How Can I Evict a Tenant?
One of the biggest challenges for a landlord, can be evicting a tenant. Especially the first time evicting a tenant.
There are so many questions you need answered, and while there are is a ton of information out there about evictions, a lot of it’s simply wrong! So what next? Do you spend hundreds of dollars on a lawyer, to get your answers?
You know what you want, or at least what you need, to simply get the tenant out of your property, to get paid for any damages and outstanding rent and to move on, but you can’t always get this. Especially if you don’t understand the rules.
So, what are your options? I list multiple options for you below, but if you need answers immediately and don’t want to waste your time, take advantage of my consulting services. You can find more about it here, Eviction Consulting
Evicting Tenants In Alberta
14 Day Eviction Notices
Where to begin? Well, the default answer many landlords run with is a 14 day eviction notice. While using eviction notices is one way to kick tenants out of your property, it’s not always effective.
Often tenants don’t leave by the date specified in the eviction notice, sometimes they dispute the eviction and occasionally it just gives especially vindictive tenants more time to cause damage to the property. Also a standard eviction notice in Alberta is 14 days and requires an extra day on either side of the 14 days for the tenant to receive the notice and to move out.
That’s why if I’m serious about evicting a tenant, I rarely use an eviction notice. I only use them now to establish a history of late payments, to create a paper trail and to protect myself if I have to move forward. Eviction notices are not mandatory to evict a tenant, they’re just the default method familiar to most landlords.
Using The RTDRS And The Courts For Evictions
The default way to evict tenants now is through the RTDRS or the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service.
Prior to COVID many people used the courts as well, but since COVID arrived to disrupt the system the RTDRS has revised many of it’s processes and it’s much more streamlined and easy to use now. Plus all the applications are done online and the hearings are now via phone which expedites much of the actual work involved.
Which Eviction System Is Better?
The people I have talked with over the years sat on either side of the fence, some absolutely love the RTDRS and find it the most effective way to deal with 90% of all tenant problems (I’m one of these people). Others found the court system to be more straight forward and effective and can actually deal with 100% of the issues out there.
But since COVID, now just about everyone is using the RTDRS except in unique situations that fit outside the scope of the RTDRS officials.
FYI, the reason for the 10% shortfall with the RTDRS, in case you are wondering, is those particularly difficult situations. While the hearing officers used by the RTDRS have the capacity to make rulings that are legal and binding, they don’t have quite the same capacity as actual judges found in the courts. Due to this, and rather than making a legal error, some cases get delayed and pushed to the court system.
Where the RTDRS Doesn’t Work
So where shouldn’t the RTDRS be used, or at least used by regular landlords? These are often cases where tenants have a significant knowledge advantage over the landlords and use legal maneuvering to delay evictions, extend timelines and often provoke landlords to make errors in their evictions or even break the Landlord Tenant bylaws.
These are what I refer to as professional tenants. Tenants who use the system to get months of free rent from landlords who are often too trusting initially and don’t realize their mistake until it’s too late. Too late and extremely costly.
Sometimes they are cases where there are multiple complications that overlap and require more sophisticated understandings of the Residential Tenancy Law and how it applies and sometimes it occurs when there is no definitive solution. Situations like these can simply call for more official rulings and require the judges decision.
Now this isn’t meant to scare you away from the RTDRS, I still think it is the best way to evict tenants for myself and people I advise and consult with. It’s just meant to tell you how important it is to know what you are doing. No matter which route you take, properly preparing and gathering all the information (plus understanding the rules), make the biggest impact.
Walking into either type of hearing demanding a tenant leave without providing documentation, backup and an understanding of the process will result in a disappointed landlord. Make sure that disappointed landlord isn’t you and make sure you prepare. The downside of this may be you don’t have the knowledge or the time for this, or you may have concerns about confronting the tenant in a hearing. This is where an Eviction Services company comes into play.
Hiring An Eviction Services Company
Most landlords out there already have a full time job and find the regular duties of being a landlord taxing. Being required to fill out the application for a tenant eviction, preparing all the accompanying eviction documentation, making multiple trips to file at the hearing offices or the courthouses along with serving the tenants eviction paperwork and then taking additional time off from work to attend the eviction hearing(s) can often seem like it’s not worth it. But how do you get control of your property back?
This is where the service of an eviction company can help you. Depending on your needs they can be a full service company and handle everything from the very beginning, or they can assist you on the back end once you have a court ordered eviction date and you only need the final bailiff services to have tenants removed. Many even offer the basic services of simply serving the tenants with any applications or court hearings for you. Of course all of this is at a cost.
Depending on your situation though, this cost could easily be well worth it. When you factor in taking a couple days off work (or more), the stress you’d go through yourself if you did the eviction, the lost rent you may already be missing and the chance you make a mistake granting the tenant an even longer rent free stay, having someone else handle all of this may pay for itself.
Costs and Caveats When Using an Eviction Service
So how much could this cost you? This can vary depending on the circumstance, so let’s start with your options.
- If you go through the eviction process yourself and use the RTDRS, your costs for the hearing are $75.
- If you go through the courts yourself, your costs for the hearing are $100.
- Typical costs for an eviction service company will start at around $700-800 and move up from there depending on the situation and whether the company uses the court system or the RTDRS for their eviction services.
The caveats of this is these prices are typically starting prices. If you’ve started the eviction process, made some stumbles along the way and now hand it over to an eviction company, they may not want to take the case, or the costs may be more.
This could be compared to you starting to build a fence at your property, you get half way through and discover it’s crooked, the posts aren’t spaced correctly and it’s not the right height. The contractor you bring in now not only has to build the fence, but they have to take everything down you started with and may even need to refill holes.
This is the same situation you may put an eviction company in, if you start on your own and get in over your head. They may have to tear everything down, fill in your holes and rebuild your fence/case. If you’ve made significant errors, this can be time consuming and costly. This is why some companies won’t even take files that have been started, so you need to take this into account before you start your eviction.
Your efforts to save money, much like building your own fence without the right tools and knowledge, can end up costing you so much more.
Questions To Ask Yourself When Starting An Eviction
Are you comfortable enough to appear in a hearing on your own? Are you knowledgeable enough to make a valid rational argument for your eviction? Have you prepared enough evidence that the tenant is breaching the lease that you can make the eviction stick? Have you bought my How To Evict Tenants Using the RTDRS Guide to make sure you understand the eviction process (sorry had to plug my guide!). And finally do you have the time to file and attend one or two hearings?
If you answered yes to all of these questions then you should probably go through the process yourself. If you answered no to several of these, especially the time part, then you should hire an eviction service company to handle your eviction.
Have you come to a decision on what to do next?
Are you going to proceed on your own, or hire out? Are you going to start with an eviction notice or move directly to a hearing or court appearance? These can be some tough questions for you, but the important part with any eviction is taking action.
Unfortunately, the situation rarely gets better if you wait. Sometimes the tenants just leave, but more often than not they drag it out and the tighter the rental market, the longer they will drag it out as getting evicted now turns into survival mode for them.
Now I’ve covered a lot of ground in this article, but there may still be questions you have, so here are some options.
Evicting Tenants
If you’re still in your research stage, want more information and want to read some more articles on this site that may answer many of your eviction questions, go take a look at my
Eviction Information Quick Start page
This directs you to my most popular articles on eviction notices,
info about the RTDRS, steps in the eviction process and more.
If you want to start with an eviction notice as you expect that will be enough to get your tenants to move on, or you want to use it as a start if you don’t think a hearing is necessary for evicting tenants yet, make sure you have an eviction form with all the correct information on it. There are multiple free eviction notices floating around the internet, but the majority of them are missing important clauses that are required in Eviction forms used in Alberta or they are invalid.
I’ve put together a package that includes both 14 day and 24 hour eviction notices that includes information on how and when to use them, has examples of completed forms and includes blank forms that you can use over and over. You can find more information here,
Alberta 14 Day and 24 Hour Eviction Forms
If you are ready to take action and want to start down the path of using the RTDRS to evict your tenant, I have put together another package that walks you through all the steps of using the RTDRS including what to expect and provides extra tips I use to make sure my eviction goes through. People who have purchased it have told me it takes away all the confusion and makes the eviction much easier. You can get more information or order it here,
Alberta Landlords Guide To Using the RTDRS For Evictions
This guide also includes the 14 day and 24 hour eviction forms with it.
After reading through all of this you may have decided it will be far easier on you to simply hire someone else to evict your tenant. For my very first eviction and before the RTDRS was introduced this is the route I took as well.
I’ve compiled a short list of Eviction Service Companies in Alberta. The companies listed on this page are companies that I have either dealt with or worked with to gather the information on this site and for my informational videos. Please be sure to read the disclaimer at the bottom of the listing page before hiring any eviction service company to represent you,
Alberta Eviction Service Companies
Finally, I’ve also put together a quick report that walks you through the basic steps involved in an eviction. You can grab it at no charge by entering your name and email address in the box either at the top right of this page or near the bottom of the page.
