy agreement, frustration of the contract will mean that the agreement is over and the tenant no longer has to pay rent. The landlord will still have to account for and return the security deposit, but may claim for unpaid back rent and for any legitimate damage and cleaning costs from the security deposit, if the terms upon which the deposit was held allow for such deductions.”
I’m a bit confused by this. If we do not find a place by October first, does this mean that we no longer have to pay rent since the contract is frustrated? But would that also mean the terms in the contract (which state that laundry and internet will be provided) are also void? Can we take our landlady to court for damages? What can I do? What can WE do?
Hi lily,
Sorry to hear about your situation. In this case the issue of a frustrated contract is superseded by the Residential Tenancy Act and the city bylaws pertaining to illegal suites. In most circumstances the city gives the landlord adequate time for the landlord to give notice to the tenants to vacate.
I believe that’s where the October 1st date comes into play. How it works in this circumstance is the landlord would have to get a court ordered eviction to have you removed if you stay past the 1st. Due to the reasons for the eviction, you wouldn’t have much luck in fighting it and would be stuck with paying a daily rate for any extra time you stayed.
This would be a court ordered judgment against you, which technically you wouldn’t have to pay, but the ramifications of not paying could result in a judgment on your credit bureau impacting your credit for up to ten years and potential collections against you.
This would also allow the landlord to hire a bailiff and effectively lock you out of the property if you’re not out in time.
The good news as you mentioned is that due to a lack of a walk through, she cannot retain your security deposit for any damages. If she does, you can take her to the RTDRS and get a judgment ordering her to pay in kind. However, she doesn’t have to pay the deposit to you on the day you move out, but she does have to give you a statement with any charges and send your deposit to you within ten days after you move out. Note if there is outstanding rent, it can be deducted from the deposit.
So bottom line, it’s in your best interest to find a place before October 1st. You can’t really take your landlady to court for damages, although you can repost the property to health services. This won’t do much for you personally, but it may affect the landlady and impede her ever renting the illegal space out again.
Does that answer the questions? Perhaps not exactly as you hoped, but at least it clears it up?
Bill
Hi there
I have a strange issue for you. I am a resident manager and we were terminated (wrongfully). And when I told the PM to take me to rtdrs to remove me and my wife she DiD just that. We have a hearing on Feb 11 although they owe me a bunch of money. My problem is sense I got my hearing papers 1 hr before my papers arrived I received a notice stating they were entering my suit on the 11th. Now at 9 pm tonight same day is first notice we recieved a notice stating they were coming in to do repairs plumbming heating drains ect. Now the thing is this buildi
ng is New and no repairs are needed in this suit it also states they are doing a inspection of our suit. Which I’m in the process of packing up. Now they said in notice coming in on Feb 6 between 8-8 and maybe even the next day as well. Now I have no repairs to be done and it seeks they are trying to come in as much as they think they can before our hearing. Would this be harassment. The New caretaker say I don’t know what they doing I was just told to put notice and the PM won’t answer me when I ask what is going on and she won’t answer phone text email ect. Now as I was trained was I needed a reason to enter without permission. Also I do daily bible devotionals and I do not want them coming in while I am doing this as I need uninterrupted time. Also been doing a night shift for a few days and with packing I moved my bed to living room. I don’t normally wake up till about 2 pm can they enter while I’m sleeping in the loving room by the entrance. This PM is breaching the RTA and that is part of reason I’m glad I’m out f here. But some answers would be nice I have been around slumlords and even they didn’t pull a stunt like this. They taking more time to fight with me then they are even working on shoveling the 6″ of ice on sidewalks as the new people haven’t done one time yet. Thank you
Hey Dan,
Sorry to hear about your termination. The rules are somewhat different for employees, although it appears they are following the Residential Tenancy Act protocols.
It sounds like they may be coming in to do inspections to verify the condition of the premises before you move out and to determine if they need to do any repairs after you move out. They have likely listed multiple areas such as plumbing heating etc so they can go through the entire property and even potentially take pictures of any possible damage or the condition. It’s also to protect them in case they fear you may do damage to the property, which likely isn’t the case, but they are trying to be protective.
Now you can’t deny them access, but if there are certain times you are sleeping or praying they should be flexible enough to work around this. Just make sure you contact them and let them know that the 11th would work for you, but due to your night work it’s best after X time. Make sure you provide this in writing and you document everything with them.