Once you fill in the information and send it off to me you’ll get access to the free report along with some additional tips that many landlords and tenants find helpful about evictions.
Hopefully you found this eviction information to be a great resource and if so, I’d appreciate if you share it with your friends however possible, we have Social Media sharing buttons located just below to assist you, or come visit us on Facebook at https://www.Facebook.com/AlbertaEviction.
If you have additional questions please leave them as a comment below and I will try to answer them as quickly as possible. If you require slightly more guidance in-depth eviction consulting , I do offer eviction consulting services, but I do not provide the actual full eviction service the eviction companies provide. For more information about my services and costs, click the following link, Alberta Eviction Consulting Services.
Regards,
AlbertaEviction.com – The #1 Resource For Alberta Eviction Information
Good morning. I seem to find myself in a bit of a bind. You see I rent a basement suite and my step daughter is allergic to dogs. Just before Christmas we were informed that the tenant up stairs was going to be getting her mother a dog for Christmas and wondered if she could have it upstairs for the 2 weeks before taking it to her moms. We said ok due to the short duration. Then when she came back from her trip to her moms we had found out that she was going to keep the animal because her mom couldn’t have it. At the same time as telling us that she told us she was going to keep the dog for herself and that it was ok with the landlord. When she asked if we would be ok with it we told her no due to health concerns (my step daughters name is even on the lease/ rental contract and she had previous knowledge of the kids allergies). Not long after this I emailed the landlord to inquire about the situation and he told me that he was never asked about a dog, and to that day there had never been an animal in the house due to the no pets allowed rule in both mine and the other tenants rental contracts. And further more she had only previously asked for permission to own a cat and that we all were ok with it. I let him know that wasn’t the case and that we only moved in because of the no pets rule. Afterwards our landlord confronted the other tenant and because she decided to throw a fit hes decided to let her keep the animal. During said freak out the tenant told our landlord that illegal drugs are being smoked down stairs. Yes our rental agreement states no smoking but the landlords agent verbally mentioned smoking referred to cigarettes because there was another clause that forbid illegal drugs. We dont smoke cigarettes only our prescribed medical marijuana. After i let him know we werent smoking inside he continued to tell me that even though it is prescribed, its not acceptable for us to medicate even on the property in our vehicle. So now the landlord is discriminating against myself and my wife due to our medication. In the eviction notice it give the reasons for eviction being, not obeying the lease agreement, conflict, trespassing in the other tenants suite ( the only working thermostat is upstairs, the tenant turned it down to 20c on a -25c day so the basement suite i rent had a temp of 15c due to a draft from where the front door is missing the weather strip so i had to turn up the temp before my wifes nerve pain increased anymore then it already had at that point) and the last reason stated as follows “Also smoking a illegal substance, does not matter if you have a green card or not, substance is not allowed on the premises.” The dates are even different from where the landlord signed compared to where the “witeness'” signed. The landlords signature is dated the day before the witness’ signature. I just cant help but feel that our rights are being violated, ignored, and trampled on. Especially since the other tenant has broken the rental agreement numerous times. Ive let the landlord even know how she has and how offten and he refuses to show equal treatment and is insisting that shes done nothing wrong. Im preparing my case for court if it goes to that but am in need of your advice or opinion very badly.
Hi Duncan,
While the landlord is correct about the property being non-smoking which includes the medical marijuana, it does seem they went with the squeaky wheel versus you.
With the draft issues, the squeaky wheel upstairs, the dog and the conflict, it might be best to consider simply moving on. I understand this will be a huge pain and possible expense, but it really doesn’t sound like the landlord will work with you at this point.
With the current market conditions this may bode well for you as there are many vacancies out there and you may be able to secure a new better place at a lower monthly rent with less headaches. There amy even be opportunities to find a place that isn’t necessarily shared as many landlords are highly negotiable right now.
You could try and fight this, you’ll just need a ton of evidence showing you tried to work with the landlord, but that the landlord has sided with the other tenant. The challenge is, if you win, you still have a dog upstairs, you might have vindictive lowering of the temperature as the tenants sounds vindictive and the landlord may just look for another reason to terminate the lease, such as not renewing.
And if you lose, you have to move anyway, but with a shorter time frame.
Bill
I have a question on a few things. I have recently have had issues with my Property Manager and have just received a court order, after three eviction notices and three objection letters. The reasons for the evictions are:
disturbing other tenants, propping doors open, police called for domestic violence, using illegal substances.
These are false accusations and not sure what to do here. I tried to pay rent on the 1st and they refused to take it. And now are saying I have late rent. I do owe $100 for the previous month, but the $100 is the late fees only. The rest has been caught up. I live in a multi unit complex. There are no arrests or charges for the domestic issue as there are none. How is this even possible?
Hi DJ
If you have received a court order, you must have received notice about the the hearing. That was where you would have an opportunity to defend the accusations against you.
There seems to be some gaps in what you’re sharing here which makes it rather impossible to give specific information. If you have a court order to vacate they may not want to take your money, but it depends on whether they also have a judgment. It also depends on the order. Without understanding the specifics of the order it is hard to tell.
If it’s an order to vacate shouldn’t you use the money to go towards your new place as it seems like you will be forced out. At this point your focus needs to be on the next place as your time allowed to be there is specified in the order.
Sorry I can’t provide more info, but as I mentioned there are tons of questions I would need answered. yYou could take advantage of my consulting services if you want more specific answers.The consulting option would be via phone and we could walk through your options, but if you already have a court order the options for you would be limited at this point.
Bill
Hello Bill,
I know you mostly help out landlords but I was hoping to get some advice. This month on the first I was unable to pay the full rent on time. I gave our landlord every penny we had $1003.75 of the $1500 owing and let her know I just will not have the rest for one week. I did tell her that in one week she will be paid in full. She screamed at me we were leaving her in a bind, so I asked if for the one week couldn’t she just use part of the security deposit? She yelled there was NO s.d. to use as she spent it when we moved in on “other things”. We still have every intention of paying her anyways in one week. Now she has filed a 14 day eviction notice to leave for unpaid rent as is her right. I was reading that if the rent is paid in full before then it null and voids the eviction. She has screamed, texted and emailed us that she doesn’t care if we pay within the time frame anyways as she plans to move her son into the premises after the time period. I tried to tell her if rents paid she would still need 3 months notice for us to leave before her son moves in. She thinks that cause of the late rent even if paid is a substantial enough reason for the 14 days. She also informed us she will NOT be returning our security deposit even if we leave in those 14 days as she needs it for the rest of the months rent. If we pay this week the rent in full are we allowed to stay here still while we look for another place? Or are we screwed for being late? A little extra info also is that she refused to do a walk through before we moved in and she just let us “deduct” $100 on our move in day as the place was filthy still. She lives in another province and has always seemed a bit off but we need to know what our rights AND our obligations are. Not sure if you can shed some insight.
Please help!
Morning AJ,
It’s mostly landlords that ask for help 8′]
You’re actually correct though, if she has given you a notice for non-payment of rent all you need to do is pay it before the eviction date and it is null and void! If it’s a one off it’s not a huge deal although it may be a issue for some landlords if they run extremely tight and that’s what this sounds like.
At this point I’d be sure to document all of this, she’s supposed to hold the security deposit separately and if she’s already spent it, then she has zero intent on returning it so she has already broken the rules. When you do move out, I can see her making up something to retain it, so prepare now and be prepared to have to go to a hearing to get it back.
If her son is moving in she has to give you written notice about this, screaming and texting wouldn’t necessarily count, and since it’s now the 2nd, she has to give you three full months which would be November, December and January so the earliest would be February 1st to be out, if she gets you written notice before November 2nd.
I’d make sure to pay the remaining outstanding as quickly as possible and then wait. If you are paying cash, get a receipt, have a witness and make sure you have a paper trail. I wouldn’t trust this landlord at this point so I could see her saying she was never paid in order to get your money.
Ideally you should have notified her earlier in the month, but I’m sure it would have been the same result with this person, you should be fine with one late issue, but if it becomes a continual issue she will have other methods to evict you as being continually late is different than once or twice.
Bottom line though, she will need a court order to evict you. So if she isn’t happy after you pay her and after the 14 days, you don’t have to vacate, she would have to file at the RTDRS or the courts, you would have a hearing likely within three to four weeks and at that point the hearing officer would most likely decide in your favour from what you have told me and let you stay.
Additionally, if you are on a month to month basis she may have to use her son moving in as a reason to evict you as she needs a valid reason for an eviction. She can’t just break the lease. If you are on a fixed term though, she is not obligated to renew when it comes due, so you may have to vacate at that time.