It doesn’t sound like they are breaching the RTA, they are just being protective of their property for real or imagined reasons.It may feel like harassment at this point, but unless they make a habit of coming in every day or very often especially after determining there is no required work it won’t be applicable.
I would let them in a couple times to confirm everything is fine and to show the RTDRS that you have been working with them without being hostile or causing problems and the hearing will go much smoother for you than if you fight every step.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hi, I am not a landlord, I am a tenant and I have some questions about harassment by my landlord’s agent.. We recently got a new property manager in our building.. They are making lots of changes.. some good, some not so good.. Firstly, they aren’t doing any repairs right now as they are fixing up empty suites and the toilet upstairs from me runs day and night.. They aren’t fixing it.. My kitchen tap drips constantly.. Then, the landlord accused us of smoking marajuana in our suite, which we were not.. There are 45 suites in this building.. We don’t even smoke ciggarettes inside as we have a 6 month old baby.. She threatened to and did phone social services saying we were smoking weed in the suite.. The social worker didn’t believe that we were, as we weren’t, and it did no harm, but it could have been disasterous.. We have an eviction notice for late rent. It is our first time being late and we are pretty quiet tenants. when I complained about her accusing us of smoking pot she said we only had until the tenth to pay the rent when our eviction notice says the 19th. Can she do this?
We think they are trying to turn this into an adult only building. How much notice do they have to give to get us out for this reason? Can they do it at all? I believe they are harassing us with this to get us out.. further more the last owner sent a letter saying they were going to increase the rent $40 and the first month of the new landlord, we paid the increase and then we got another letter saying the rent was increasing another $65. It was only 3 months since the last rent increase.. When I asked about this they said that I had recieved a letter that the first increase was cancelled.. I didn’t get this letter.. Please tell me what I can do so that I don’t get bullied out of my apt.
Hi Helen,
It sounds like quite the situation. Let’s start with the repairs. Are you responsible for the utilities? If so, then it should be more of a concern for you and you may want to consider bringing in someone yourself to fix ti. If they are included perhaps send the building owners a quick update about the problem. As you go along, make sure you document all the times and dates of any conversations you have as well. If you rile this new PM, they may not take kindly so best to have documentation of everything.
Hopefully they are just dealing with major repairs first and will trickle down to more minor repairs like dripping taps.
With the smoking threat, also document this, if the PM does try ot get you evicted later, having previous evidence of them accusing you of false items can be handy. You may want to get something in writing from your social worker as well to validate this.
With the eviction notice, was it a 14 day notice? According to the rules, you have until the eviction date listed on the notice to pay, if you pay before that date, the eviction is null and void, but it has to be paid in full, not partially. The notice should also include mention of this on it, or it is invalid.From what you tell me if the eviction date is the 19th, you should pay it before that date, but it’s not mandated you have to pay by the tenth.
The rent increases, what type of notice did they give you for the first increase? In Alberta they are required to give 90 days which includes three full months notice to you before they raise the rent, unless it’s a term lease where there are slightly different rules. However, they can also only increase the rent once every 12 months. In your case the $65 increase is invalid and illegal and you don’t have to pay it.
It really sounds like they are indeed trying to bully you at this point. I would make sure you pay the rent as soon as possible to get that monkey off your back and document and back up everything you have here with witnesses or any additional information. If they do try to evict you later for fruitless reasons by documenting you will be able to show a history of bullying and apparently illegal tactics. If you wait until a potential eviction comes up and then try to recollect the facts it may leave you open for a quick eviction.
Hope this helps you!
Bill
I also recommend picking up a $19 MP3 player (I used XS cargo) that records external voices… and use it during all conversations. Can be invaluable in supporting your claims.
i moved from a house that had a mouse infestation and found a room and board on a farm…now i lived here for 5 months and now they have mice and there solution is to put a cat downstairs (which is doing nothing)to solve the problem… do i still have to pay rent even tho the cat isnt helping to catch the mice? if i get ill due to the mice droppings and piddle? what can i do here as i cant afford to move??? there is no lease there is no dammage deposit…. im medically retired so what do i do??? i have been woken up due to mice running over my bed, i have clothing chewed, furniture dammage ect… please HELP!!!
Hi Gaetan,
It’s not surprising to find mice in a farm house, especially this time of year as the nights cool down, but the owner should try and do more than just a cat. Without knowing more about your situation it’s hard to determine whether solutions like traps or poisons would be suitable, or how bad it is.
You still have to pay rent though. You could take it to the courts or to the RTDRS depending on where you live and potentially get reimbursed back for inconvenience, but I don’t see a lot of short term solutions other than potentially pressuring the owners for other ways to curb the in house mice.
If there is an actual health concern, you may be able to approach the local health inspectors, but the catch 22 is if they find it unsuitable you will have to move out and find another place. Sorry I don’t have additional thoughts for you.
Bill
Hi there i have rented to a tenant in may 1, 2012 he moved in and took 6 days to pay the rent, since then he has paid nothing for june till june 29 $200 the full rent is 800+utilities it took a month to sign the lease as well as not being able to verify id i know i rushed the rental of the home and made a mistake? The lease is back dated to may 1st. since then on june 19, he was issued 14 days notice. He has not paid july and refuses to leave. I have issued him court papers, he also has other people living there that are not on the lease i was wondering what are my chances of winning and having him removed as well as how long will ot take?
Hi Wayne,
It does seem like you rushed in and made a mistake. Never, ever let a tenant in until all the paperwork is signed and the first month’s rent plus security deposit are paid in full via cash, bank draft or money order. Or at least from now on.
I’m not sure what the court papers you issued him are, have you been to court and obtained an eviction? If so, the next stage is bringing in a bailiff to remove them. If you have just filed at the court house and served him regarding the hearing, it will all depend on the evidence you provide and how you provide it.
From the info you provided he is only behind for July? If you go to court, the judge will likely just tell him he has to pay up before a certain day and he can stay. If it’s more than late rent and you presented this in your evidence, or it is a recurring theme, you may have a better chance. I really don’t have enough information to know from your comment.
Regards,
Bill
Hi I have a question. I am currently renting a 5 bedroom house that had a pipe burst under the sink while we were camping. It resulted in extensive water damage that had to require a restoration company to enter the building. Once in, they discovered pre-existing mold that was here before my moving in. So the landlords insurance company will not cover the damages due to negligence. Now they are talking massive renovations that will take more then 12 weeks because the costs will come out of pocket so they will take thier time, in which I can not live here during construction. Obviously I must move but my question is, Do I pay rent this month or do I take my money for a new place
Hey Dan,
Ouch, tough situation Dan. Situations like this are why landlords require proper insurance ont heir properties and why they should be doing regular inspections. Unfortunately knowing that doesn’t do you any good.
Obviously, if you cannot live there you should not be paying rent there any any rent you have paid out should be pro-rated to the time the premises were no longer livable. This is referred to in the Residential Tenancies Act as “Frustration of tenancy agreement“. Basically it says the agreement is frustrated if the property is destroyed or unliveable. That sounds exactly like your situation in this case.
Now the Tenancy Act doesn’t specifically say they have to refund you any additional payments, but it is definitely implied and if need be you could go to the RTDRS or courts and apply to get it back as the landlord cannot charge you when the place is unliveable. You should also be able to retrieve your full damage deposit back as it will be very hard to prove you have done any damage, unless they can somehow prove you were negligent and potentially responsible for the leak or the original mould. This is another reason tenant’s should have soem type of renter’s insurance.
So bottom line, your lease is frustrated and essentially terminated, so you should be able to get a refund for the month from the date forward where the property became unliveable and you can go find your next property. Having said that, I would act quickly, if the landlord is dragging out the repairs for several months due to costs, they may not have much of a reserve to pay you the money outstanding to you and that would put you near the bottom of people they would pay.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hi Bill,
I have a tenant that has moved her boyfriend in with her even though when she came to rent I told her that I do not allow this. She has never came to to me to ask about this, I live in the building as well so I know he has been there for the last 5 months. I’ve talked to her, the guy is just a trouble maker, has a big mouth on him. She gave notice to be out at the end of April, then turned around and asked if they behaved and did not disturb other tenants would I please let them stay until the end of June as she couldn’t afford to move. I felt bad so I agreed but have nothing in writing. I contacted her on May 26 to remind her that she has to write up a notice for me and now my parents would like to move in as my mom is not well making it easier for them to be close to me. She did not write the notice, I’ve asked twice more and now the boyfriend is the on doing all the talking. They finally did on up saying she would be out on July 1 by 12 noon, I have a month to month lease with her, she also did not put the address on the notice. Soooo……..I called once more to let her know that she would have to put the proper date on the notice but she would not speak to me it was the boyfriend on the phone again. He told me if I had something to say I should do it to his face, I then went to the door and of course now they won’t answer. I’m at a lose, I’m not healthy at this time and these two are just dragging me down. What now, do I have options, my folks are ready to move in as well.