And just to cover off the lack of a walk through. If there was no walk through done and the place was filthy to begin with, she won’t be able to hold back any of your security deposit as there is no proof of any damage versus the current condition. The challenge being you may easily win this, but collecting on it is always the challenge although it’s usually harder for landlords. If you get a judgment for the payment, it goes on her credit history and can affect her credit for ten years. This could mean higher payments for things, the inability to refinance and more.
So if she does end up trying to keep any deposit, I’d be sure to go file to recover it, just to make her life tough 8′] Bad landlords like this make a bad name for the good landlords and I love to see them heavily penalized whenever possible so they go away!!
Hope that helps,
Bill
Thanks Bill. That is a ton of great info for us. We have been here 16 months and only one other time in that time frame were we “late” by exactly 6 hours. Lol. Anyways. Thanks again. And we will be carefully documenting it all now too. Great advice is always appreciated!
You’re welcome AJ!!
Hopefully your situation works out for you, although I’d suggest being very wary about this landlord and when opportunity arises you find a new place to call home!
Bill
Hello, We have tenants who now feel as though they are paying too much for their rent – they signed a one-year lease in April. We have looked into comparable rental properties in the area and feel like they are paying a fair price and we don’t want to lower the rent. I’m wondering if the tenants choose to not pay their rent (forcing us to give them an eviction notice), will they be responsible for the rent on the remaining lease (or the time it takes for us to rent to someone else?) I am thinking this is the route they may go in order to get out of their lease which in the end will hurt us. Just trying to weigh the pros and cons of lowering their rent or risk having them not pay. Thanks in advance.
Hi Jean,
The rules state they would be responsible for the vacancy time and any lost rent, So if you had to rent it for $200 less per month, they would be responsible for that for the term and a potential vacant month or two as you try to refill it.
Having said that, trying to collect, having disgruntled tenants and the whole experience may make it worth doing a minor price reduction to maintain the status quo.
If you do have to evict them, and you get a judgment against them it will show up on their credit rating for ten years which can cause all sorts of long term issues for them, so it’s a factor for them not rocking the boat with you.
If they do go and you never collect, they may save themselves $200, $300 or possibly more per month for the next 9 months making it a win for them, especially if they are really tight financially which many folks are.
So where is that happy place where both of you can win? Moving is expensive and a huge hassle, so if they are telling you they can find places $200 cheaper, maybe meeting them in the middle at $100 for the remainder of the lease and an opportunity to review it when it comes due again works out well for them?
Just some thoughts,
Bill
Really informative article you have here. Just another question, we’ve served the current tenants with a 14 day eviction notice and now they are trying to fight it. What would our next step be in this case? This is our first time dealing with evicting tenants.
Thanks Jasmine,
After serving a 14 day notice your next step is to wait…
You’re not allowed to file for an RTDRS hearing until after the eviction period set out in your notice, although with the long delays currently as you get closer you are allowed to file a little early if it looks like they aren’t leaving.
Due to this delay it’s almost like giving them an extra 14 days, so in the case where you really want to get someone out due to some serious breaches of the lease, I recommend skipping the notice and filing right away.
In your case, if the tenant wishes to fight it you’re going to end up in the RTDRS eventually anyway, so ask them to provide a formal objection to the eviction which nullifies the notice and allows you to immediately go file!
If this is your first time going through the RTDRS, I’d recommend you pick up my eviction guide to help you through it. The main RTDRS site has gotten significantly better at explaining some of the processes, but my guide breaks out all the steps in simple easy to understand non-government english and provides several processes I’ve learned over the years to ensure your eviction is successful.
Every time I’m down at the RTDRS office filing I see confused landlords who are missing essential paperwork and important additional info that my guide helps with as well. When you’re dealing with potentially losing your hearing, getting stuck with your tenant for several more months or longer, my $39 guide seems rather massively underpriced.
You can find out more about it here, An Eviction Guide for Landlords. Oh and it also includes three actual evictions I went through and the process form start to finish as case studies for you to get a better understanding of how it works.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Would like to help out a Ft McMurray evacuee, what do I need to do to protect myself when I would like to let them live rent free for aout 3 weeks, do they have some time to find something suitable. we will give them a basic furnished condo but would like them to pay for utilities. Do I pro-rate utilites or have an agreed upon amount that they would pay, I am assuming that this would all be in writing and I would request the utilities before hand? Its a long drawn out story but we have been burned by renters but would like to help this person out.
Hi Deb,
Definitely ensure everything is in writing and signed up, also ensure you are doing a thorough screening to ensure they really are who the say they are. There appears to be a stream of less needy folks out there taking advantage of the situation to get free rent, food and money.
Your best bet would be to set it up as a fixed term rental as well, say for a month term with the first three weeks rent free and a single weeks rent due on the fourth week? With a fixed term if things go sideways it’s very easy to evict them versus going month to month and getting stuck with them even if it’s not working.
Utilities might be tough, but again any decisions regarding that need to also be in writing. I would suggest just getting a flat fee for the utilities and as you mentioned getting it up front.
Final concern is damage deposit. Ideally you would require a damage deposit as well, but I can understand why that may be a challenge, so at the very least make sure you do a very thorough walk through just to try and cover your bases.
hope that gives you some ideas,
Bill
I’m all for due diligence, but what you are suggesting is absurd. Close to ninety thousand people were displaced due to fire. How are you quantifying need? Unless your home and community burned, and you were in OUR shoes you should keep your ignorance to yourself! To suggest that people from Fort McMurray were exploiting their collective situation is misguided and disgusting.
Sara, did you even read what I wrote or the person with the question?
If you would have taken the time rather than using my site to vent you might have replied with a more rationale response.
I’m not quantifying anything, I’m pointing out that landlords still need to protect themselves as there are people taking advantage of the system. there always is and there always will be so much like you have to go through a process to get emergency money from Red cross, you should go through a process before a landlord just swings open their doors.
No where did I say every single person was exploiting the situation, but there are multiple documented instances of people who have. Those people make it harder on everyone, so why not go chase those people down rather than trying to blame me for recommending people be cautious.
The Fort McMurray fire is a horrible situation and many people lost everything, but that doesn’t mean I or any other landlord shouldn’t be making some checks to verify people are who they say they are and to help where available.
While you’re trying to tell me my comment is misguided and disgusting I end up shaking my head at your naivety and wondering what brought you to a a site about evictions int he first place? At it’s root, this site is about helping people deal with bad people and that involves caution, understanding the rules and knowing what steps to do things right.
You don’t know me, you don’t know how many landlords and tenants I help for free, how often I’ve allowed people to live for free in my properties when they have no money and how many organizations or groups I’ve donated too, volunteered with or helped.
Get off your high horse, try re-reading my response and the original question and lose your attitude. I’m here to help people not squash them and if you’d done more homework to read through the site perhaps you’d have realized that.
Bill
P.S. my apologies to the readers if this comes out as a rant, but I get tired of people with insufficient knowledge who try to insinuate I’m against helping people and when I’m told I’m ignorant, my blood boils.
“There appears to be a stream of less needy folks out there taking advantage of the situation to get free rent, food and money.” That ignorant statement you made is why I felt compelled to reply in the first place. A stream of people? You make exploitation sound so prevalent; and you attached it to a situation to which I am unfortunately connected. I’m not sorry that a nerve was touched when I called you out for your “high horse” rhetoric or smarmy misguided response to a crisis. Glad you donate and volunteer; I’m sure all the readers will email you some hero cookies for your tremendous contributions… Bravo.
P.S. I found your site because I was affected by the fire, moved into a townhouse on a one year lease with a slum lord (housing shortage in midst of the crisis). She lives next door and extorts us for money using the 30 day threat that she may move back to her “home” that we rented end of July… Unless we “buy” stuff from her at ridiculously inflated prices. Unit was supposed to be empty, but she pulled a bait and switch. Our garage and only parking spot is filled with garbage furniture and it impedes with our ability to park in the attached single car garage. Moving wouldn’t be such a pain, but at nine months pregnant it is very, very unappealing. Dealing with insurance on one front, and a landlord who is essentially extorting money from us is horrible.
Used to own a home, ashes to ashes…
So you may believe I overreacted, didn’t read, or simply didn’t understand what you were staying in your original response. I read it, re read it and understood what was being communicated. Advice was solid, where you misstepped was characterizing those of us displaced by Fort McMurray fires as a stream of less needy folk taking advantage of the situation. That’s when you crossed a line, your ignorance is showing. I didn’t know Fort Mcmurray was particularly full of scammers and those looking to exploit others… I wonder what your stance is on refugees, or Muslims or any other group that can be singled out easily. Or maybe it really is just Fort Mcmurray that holds the monopoly on dishonest opportunists?
Thia is what I have got from property manager
“I have received complaints about your unit. The police have visited this unit 3 times over domestic disputes, Your tenants climb up on the deck of #xxx and then onto their deck, which scares #xxx to death. They throw stuff off the balcony constantly. With regards to these tenants, the Board is hoping that you will take the initiative to evict them immediately. The Board has the right to have these tenants evicted as well. Please make sure you do something about this behavior immediately.”