Thank you Bill
Lorie
Hi Lorie,
The letter she provided really won’t amount to much. If she changes her mind because she cannot find a place, you are still stuck having to go through an eviction to get her out.You do have a couple other routes though.
If your lease states she requires written permission for her boyfriend to live there (and most leases state this), you have the right to evict her for breach of the lease.You can do this via an eviction notice, which they may just ignore or you can proceed straight to either the RTDRS or the courts. This will likely be your fastest method to get your property back.
There was also a provision for landlords family moving into a property and the timelines allowed for notice to the tenants, but for some reason I cannot find the information on this anymore. I thought it was included in the Act, but now i don’t see it in there. You may need to call the Landlord and Tenant hotline to check on this.
Finally, you could do a drastic rent increase, but this requires three full months notice before it comes into effect. At this point that would mean October 1st.
Hopefully one of these options would work for you.
Bill
Coming in to this a year late, but it is there – it is three months notice for family members to move in, with hefty fines should you give this notice and NOT have family move in.
Hi, I just stumbled on your site and really like the advices.
I have tenants on a month to month lease in my house. They have 3 kids, 2 dogs and the house is not in bad shape inside but the yard is destroyed by their dogs.
I have given them a 3 months notice and verbally extended to 4 months to give them time to have the kids out of school for the move with the reason that I wish to have a place to stay in town. I have lots of work to do to the yard, and they have told me they would make do it before leaving. I have had problems getting the rent in time, but was very understanding. The tenant are now telling me that they cannot find anywhere to move to… They still have 2 months to go, but I am scared that the time will come and they will not be out.
Would you help me with what are my options beside a little prayer..
Hi Melanie,
First step you should do is go back and document everything that you can recall, dates times and conversations with them. Especially info pertaining to the ending of the lease. If they are not out on the originally agreed date you will need to go through the eviction process to get them out.
If you provided them with all the proper notices, provide evidence showing this and also provide additional evidence showing you have extended them time, this should make for a fairly easy court case, but the bottom line is you will have to proceed to either court or the RTDRS depending on where you live.
So basic steps at this time are to document everything and prepare as if you have to proceed with an eviction. I would also let them know (in written format) that if they aren’t out by the specified date as per your notices you will proceed through the courts to evict them and they will likely end up incurring extra costs. This might be enough to get them moving, if they suspect you aren’t serious they may just stall until push comes to shove.
Regards,
Bill
Hi,
I have been living under an alcoholic person who continually brings in his alcoholic buddies to his apartment at all hours of the night to party, yell, stomp around and swear.
I have have called the police and just recently gave my resident manager the documentation to reflect this.
She told me that they were planning to evict this person…but I was wondering what kind of time frame are we looking at to complete this?
Also I am concerned he may damage my belongings or car in retaliation…
I appreciate any information that you can offer and thank you for your time.
Hi Petey,
Lot’s of varying factors here. If they can prove that the tenants are disrupting other residents and there is a significant chance they will damage the property they can usually have them out within a day or two of the hearing date. If they have young kids, the courts give them several weeks to a month typically. If there are other outstanding circumstances it can be even longer.
If they only have the noise complaints and cannot prove this is an ongoing event, then it may get thrown out with a warning and they can stay. also, if the landlord is using a fixed term versus a month to month lease, he can simply not renew the lease at the end of the term and the tenant has to leave. The big factor here is what stage and/or type of lease they are into.
Regards,
Bill
Hello.
About a month and a half ago i let my friend who was short on money move in with us. BIG MISTAKE! We didnt write up a lease agreement and I am a subletter. MY landlord is letting me deal with this in full reins, but i dont want to get sued. She is paying rent and bills but is just a giant nusence. Is there anything I can do to kick her out sooner then later? I need her gone ASAP!
HELP!
Hi Samantha,
Even though you don’t have a actual lease, you do have a verbal agreement. Also, since you are subletting and renting out space in a your shared area, you shouldn’t have much problems getting this to fit under the Innkeeper’s Act which will allow you to evict her fairly quickly, as long as you have a reason to evict.
Being a nuisance may not qualify. I would suggest having a discussion with ehr and suggesting she move on, if that doesn’t work the next step would be looking into what valid reasons you could us eto evict her under the Innkeeper’s Act.
Regards,
Bill
Hi,
We have just recently rented to a woman, and her common-law husband and child. We have an 8 month lease, in which it clearly states that there is to be absolutely no smoking of any kind. They signed the lease, after we went over everything very well. They also have a copy of the conditions.
At the moment, we are away on week days, and home on weekends, but we have a property manager to handle any issues that may arise while we are gone.
We came home on a Friday evening, and I could smell marijuana. We have had this issue with one other tenant previously, so I am very well aquainted with the smell.
If either them, or a third party are smoking marijuana in our suite, it is grounds for eviction, since they have broken the terms of the lease.
I just want to make sure that I am within my legal rights to pursue a course of action. According to the Landlord/Tenant act in Alberta, the Landlord has the right to enter the premesis without notice for emergencies, which specifies “strange odors”. I would classify marijuana as a “stange odor”. I would like to know what my next step should be. It’s November, and I feel very bad about evicting a family when it’s getting cold outside, but I will not tolerate any kind of smoking in my home.
Also, if they do end up being evicted, am I allowed to keep either a portion, or all of the damage deposit to have the capets steam cleaned, or do whatever it takes to get the smell out?
I could use some advice here.
Eryka
Hi Eryka,
Strange odors may not be enough to allow you to enter the premises. Especially if the strange odor is marijuana. Not to belittle the seriousness, but they are typically referring more to gas odors or other smells.
I would suggest your next step is to send them a letter (or hand deliver it) referencing the date and time of the marijuana smell and referencing the non-smoking clause in the lease. Also provide a very stern warning that this is their only warning, any further breach will be grounds for you to start an immediate eviction.
You could try and evict them immediately, but the onus is on you to prove they were actually smoking down there and that can be hard without evidence. Right now it;s just your word versus their word. By leaving a paperwork trail showing you are serious, you have evidence if they breach later. So make sure you don;t just do this verbally, leave a trail!
Finally, if there is sufficient smoke damage you will be required to repaint and steam clean the carpets, which can indeed come out of the tenants security deposit. The caveat on this though is if they have been their for an extended period of time (I believe the time frame is two years, but don;t quote me on this), you are supposed to repaitn before new tenants move in anyway.
Hope that helps,
Bill
The Smell of Marijuana will linger no more than a day.
The fact that she thinks she can get away with smoking it is another thing, do not be taken for a fool.
Thanks for the comments Tyler.
So yes the smell may dissipate in as little as a few hours, but the smoke residue can build up on the walls and ceilings quite quickly. So it’s more than just breaking your rules, there is also the issue of getting the property back to it’s previous status. The smoke residue from drugs (and cigarettes), can require considerable extra work to remove, it’s not just a matter of repainting, you have to clean the walls first. This turns into extra costs and lost time for a landlord.
Regards,
Bill
My husband and I and our soon to be 3 kids share a duplex with 2 tenants who smoke marijuana. The initial smell dissipates within a few hours if they don’t continue to smoke it. However, you try getting that smell off your clothes, work clothes, children’s clothes and linens and such. That does not disappear quickly. We have talked to our land agent about the problem once before (end of summer, still hot, we have no central air so we keep the windows open for air circulation….not to mention we have 2 children under 5 years old and I am pregnant), and they talked to the other tenants. Boy did my husband and I get blasted by the other tenants! 2 nasty letters and a verbal confrontation later, I figured they understood our family has allergies to their habit and we don’t want our family/kids around it. Nope. 8+ times in the last 4-5 weeks I have had to deal with their habit. The last time I went over there, asked if they were smoking and they said no (yet I got a faint whiff of it when they opened the door). I told them our windows were covered with plastic and there was no possibility of marijuana smoke coming in from any other building around us (as they had been trying to blame the smell entering our basement on people residing in a 4-plex beside us). Since then (January 1) I have yet to deal with their habit, but I don’t hold my breath that they will stop trying to see if we notice them smoking it inside. I have no clue what our landlord plans to do when he receives my documenting on what days their smell has entered our basement, but I hope it will mean the end of having to deal with bad allergies and trying to get the smell out of my cloth items in my half of the duplex.