What can I do? Can I evict the tenant base on the board request? What are my tenant’s rights?
Hi Rez,
Obviously your tenants have gotten out of control and it’s in your best interest to take action. I wouldn’t be so worried about your tenants rights right now as they have very little if the condo board starts taking action which could also include punitive action against you.
Your lease should have clauses regarding what is acceptable or at least reference the RTA which has guidelines as well. You can start with a 14 day eviction notice if you believe they will leave quickly or peacefully or you can simply take them directly to the RTDRs for a slightly more expedient eviction with fewer repercussions.
I go through this entire process in my guide which is available to purchase on this site through this link, An Eviction Guide For Landlords in Alberta Using the RTDRS.
If you leave it up to the board, they will likely evict them through the courts with a lawyer and then pass all the significant costs onto you and an eviction by the condo board is very cut and dry as condo rules overrule the RTA rules so it just translates to more expenses for you.
Bill
Hi Bill,
I seem to have a “professional tenant”, to keep a long story short, once the 1 year lease is up, can I dramatically drive up the price in rent? Option A; Tennant leaves or option B; Tennant pays increased rate and makes it slightly more worth my while to put up with her antics. Thoughts?
Thanks
Albert
Hi Albert,
Your idea will work as there is no limit to what a landlord can raise there rent in Alberta, as long as it’s only once every 365 days and 90 days notice has been given, but….
If it’s a fixed term lease, you also don’t have to renew. Just make sure you don’t have any fine print saying it automatically defaults to month to month after the year in your lease. Then make sure you give them at least 30 days (although legally you don’t have to as per the rules) or even more as written notice and if they decide not to leave it is a VERY easy eviction for overholding.
The reason for the additional notice time is so it shows you gave them plenty of warning. Some landlords don’t give notice until the last minute and it may backfire as the hearing officer could potentially allow them another month, two or even three depending on the situation and the market.
Hope that helps,
Bill
My question is can I evict a person once I find out the basement suite is far from a illegal suite to comply with the city bi laws? And not rent again till it is a legal suite?
Hi Tamara,
Tough situation, you could try evicting them due to the suit being illegal, but they could fight it and possibly get to stay on until the local municipality issues you an order shutting it down.
The other challenge is depending on the issues it may never be able to be turned into a legal suite. This usually revolves around zoning issues though, so if it’s something simpler like windows size or hardwiring smoke alarms in place perhaps it may be something you can do around the tenants.
Bill
Bill; I now realize I am dealing with a bit of a con artist and am certain she has played all the games in the past. I am embarrassed at the fact that I was pray upon because I bought her story of young person requiring a temp 2 month lease with two dogs while she got ready for a North American travel. She was in a rush, begged me, literally begged me to move in that night without doing the right paperwork. She has then refused to sign the lease, refused access to the utility space in the home, refused the dates set out for walk through. I let her move in early on a weekend while I was away.. I am truly embarrassed because I am a total document freak and fell for the story. SOOO a couple questions the space for lease is in my home with shared laundry but does not share a kitchen or bathroom, does it still fall under the RTA? Without a signed lease that was written up to the verbal I felt was spoken to can I terminate her stay at the end of that lease and not her new made up extended date? Or can it be considered month to month because she hasn’t signed a lease? Can she state the damage deposit is void and to be used for rent because she refused to the walk through. I realize all my mistakes but now I need to move forward…my lesson has been learned however I have a very toxic person living in my basement space that causes me drama every time I am in my back yard. please help. and thank you for all your work.
Hi Tamara,
It seems like you are extremely aware of all the mistakes you’ve made so far, but just to recap for others reading this.
No one should ever get in without completing all the paperwork including checking references, credit checks and lease paperwork (including walk through paperwork).
At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if she will be working the system to mess you up, so you need ot ensure you document everything from the start and going forward as it may help if you end up in court.
From what you’re explaining ti does sound like a Residential Tenancy setup, especially with her own secured area and because you’re not sharing your upper area with her.
A verbal lease is still binding, although it falls into a he said she said situation and without anything in writing it will potentially just be considered a month to month. As for the damage deposit, it can’t be used for rent or termed void; the challenge being without a walk through you can’t prove she damaged anything and she can say any damages were already there…
At this point you may be stuck with her unless she breaches any of the verbal terms which usually is simply rent payments as it’s hard to prove anything else was agreed upon. At least with your payments from her you have proof of rent amount and deposit. It’s also unlikely she will be gone in a couple months so it may now be a long term rental with a toxic person which is a huge example of why we always must screen tenants and why we must always complete paperwork.
Bill
Hi Bill,
I have a condo in Edmonton and my tenant gave me an NSF cheque for January’s rent. He has paid each month since then but still owes for January ($2500). He signed a fixed term lease that is up July 31st. In April he emailed to assure me the unpaid rent was on the way and to ask if he could stay another “2 to 3 months” past the lease end date. I replied that we could switch to a month to month lease after the term was up. The rent is still outstanding and he’s avoiding my attempts to contact him.
Is he now a ‘periodic’ tenant because of my email or am I within my rights to retract my willingness to switch to month-to-month after the term is over and give him 60 days notice to be out by the original end date of July 31st?
If he’s considered periodic now, should I use the non payment to start an eviction right away? Or is it easier to give 90 days notice with an allowable reason? I will move back in the condo if need be.
Hi Suze,
Perhaps? If you ever make agreements to extend a lease or in your case switch to month to month (which I recommend you never do), make sure it is in writing and you include any particulars, like “all outstanding amounts need to be caught up or this is null and void” type things.
You may be able to retract the offer, but again, put it all in writing explaining why and that you don’t wish to extend due to all the reasons you’ve mentioned, lack of payment, lack of communication etc.
bottom line at this point you want him out, if this doesn’t get you anywhere and you’re ready to take the expensive plunge of moving to make it work, consider hiring one of the professional eviction service companies, it will cost you, but still be less expensive than moving.
Bill
Hi Bill,
I have a question regarding to evicted tenants. My parents evicted the previous tenants for $2K of unpaid rent. The tenants were evicted and left without paying $2k of rent and ruined the house to the point where everything needed to be cleaned professionally and renovated. We have no way of contacting them as shortly after they left they disconnected their number and never gave us their new locations. So we resigned that we’ll never see the $2K nor will/can they pay for damaging the house to the extend that they did.
Anyway starting a few months ago one of the evicted tenant started coming by the property (on a weekly basis) to collect mail. We been forwarding all their mails back to the sender because we want absolutely nothing to do with them. He knows that but he still comes by to check mail and flip us off if we try talking to him.
We just want nothing to do with them and just move on. But it’s difficult to move on whenever we have to see them on a weekly basis. Any suggestions or do we just have to suck it up?
Hi Karen,
If you evicted them through the RTDRs or the courts they would now be trespassing if they are coming back on the property. Contact the police, let them know about the issue and usually they will be most helpful, especially if the guy is too cheap to get his mail forwarded.
Additionally if you wanted to file for any additional damages against him, knowing he keeps coming back would give you the opportunity as well.
Bill
Hi Bill,
We have rented out our house to a single mom with 2 small boys with no lease. Trying to give someone a break, we gave her a low rent payment (a fair bit less than the mortgage payment) and we let her pay in 2 instalments each month. Yesterday we found out there was a raid at our house and they found $7100 in various drugs and $5900 cash. I’m assuming she is going to jail for a long time. My question is, do I have to serve her with an eviction notice? And what do I do with her contents that are in the house and yard. Thank you in advance for any insight into this.
Hey Khris,
Ouch, so no lease, do you at least have an application form they filled out? Any good rental application should have space for emergency contacts and you may need that. If you have none of this you’ve succeeded in making your work even harder, not impossible just much harder.
You can evict her via the RTDRS, but you need to serve her the hearing and eviction application information, there are methods to serve if she’s not around, but since you have a reasonable idea of where she is, she could claim later you didn’t take adequate steps to inform her. Even if you give her an eviction notice ot make it legal you have to take her to the courts or the RTDRS, so at this point you might as well skip the notice and go straight to the RTDRS.
Realistically with all the cash and drugs it’s not a guarantee she will be gone for very long, she may be out on bail within a few days, so you have to prepare to track her down either way.
Once you’ve got the eviction date from the courts, (you may want to pick up my eviction guide so you don’t mess any steps up as at this point you can’t afford to let this drag out for a few months) you’ve got some more costs and headaches.
You’ll need to hire a bailiff to enforce the eviction, you’ll need to itemize whatever is left in the house and depending on the value either have to store it for 30 plus days or can get rid of it. This is where having relatives contact numbers would be handy, so they can remove and store it either way.
That’s a rough over view of the process for you.Hope it gives you some ideas to move forward.
Bill
P.S. You can find my eviction guide here An Eviction Guide For Landlords and if you plan on continuing to rent, you’ll want to pick up some lease packages as well.
Hi Bill,
Thanks for the info. I have no other info for contacts except for her own cell number and she is not responding to any of my messages. I believe she will be gone for a while. The drugs they found in my home where crack, meth and Valium. I know having crack and meth for the purpose of trafficking can give her a life sentence. At least that’s what I’ve read. I don’t know what to do about her contents though, and I want to be fair but in reality she has screwed us over! My son left a 24 hour notice of entering the premises yesterday, so he will be entering the premises today after 5. I don’t know how to go about this and I’m not in the same province as my rental unit. My son will be acting as our representative. Do I just leave a 14 day eviction of notice to evacuate? I have other renters that are interested in the place but I need to deal with this first and yes I will get some lease packages this time for sure.
Thank you
Hi Bill,
First of all, great website and it pointed us in the right direction. Basically, we encountered a professional tenant, a true scammer. I am not sure if I can disclose his name here but I would in order to warn other landlords in Calgary as luckily we met another landlord who was scammed right before us by this same person. We managed to catch his scheme pretty quick and got rid off him 3 weeks after he moved in. My question is: since he has not paid a penny and the court order stipulates what he is owing us, is there any way we can enforce it considering all his cheques were written on the accounts that were closed long ago? What has been your experiences in similar matters? Or is it just another expensive lesson?
Thank you.
Hi Alex,
Since you took him to court and received a judgment you are better off than simply giving him an eviction notice and hoping he leases. However, having a judgment and collecting are two different battles.
If you know where he works and he has a good job, you can garnishee his wages through the courts to get paid. If he has a lousy job or you don’t know where he works it gets more challenging. With a lousy job they often just quit once the money is taken off and find another. With the slower economy this may not be an option.
You can hire collection agencies, but my experience is most of them simply resort to calling and harassing the tenant, but the tenant simply avoids these calls and eventually they go away.
Finally with the judgment, this will show up on the tenants credit history for ten years and if not paid by then, it can be renewed for another ten yeas. This can affect his ability to rent int he future, get a vehicle or apply for a mortgage, so if he intends to turn his life around later there is a possibility you may get your money.
Or if he is a deadbeat through and through you could simply be out of luck and this is indeed an expensive landlord lesson.
Bill
Hi Bill,
Thanks for the reply. In fact he does not work anywhere,
we know where his daughter goes to school and works but she is 17.
not sure if he put garnshishment on her.
Saw him drove dealership lonaer vehicle and I am guessing
he scammed the dealership as well. I know that in some countries
garnishment can be put to the extent that this person will not
be able to renew his driving license, is there such a thing in Cananda?
Any collection agencies you can recomment or have worked with?
Thank you very much.
Sorry Alex,
I don’t have any recommendations for collections. My experience is that they haven’t worked too well with people who really know the system. To my knowledge I don’t believe as an individual you can attach anything to their drivers licenses, it just sits on their credit bureau.
Bill
Bill
Hi Bill,
Thank you very much for your walk through package and the following suggestions by e-mails. I’d like to provide more details of my case and appreciate further advices.
I have rented my townhouse to the tenants for a year and half. The one year lease has been over. The tenants are a special family of Mom, daughter and two kids (grand daughters). The daughter told us she finished college and will work with good pay when they just moved in. It’d been good until the Mom lost her job in November, 2015, turned out the daughter is still in college until now. They didn’t pay full rent in November. They paid nothing in January and asked us to use the damage deposit. Also stated that they will leave at the end of January. They ask us to give an eviction notice to help them to get a shelter.
Then the Mom asked us to deduct the rent because she cannot get a place, they have nowhere to go. We deduct the rent and signed a new month to month lease from Feb 1st, 2016. They said they’re going to pay, first week paid a little bit before the eviction notice due, second week another portion, not even half of the rent has been paid until today Feb 17, 2016. I don’t think they can pay us only depending on funding as a student. The daughter said she will pay what date, but it was not happened. When we reminder her, she was very rude to us, sounds like we’re not right to ask the rent and so cold blooded to throw them on the street. Besides, they also own us $$$ of by law infraction fees.
On Feb. 11, the Mom send us an e-mail, said that her daughter has been diagnosed with scoliosis and possibly will be 100% paralyzed.
As our own situation are also not good because of the bad economy, we’re planning to sell the property. Should we go to RTDRS to evacuate them before listing the property? Are there any issues to get the eviction process deferred or refused because they’re single Moms with young kids and the daughter’s diseases? What can we do if they still won’t leave after the property sold?
Also my husband is processing an offer from US. Is there any issues affecting his visa application if we’re involved in this kind of legal disputes?
Thank you.
Hi Feng Xia,
This is an unfortunate situation and you’re going to have to move forward with an eviction, unless you want to continue to pay all the costs. They’re obviously caught in a very tight situation and you’re doing what you can to help, but you also have to look after yourself.
You’ve also made a few mistakes along the way. These include using the security deposit for rent and renewing with a month to month lease. At this point you will need to evict them for the outstanding rent before you list it. If you try and list it with them there, it’s very likely they will sabotage or block showings causing the property to sit longer. Remember they are likely desperate at this point and anything they can do to stay moves from an option to a necessity.
Because of the young children there is a very real possibility they will get additional time, which is why it’s important ot get started ASAP. This type of action should have zero affect on your husbands visa application.
Bill
Hi, so I rented my house on a fixed term lease. I now realize it was a VERY bad idea. When we met up to sign the lease, we specifically said no pets on the premises, and no smoking. I have done my research and he has broken three of the Residential Tenancies Act so far.
First off, he has yet to pay rent. He says that his cheque isn’t being processed, even though it has been two week so far, yet he keeps promising that he will get it done by “the next Friday.” Also, he has a trailer out back. My grandma (another tenant) feels unsafe, since she has been seeing people going in and out of the trailer. Also, since she is quite old, she can’t get around the trailer very well. So he’s interfering with the safety and convenience of other tenants. Also, the house is a MESS. I understand that he has a child, and both him and his wife works. But, it has been two months….and I find it hard to believe you can’t just throw out the garbage, fold the laundry, and at least vacuum. He also smokes, which we were very strict on since it would harm my grandma’s health. Also, he has been bringing friends over who owns dogs and sometimes those dogs go into the house. We have told him these concerns. He replied with:”You can’t just come into someone’s house like that and start saying things like that. Both me and Sara are busy people and we just can’t find the time to clean up.” He also rebutted with:”Yeah, I sometimes have friends with pets who come over, and they just come and go even when I’m not in the house.”
Not to mention how he’s refusing to move the trailer. When we brought that up with him, he said that it was part of his property that he was renting and he had rights. We also have some tools and wood in the garage which he brought up, saying that since we didn’t move it, he had the rights to it since it is on his property.
Hi Helen,
Welcome to the biggest mistake new landlords make. Not getting security deposits and rent up front and in cash before the tenants even move in. So just some clarification, renting property isn’t a bad idea, but renting property before you understand the rules and how it works can be.
My biggest fear is you’ve let a professional tenant in, have made a myriad of mistakes along the line and now it’s going to cost you dearly. So you need to take action immediately.
Make sure you document everything that happened so far, dates, times conversations in person and on phone and all the breaches along with any evidence you may have confirming or verifying these breaches. Once you have all that you have two choices.
You can either purchase my guide for $39 that walks you through the eviction process with the RTDRS (available at this link, An Eviction Guide For Alberta Landlords) or hire a professional eviction company to deal with this for you (here’s some resources for you in Edmonton and Calgary, Eviction Service Companies in Alberta).
Using a professional eviction service company will cost you between $800 and $1,500 depending on how difficult it may be and it could be even more if they really are professional tenants that make a habit of taking advantage of untrained rookie landlords.But it’s worth it as they would eat you alive if you do it on your own and drag out the process for months costing you even more.
Priority at this point will be to get them out, take this loss as a huge learning lesson and then make some decisions to either get educated on some correct processes to help you screen any new tenants better (I have a free course on screening tenants that I reocmmend every landlord take, it’s free, why wouldn’t you? you can sign up for it here, How To Screen Tenants), learn the correct steps to put tenants in place or make a tough decision to just go ahead and sell your property.
Hope some of this helps you Helen,
Bill
Hi, We have a main floor house tenants, with a seperate lower basement suite. The upper tenant has been complaining of odors coming from the basement. We have recently done an inspection (giving her 24 hours notice to enter the suite). When we arrived all windows were open, yet we still encountered odors and the suite was very cluttered and dirty. We feel the odors are a result of poor cleanliness and advised her of the same. She stated that she felt it was fine and now wants a list of what requires cleaning and to what standard. the lease states she must keep it reasonable clean. She said she is, I say she not. How and what can I do. Note: she always pays rent on time.