When the other tenants started confronting you, it was time for the landlord to either do something or for you to take a stand and leave. Since he hasn’t done anything yet, he may just be hoping the problem goes away on his own and unfortunately that may require you to leave.
Bill
I found your site by accident looking for info on dead beat landlords. We moved to a small town in Alberta and not knowing any better entered into renting a trailer off a real estate agent. when we moved in there was 3′ of snow on the ground. We had no idea of what the yard looked like let alone the shape it was in. We signed no lease or rental agreement . We moved in Nov. 1. In Jan. the outside plug i was using to plug my truck into blew it did not trip the breakers my truck froze up over night and i could not make it to work the next day we called the landlord to get it fixed she said she would send someone by to this date that has not happened. Spring rolls around we see the state of the yard it took about 2 weeks to clean up the yard and about 7-8 pickup truck load of everything from garbage , dog poop and basic yard care to get it in shape we never said anything to her about this we now have a park like setting for a yard. The rainy season starts the roof gave up leaking where we could catch it to running between the walls and out on to the carpet we told her a number of time that the roof leaks her reply I”LL send someone over to this day nothing done we now have black mold. we got tired of her crap and phoned the landlord branch they sent us to the health unit for the health inspector to come and look the situation over he came and said thing that had to be done a lengthy list was showed to us well guess what today after paying our rent on time we got a notice to get out. she is getting known in town as a scum lord because of how she treats all of her tenants and conducts her business. how do we as good tenants move and have proper references with this going on. we lived in another province at the same place for over 2 yrs when we gave 2 months notice we where moving they refused to accept it and offered to lower the rent to get us to stay the even went so far as to offer a couple months free rent . the day we moved we not only receive reference from the property manager but also from the home owner. {ya we are deadbeat tenants b…S..t] where and how do we fight a deadbeat land lord. YOU SHOULD NOT PAINT ALL TENANTS WITH THE SAME BRUSH thanks. you probably won’t publish this cause it goes against what you are doing but i thought i would waste sometime and send it
Hi Joe,
Sorry to hear about your situation and sorry if I gave you the impression I only support landlords. I do support landlords and help them deal with deadbeat tenants, but I also advise tenants of their rights with deadbeat landlords.
There is a reason there are rules in place and I find deadbeat/slumlord landlords to be far worse than 99.9% of the bad tenants out there. If they cannot take responsibility and cannot be a decent landlord to people they deserve everything thrown at them. Landlords have a responsibility to the people they rent to, this responsibility includes making sure the property is safe for the inhabitants and that they are held to the rules.
I also don’t paint all tenants with the same brush, I have had wonderful tenants over the years and have helped them in any way I can, Deadbeats and professional tenants who abuse the system, well I have no respect for them and they helped this site come to be as I ran into more inexperienced landlords stuck with problems they didn’t deserve.
In your case, here are some thoughts.
Obviously your landlord doesn’t sound like a person I would like very much. You probably don’t want to stay with them, although if they are giving you notice to move, since you are essentially on a month to month verbal lease you are in a good position. If she is giving you notice to get out, it has to be a 90 day notice to start with, more accurately a three month notice. If she gave you the notice on the 1st, the three months do not start until the beginning of the next month. This could give you almost four months to find a new place. Although with black mould in the property you probably want to get out sooner.
Since you have no lease, you likely also did not do a walk through of the property when you moved in. Without a walk through form, signed by both parties, she cannot keep any of your damage deposit (if you had one) for repairs or costs incurred. Money probably isn’t as big a concern right now as the prospect of finding a new place.
You should call your old landlord and property manager and explain to them what has happened to you and ask if you can get reference letters from them again. When talking to any new landlords explain the entire situation to them and provide them with copies of the references. Be prepared in advance that the current landlord may not paint you in a favourable light, but also remember if she is trying to kick you out, if she makes it harder for you to find a place you can fight being kicked out and take this to court as a retaliation eviction. It’s very likely you would win, especially if you have copies of the health problems in the property.