Hi Jody and Dave,
You’re caught in that situation where there is no black and white. One person’s clean may not even be close to another’s and your challenge when it comes to this is proving to the hearing officer that it’s not clean which doesn’t give you a favourable chance at winning.
You might be able to drag the upper tenant in with the argument that the odour is offensive and causing duress for them, but again, no guarantee.
At this point your main goal seems to get the tenant out, even though they pay on time, so you have a couple options. Hopefully you’re using a fixed term lease and not month to month as that is what I recommend all landlords use in Alberta (yet so many don’t and end up with even more problems).
with a fixed term lease neither a landlord nor a tenant are obligated to renew, so as you near the end of the term give the tenant ample notice you won’t be renewing (30-90 days, longer if you want them out sooner and give them the option to break the lease early with no penalties).
If you are month to month your option is to increase the rent to an amount that will make you comfortable with the clutter and smell. There is no cap on rent increases in Alberta although it can only be done once every 365 days from the last increase.
With more spaces coming available, a significant rent increase might persuade the tenant to move on to a more affordable place or you can afford more air fresheners to donate and mask the odours.
Bill
hi
my dad lives with me and my girlfriend and he has given written notice to leave but he came across some bad luck his car broke down and he wishes to stay but wants to use his rent to fix the car he has been very aggressive verbally of late so him leaving was a relief now what?
Hi Zach,
Not sure what you’re looking for here. Do you have a specific question about what to do? Car repair advice? How to deal with the aggressiveness?
I’m not sure of your situation either, do you own the house, rent the house and sublet to your dad? sublet a suite, or a room? So many questions, so little info.
Bill
Hello!
First let me start off by saying:
I moved in with my boyfriend over a year ago. The landlord of the upper half of the property (we rent the basement suite) has decided she personally clashes with me and has given me a 14 day eviction notice… she claims I don’t pay rent (which I do, my boyfriend and I split the bills, and that I am not on the lease.) She is currently renting out the whole house and subletting to my boyfriend the basement suite. There hasn’t been a problem with me living here for the past year and a half so I am not sure why there is now. She wrote me a very unprofessional letter stating I do not pay rent (again, she is very misinformed.) When we requested the property owners phone number she became defensive and barged into our suite to verbally harass us. The privacy in the suite is another ongoing issue. With her being family, she feels she can interfere with our living space whenever she wants.. I know this isn’t legal. She is constantly changing the rent up and down, depending on what kind of day she is having. Anyways, my question is, do I have to follow this bogus eviction notice? And how do I protect us from her entering the suite without notice until we can move into our own place. Much appreciated,
Jay
Hi Jay,
Not even sure where to begin. Throwing in the family issue simply makes it worse.
Important points, she can only increase rent once every 365 days, so rent can’t keep going up and down.
If this is a self contained suite, you fall under the Residential Tenancy Act so she has to give you 24 hours notice to enter your space or she is in breach of the act and you can report her.
If your boyfriend is the only one on the lease, normally she can have you removed, but after a year and a half, I would assume there is some sort of verbal agreement in place that would over rule that by now. This may need to be decided in an eviction hearing.
I’d ignore the eviction notice or write an objection letter. the objection letter accelerates the process where her next legal step is to file for an eviction in the RTDRs or the courts. Ignoring it may delay things, but at this point she can’t evict you without a court order.
Finally, she may not be allowed to rent out the quite, which is why she is not providing the property owners name. You can do a title search of the address which should provide you with the actual owners info.
Bill
My tenants signed a lease agreement that included a specific statement in regards to lawn maintenance and storing of junk and garbage outside the property. I have just discovered that the lawn is completly dead and the whole property is over run with weeds. Not to mention damages to the siding of the house caused by a dog on a chain and a whole from something. Do I have right to demand they fix it at their own expense? or do I wait till their lease agreement is up in October and keep their damage deposit?
Thanks
Hi Lisa,
It sounds like they are in breach of the lease and you have the right to terminate it and/or evict them as necessary.
If this is how they are treating the property on the outside, what’s going on inside? They don’t sound like they should be renting a property with a yard if they can’t maintain it and it affects the value of your property so it affects you directly.
Now if you start moving forward to evict them and they promise to fix the issues, then as long as they proceed I would consider voiding the eviction, but otherwise you have the leverage to help them find more suitable accommodation.
Bill
Hello Sir,
May be you will be able to help me out. I am a landlord and signed a 2 years lease with my tenant. We verbally agreed that no one shall smoke in the house but I did not put that on the agreement. Now I discovered after 2 months that one tenant (wife) smokes and the other day I was at the house, I could smell smoke. We also agreed that they shall not have pets and we put that in the lease. But I saw two dogs in the house. I am very uncomfortable with the situation. Do I have enough grounds to serve them 3 month eviction notice?
Now my second question. I was thinking of moving back to my house again. Can I break my lease to do that and give them three months notice to move out?
Thanks and anxiously waiting for reply.
Hi Sid,
I’d start by documenting everything to them and breaking down the issues. Let them know that they are in breach of the lease for a couple reasons. Both the smoking and the pets.
And that both of these have to be corrected by X date. You can chose whether it’s a week for the pet or a shorter period. The smoking stops immediately.
It’s not enough to evict immediately, or at least there is no guarantee it would be effective as the hearing may result in them being told the tenancy can continue if they stop the breaches, so just start there.
At this point I’d move forward with this and then put the moving into the property until you find out where this goes. Sorry I can’t recall the notice period for moving in, I believe it may be three full months, but doing that now may cloud the issue and it may just result in them smoking even more and the pet problem continuing.
Bill
My daughter has been evicted from her apartment which she had a year lease on, she was only there for 3 months and in the process of getting things set up bank wise and money wise she was late for two of those months. They did receive a damage deposit as well. Anyhow they emailed her an eviction notice and she has since moved, she did the clean up and walk thru with them, all was fine. Now they are saying she has to pay for the remainder of her lease! Can they do this? She did not have a substantial breach in the lease as she was only there for 3 months. This would be in Calgary. Thank you
Hi Lorrie,
Although she didn’t have a great track record due to the late payments, she doesn’t have to pay for the rest of the year. The eviction has essentially voided the lease although that wouldn’t be the sole reason for not having to pay for the rest of the term.
It’s the landlords responsibility to reduce their losses which means they need to fill the property ASAP. They would be able to potentially charge for advertising costs or part of a month depending on the date your daughter vacated. But that’s about it.
If they get forceful, suggest they take your daughter to court, but the courts will side with the tenant in this situation 99 out of a hundred times unless there are extenuating circumstances. If they withhold the security deposit for lost rent your daughter may also have the option of taking them to the RTDRS to get the deposit back. Tons of variables on how this would go, as each situation is different.
Bill
Thank you and they have withheld the security deposit, which I will be confronting them with. Thank you so much for your time.Lorrie
Did they do a walk through inspection that your daughter signed? If they didn’t do that they can’t really withhold any of the deposit and it’s an easy win for your daughter at the RTDRS.
Bill
i had a tenant who did not pay rent. The resolution board let them stay till end of lease. When they left they destroyed the place. Called the resolution board and they said file to claim damages and serve them with papers. Where am i going to find these people. Having been through this I think we should borrow parts of our justice system from Sharia law. How am i going to find these people to serve them papers to appear in court for damages. Our justice system sucks and this is why we have so high crime.
Hi Moe,
Your original application you had them complete should have a bunch of references and contact numbers. I’d suggest you start by calling those people inquiring to see if they have any possible leads.
For the resolution board, did you not follow the strategies I provide in my guide? I’m curious because you say the resolution board let them stay until the end of the lease?
The system works pretty well when you’re properly prepared for it, but the real secret of landlord success is that initial screening which is why I offer my free screening course so you can avoid 99% of the tenants out there like this.
This seems like it was a pretty expensive lesson, but hopefully you can move forward from this. As for Sharia law, I think you’ll find the negatives of that far outweigh the benefits of the systems we currently have in place in Alberta. You should see the process in Ontario!
Bill
Bill
I wasn’t sure how else to message you so I am replying to this post and hope you get it. Can a tenant object to a 365 day notice because we need the apartment for a family member who is moving back to Edmonton to attend university? Thanks – hope to hear from you.
Hi Judy,
As part of the process a tenant can object to any eviction. That doesn’t mean that they will win however, especially if you’re following all the rules.
If they’ve objected it allows you to move forward with the next step, which in Edmonton would be the RTDRS. You can file for an eviction based on reasons you’ve indicated as long as you’ve given proper written notice with the appropriate time line. this will give you a court ordered eviction date and this will allow you to move forward.
There may be some minor roadblocks if they haven’t vacated by the court ordered eviction date, but those can be dealt with fairly quickly.
Bill
Hi Bill thanks for all your work and information. My question is in regards to a rental home that has an illegal suite in it. The basement is the illegal suit . The tenant on the main floor has been constantly late with is rent. I am wondering if the illegal suite will cause me problems when and if I go the RTDRS or court route?