Hopefully this is enough info to help you move forward and I wish you luck,
Bill
I have two tenants living in the basement suite of my home. We did not do a proper lease agreement (i know major mistake) three months ago when they moved in. Prior to moving in the date was set for May 1. I understand that i have lost most of my abilities to evict them due to not having a lease.
There is a smell of drugs which makes my family feel unsafe in our own home. We have two children under 5 and they are frighted of these 3 strange men yelling, speaking loud and using vulgarer language. I am Indian and they have used discriminatory words and racial slang towards me and my family.
The issue has spiraled right out of control and we need to evict these people right away.
I plan to do a 24 hour notice to inspect the premises to look for any excessive damage, as well as a 48 hour eviction to a third random person who started living there two months ago with out my consent. If i find any damage i plan to add that to the 48 hours to vacate.
Is this the right procedure? Please any advice will be very helpful.
Thank you
Hi Danjeet,
Have they threatened you at all? If they are threatening towards you, you can issue a 24 hour eviction notice. Additionally if the threats are scaring your family you can also involve the police for your protection (it never hurts to mention the smell of drugs when doing this). If they aren’t threatening you, you require a reason to evict which would be some breach of the lease or normal rental terms.
The excessive damage is a good start, smoking drugs would fit under this category as well. Without a proper lease it may also be hard to evict the third person as you cannot prove they don’t all belong either.
It is extremely important to always have a signed lease in place and you absolutely have to complete a move in inspection that the tenants sign as well.
One last thought is the space downstairs a full suite? They don’t have access to the main floor of the house as well do they? If they do they may fit under the Innkeeper’s Act which allows you to kick them out immediately.
Let me know how it works out.
Bill
Hi. We are in the process of evicting a non-paying/pain tenant (filed with the RTDRS and awaiting court date) and want to know if we should submit our record of communication with him as a court document or just bring it with us for our own referral should we need it?
Also, we are evicting on the grounds of unpaid rent, but also smoking and burning improperly stored candles (no holder) in a room in which they also removed the smoke detector (making these acts even more of a hazard). We have pictures of both the wax on the desk and the smoke detector lying in two pieces on a chair and were wondering if we should submit those pictures to the RTDRS before our court date OR just trust that the letter we submitted to the tenant listing these issues will be enough evidence?
As well, since gaining entry to the suite last Saturday via proper channels (24 hours Notice to Enter), we have been coming back every 2 days or so (Monday Wednesday, plan to go back on Friday) to either check on the state of some mouse traps we set in the room, fix the smoke detector, and monitor whether the smoke detector has been tampered with or not. Could this repeated re-entry (again, always using the 24 hour Notice to Enter form beforehand) be considered harassment?
Last question…the tenant has been removing items from other areas in the house (ie. pillows from a storage room, mirror hanging on a wall, ashtray from outside) and using them in his room. Should we be doing anything with this information as far as the RTDRS is concerned and are we within our rights to remove the same articles from his room when we are in there?
Thank you in advance for any comments you might have regarding these matters.
Shannon
P.S. So glad I found your site!
Hi Shannon,
Definitely include everything you have, don’t leave any wiggle room or opportunity to get the hearing pushed back due to new evidence being submitted. Pictures are perfect to include, along the notices you provided for the 24 hours Notice to Enter.
If you are actively trying to catch mice who have moved in during the recent cold snap, you obviously need to check the traps every few days, sure the timing may appear as harassment to a tenant trying to evade rent, but you cannot just leave the traps alone. Just be sure to position that properly when it is brought up. Checking on the smoke detector every couple of days however would most likely be pushing the envelope of harassment.
Again, document the tenant removing items for their personal use, there won;t be much you can do with this, but it will paint a clearer picture of the tenant’s thoughts of entitlement and lack of respect for other people’s property.
Final note, since you already submitted the application, if you are adding additional information to the application you need to provide at least 24 hours for the tenant to see the additional information and it has to be added to your application at the RTDRS office. You cannot just show up at the hearing with the extra information and expect it to be used, in all likelihood, it will be disallowed.
Hope that helps,
Bill