Hi Dan,
The illegal suite won’t cause you any issues with the eviction, the issue may show up after the fact when the tenant lodges a complaint in retaliation. Once a complaint is registered then you could face a situation where the city shuts the unit down.
I wouldn’t bring it up at any point with the tenant(s) as they may not even be aware it’s illegal and could save you headaches later fi they do hold a grudge.
Hope that helped,
Bill
Hi Bill,
I had a tenant in 2012, she did not give me 30day notice to move out as per our rental contract. According to contract landlord will not return the security deposit if tenant will not provide 30 day notice, so we did not return the deposit as she did not even inform us and move out within 4 days, she also did not pay any carpet cleaning and additional utility cost. she was also doing an illegal salon business on our property. Now after 2 and half years, she is claim to return her security deposit through her layer and she is going to take a legal action if we won’t return the damage. What we can do?
Hi Aslam,
There are a bunch of unmentioned parts to this, such as was there any walk throughs completed, did you send her a statement and breakdown of the deductions and more, so there’s no definitive answer here.
Reality says that she is probably bluffing though. If you followed all the rules, documented everything and kept all your records as you’re supposed to let her go ahead with her lawyer. It will costs her quite a bit out of pocket to have a lawyer prepare a court application and to attend the hearing and if the deposit itself was less than say $1,500 she may actually lose money by the time it’s said and done.
Unlike the US, she won’t get reimbursed court costs here so that is all out of her pocket and if she left damages and these were note on the walk throughs and the carpet cleaning wasn’t completed as per the lease she won’t get that portion back.
So, at this point inform her she can go ahead with her lawyer and in the meantime you can just make sure your documents and notes are in order.
Bill
Tenant is behind the rent payment for two month and served 14+2 days notice. Nothing happened and called cops and at the time tenant said he will leave in a 2 days. As soon as cops left he started to text me that he won’t leave because what I and cops did was unjust. Now what’s my options. I need him to go.
Hi Yogen,
The police can’t help, this is a civil matter. I address this in the third section of this post where I talk about using the RTDRS to evict the tenant.
You need to go through this process now and you need to start it immediately! There are several articles on the site that explain the basics of this, hundreds of comments that provide more steps and several guides I sell on the site that can also help you walk through this. The important thing is the longer you wait, the longer the tenant can stay there.
Bill
This is kind of my worst nightmare. So what would be the ramifications if the landlord just changed the locks and put their stuff in storage for them?
What kind of trouble could you get in?
Hi Derek,
Without a court order the landlord can’t change the locks. If they’ve only given you an eviction notice you can choose to object to it, or you can ignore it and once the eviction date has passed the landlord can then proceed to a hearing which you should attend.
If they don’t proceed to a hearing and just change your locks you can call the police, they may or may not help as this is a civil matter but often they will calm the situation down, you can bring in a locksmith to unlock the door and change the lock and then charge the landlord for the costs, or you can file with the RTDRS for an illegal eviction and any costs associated with it.
Bill
Thank-you for the response.
After reading the condo Act, I wanted clarification regarding the Condominium Act prevailing over the Residential Tenancy Act regarding evicting a tenant. The majority of tenants renting in condo complexes are not aware of adhering to both the bylaws of the condominium and city bylaws.
Ironically mj, neither landlords nor tenants seem to understand or even take the time to learn many of the rules that may affect them as they own or rent property. This can lead to some pretty eye opening scenarios at times and is also why so many people end up on this site!
Bill
I have 1 fellow in particular that does pay his rent on time all the time but all Winter he has left the doors open leaving us with a few outrageous power bills. Yes utilities are included in this rental. After numerous warnings and letters he wants to dispute my final the eviction given to him recently. Let me also inform you that the unit is in a disgrace and smells horrible due to his uncleanliness. To me I would think I have clear grounds to evict. I was looking through your site to help me with this situation but I mostly read about non payment. Read through the RTA and didn’t find much there either. Am I within my rights to give him the eviction for these reasons?
Linda
Hi Linda,
Typically most leases have clauses about proper maintenance and cleanliness, so that may be your avenue for an eviction. Plus there are certain expected levels of cleanliness that while not necessarily written in the lease, are assumed.
As for the utilities, providing you gave him plenty of warnings about closing doors etc that would also add to the ability to evict. you’ll want to include all of this when it comes to filing for an eviction rather than just hoping for one to work.
Bill
If the condo board has voted to evict a tenant and the tenant refuses to give up possession, what is the next step?
Hi mj,
Your property manager should have the answer to this. The Condo Act actually takes precedence over the Residential Tenancy Act and gives the condo board pretty far reaching powers. Due to this the normal eviction timelines and processes don’t apply if the board does the eviction.
Unfortunately I don’t know the actual process so you will have to defer to the property manager’s knowledge and if they have any experience as a condo property manager and are properly licenses etc, they should have access or at least experience with this issue.
Bill
my boyfriend has his ex living in his house and she won’t leave . He tells her to go and she just gets madeer and madder everyday . It’s coming to the point that he is paying mortgage and bills for a home he never stays at anymore . He doesn’t want to deal with the crazy so he just stays away but makes it apparent and has told her many times to leave . Any advice would be great .
Hi D.,
This may end up being a family law matter and due to that he may have to get his lawyer involved. Often the law overlaps and one scenario takes precedent over another when it comes to spouses and evictions there are far too many variants for me to answer and since I don’t deal with it very often it’s likely I won’t even have the correct answer.
It can depend on when they separated, any pre-nups signed before hand, who’s on title and much much more, so it may end up being even more costly than just the issue of not getting paid, but the sooner he starts it the better!
Bill
Hi Bill,
My parents, the landlords, been having troubles with their tenant for years – especially when it comes to paying rent. Part of the reason why they haven’t kicked out their tenants are because they are scared the tenants will ruin the rental property…
Well, now the house is in a horrible condition and they haven’t paid for rent for the past two months. We served a 14 day notice and so far we haven’t heard from the tenants. What are the next step do my parents need to take in order to force them out of premise? Would we be able to contact law enforcement?
Hi Karen,
It’s part of a vicious cycle, you don’t want to evict the tenants because you fear for your property, then suddenly you find them several months behind, thousands of dollars worth of repair work in front of you and possibly months of lost rental income due to all the work required.
I explain the process in the free info you get when you register on the site, but basically your next step if they don’t vacate or respond is to evict them via a hearing through the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service. There are several posts on the site here walking people through the basics and I offer a Guide for sale that walks landlords through the process step by step along with vital tips to ensure they get a successful eviction.
Law enforcement cannot help you at this point as it is a civil matter and needs to be decided via a hearing.
Regards,
Bill
Hi i have a lnadlord that wants to take the property over but refuses to guve us any notice. She has made threats and she has used scare tactics to attempt to get us to move. I have asked her repeatedly to make an application to the rentalsmen but again no luck. We only moved into the property a month and a half ago. I was told there is a kease break fee for me to break the lease but if she breaks it then she has to pay out the duration of the lease is this true?
Hi Michelle,
She definitely has to give you proper notice for this and there are specific timelines for how much notice she has to provide. I believe the notice period for this is 90 full days, but I cannot seem to locate the documentation verifying this. You may have to contact the government Landlord and Tenant support line to verify this
Either way the notice must be in writing and typically for notices like this (90 day periods), it must include three full months. So if she gave it to you today, it would be for April 1st, but if she gave it to you January second, it would be for May 1st.
Oh and no she does not have to pay you out for the duration of the lease.
Bill
Hey Bill,
Solid information. Thanks!
We have a tenant who hasn’t missed a payment (though we have been accommodating over some banking issues ) or done anything we can call the police over but we want her out as she is clearly big trouble.
Since she moved in with her kids, father of one of her children, boyfriend and dog it has been one complaint after another. She is demanding new windows, a new roof and other changes that are not remotely necessary. The house is a mess with clothing everywhere. She does not clean. The garage is full of junk. They smoke so much marijuana the place smells like a Snoop Dog concert. Speaking of dogs, the “boxer” she said she had is a massive pit bull. She has turned one of the upstairs bedrooms into a bird sanctuary, so imagine that mess. The beautiful area rug we allowed her to use for the living room on the hardwood floor is in the laundry room downstairs covered with dirty clothes. She does not mow the lawn. The police have been there for an assault on someone. The neighbours are outraged and figure she’s selling drugs because of all of the traffic. To top it off… she is rude to us and is threatening to take us to RTDRS over a window she wants in a basement “bedroom” that was never intended to be a bedroom.
We plan to evict her and her mob when their one year lease expires in February because this situation cab only go from bad to worse. Of course we would like her out now but are unsure if that’s possible.
Bill, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Kind Regards,
CD
Hey Chris,
It’s tough after the fact to discover the people you thought you were getting aren’t quite the same people you originally met and placed in the property. This is becoming more and more common as the extremely tight rental markets are causing the poorer quality tenants to have to work harder and perhaps be a bit more deceptive about themselves in able to get into a property.
That is also why it’s more important than ever to have a diligent screening process to protect yourself, if they never get in, it can save you so many headaches.
At this point though, it’s going to come down to what your lease states if you want to get them out sooner than the end of the lease, although you may want to confirm your lease doesn’t default to month to month at the end of the fixed term. Many leases I see have a clause allowing it to simply default to month to month which can cause you problems.
So, I’m hoping your lease has a clause within it regarding yard maintenance? There should also likely be a clause about illegal activities int he property, although this would be a tough route to go down as the police have such severe restrictions on what information they can provide due to privacy rules and if you can’t prove she is dealing, then it’s just hearsay and not really applicable.
You should also have something regarding general upkeep on the property and that may be your other best bet along with lawn maintenance. From the sounds of it, she would be breaching both of these clauses with the internal mess and the lack of mowing and most likely weeding. It would have been helpful to have a no smoking clause as well, but I’m assuming that isn’t applicable or you would have brought that up.
At issue for you would be proving the breaches, so you’ll need a very thorough collection of evidence. I can almost guarantee they will be vindictive through this process, so you’ll want to document everything and move forward knowing that you need to get paid rent during any eviction process and that they won’t be allowed to use the security deposit for any of the rent, you will need it to get the lawn cleaned up (I imagine she hasn’t been pooper scooping), there could be some air quality issues depending on the size and scope of the aviary she has created and the lack of cleanliness could be a real clean up nightmare later.
Big picture, you can’t wait, you need to start compiling everything you can to get her out as soon as possible or there could be potentially more problems. Depending on who is actually on the lease you may even have grounds to evict potential boyfriends as illegal tenants, but much of it comes down to your lease again and any verbal arrangements you may have made. You’re obviously aware one of the dads lives there so it could be argued you verbally agreed.
You do have some potential pitfalls, but you also most likely have good grounds for an eviction.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hey Bill
i have went though the RTDRS proceedure but once you have a judgement, I can’t find them to put a garnishee on the amount of money he owes me, this is where the landlord gets screwed.
Alberta needs a list of bad renters because these guys just move on and do the same thing!
R
Hi Randal,
It’s not a perfect system, but it does work. There are some screening companies that provide lists of bad renters, but the onus is on the landlords to report this and the lists are only within the single companies database. due to privacy laws it gets tricky to maintain a public database unless it was based off of court records and that too can get tricky and expensive.
the onus comes back to the landlord to make sure they do a very thorough job of screening their tenants. This includes checking all references, getting work contact information and previous landlords. I’ve put together a free course on this process which you can find here, .
Bill
Hi Bill,
I just purchased the forms, but I think I need some advice too. I have a tenant who is habitually late with the rent. The first year the family rented, there were so many problems with bounced cheques, late rent etc. The second year of his tenancy we signed an updated rental agreement where I agreed to pick up the rent every on the 1st and 15 th but we also agreed to late fees every day that the rent was late (a built in deterrent or so I had hoped). It was a family and so I tried to be as accommodating as possible, but maybe this was not the right thing to do as a landlord. The rental agreement has continued for the past 2.5 years because nothing else had changed (rent amounts, etc). I continued to go twice per month.
Now, the family unit has split up and just the father is there (he is the only tenant named on the lease). As of May 4 the father told me that he could not pay rent and as soon as he could come up with the money he would let me know and pay late fees.. Subsequent attempts to reach him from May 4- 15 by our usual methods (texting, calls) failed. I find out that he was in an accident and in hospital, discharged on May 16. He is not at the rental, apparently recuperating with relatives. I assume that he is not going to be working and further unable to pay the rent due to his injuries. I can not serve him with any eviction notices (I don’t know where he is). I have called the relatives number, I have texted the tenant. No reply thus far.
For evidence, I do have some receipts that show late payment fees and the dates that rent was collected. Also the condo association did need me to address his use of 2 parking stalls when he only has one as per the lease. Is this sufficient evidence of substantial breach(es)? How do I notify him of the need to vacate the condo?
If he actually pays the rent this month, could I simply not renew the rental agreement (anniversary date of Sept 1) as another way to get him out of the condo? Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Hi M,
I emailed you directly to see if I could help right away as you had purchased the forms and I was out of the city for the long weekend, but didn’t hear back from you. So here’s your answer anyway.
If you give him the eviction notice (you will likely have to post it on his door and confirm he received it) and he doesn’t vacate, you will then have to take him to court to evict him. If you don’t know where he is, this can cause problems as you are supposed to serve him in person.
After multiple attempts there is a provision to post on the door of the property, but then you have to prove he received it. I know of an eviction that was over turned and a judgment thrown out when the landlord evicted a tenant and couldn’t prove the tenant knew of the court date.
Your priority will be to find him and most likely do a court/RTDRS eviction to get him out. The forms may work, but if he’s not around, you still end up having to fall back to a hearing.
Late payment is grounds for an eviction and a history of late payments is an even better reason, as long as you have documentation to show this and can back it up.
As for not renewing, if it’s a fixed term lease (which it should be) then that will be your back up option if he doesn’t leave and you want to avoid a hearing.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hi Bill,
My tenant and I are on good terms – his rent is on time, the suite is in good shape and I happily provide immediate help and advice when he asks. I recently learned that he does not wish to renew the lease, which is fine. It’s a fixed term lease expiring April 30th. He will be out-of-town from mid-April to May 1st and his new place is not available until May 1st. I am concerned because he has expressed that he intends take a few extra days to complete his move-out and he asked if I can just get the new tenant to move in sometime between May 3rd to 7th.
I acknowledged that his travel plans make it tricky to arrange a move-out by the end of April, but it isn’t impossible. He could easily be out in time with advance planning, by moving his belongings to a storage unit before he leaves town, or asking his new roommate to hold a few things, etc. Yes, I have considered that I could ask the new renter to move in later, but this is counterintuitive to my goal of finding and securing a great tenant. Why inconvenience a new tenant in order to accommodate the old?
Frankly, my feeling is that once the lease is up, he is on his own and my obligation is to the new tenant. I can’t afford to lose the revenue because the suite was not rented for the full month or be potentially liable to a new renter who might be out for living arrangements and storage because the suite was not move-in ready when promised.
Tomorrow, I will present my tenant with a non-renewal of lease notice letter. It gives him plenty of time to get sorted and me a documented paper-trail, so I can maintain control of my asset. Hopefully, it will also let him know I mean business about avoiding over-holding.
Do you recommend that I take any further action besides sending the letter? If the tenant does go into over-holding, can I deduct his security deposit for loss of revenue, filing costs and for liability to the new tenant? Also, would it be heavy-handed to file for eviction directly with the RTDRS on May 1st?
Thank you kindly for your consideration. I think you’re doing a great job with this website and it appears to benefit both landlords and tenants in a clear informative manner.
Hi Louise,
Thanks for the feedback, I do try to help!
I’m of a similar opinion to what you are thinking. By staying past the 1st, he is impeding your ability to rent the property out for the 1st. Most tenants would prefer early access versus late access and by allowing him to stay two days, three days or even longer past the 1st, won’t help you.
It might actually hinder you. There is a great chance you could rent it on the 1st, you might end up renting it on the 15th though which costs you half a month’s rent.
His lease expires on the 1st and he needs to vacate. Now considering he has been a good tenant, you’d like to fair, but it has t work both ways. Maybe he just doesn’t see your side.
I’d definitely follow up with the letter and also include an explanation of why you require it for the 1st. Explain that people will be looking for the first, so he needs to make arrangements to get into his new place sooner via movers, friends or by using storage.
You could offer him an alternative as well where he is responsible for the full month’s rent and if it is vacant, clean and you are allowed to go show it, you will do your best to fill it ASAP and if it does happen to be the 4th of May, you will pro-rate his four days and refund the remainder. This covers you in case you can’t fill it right away and leaves you covered so you are paid every day with no down time.
However the thought of having to potentially pay a whole month may also deter your tenant. So he would have to see it as win win also.
Hope that helps,
Bill
P.S. Yes you can deduct from his security deposit for over holding, but you’ll need to balance any repairs, overholding etc to ensure you are covered by the deposit. If it looks like it will exceed the deposit, you will want to make sure you have his forwarding address in case you do have to apply to the RTDRS or the courts for additional payments down the line.
Is a tenant still obligated by the rental lease when given an eviction for non-payment of rent breach (with void clause if 2 weeks delinquent amount is paid), until the landlord’s due diligence re-rents the premises?
Hi J.D.,
Not sure if I entirely understand the question. Are you asking if you’re responsible for the remainder of the lease payments if you’re evicted?
If that’s the question, the short answer is no, although you may forfeit your security deposit to cover any outstanding rent and/or cleanup costs and/or advertising costs that the owner incurs.
Bill