Frequently Asked Eviction Questions
We get many of the same eviction questions here on the website, so here are some of the most common questions and the answers. I hope it’s helpful and if there are questions you still need answers too that weren’t answered here, just leave a comment below and I will answer it for you there.
What can a tenant be evicted for in Alberta?
Under Alberta’s Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), the most common reason tenants can be evicted for is breaching their residential tenancy agreement. All leases have to conform to the rules set out under the RTA, but common reasons for eviction are non-payment of rent, damage to the property (by the tenant or the tenants guests), threatening other tenants or the landlord and disturbing other tenants enjoyment of the property.
Additional clauses in leases may prohibit smoking, pets and various other activities and if these clauses are breached it would also be grounds for an eviction. As a landlord or tenant, you need to understand your lease and the responsibilities of each party involved.
If there is no written lease, the common reasons above still apply, but additional reasons such as pets or smoking may be invalid as they aren’t specifically covered under the RTA.
If the eviction is in regards to a sale or upcoming sale of a property I’ve prepared a much more in depth answer in this post, Selling A Property With Tenants.
What is the length of time for an eviction notice in Alberta?
There are two types of eviction notices in Alberta. A 14 day eviction notice for standard breaches of the lease and a 24 hour eviction notice which occurs when the threat of violence towards other tenants or the landlord is involved and/or significant damage to the property has been done by the tenant.
Note that the day the eviction notice is served and the date the tenant is required to be out do not count as part of the 14 days giving the tenant actually 16 days to vacate. Statutory holidays during this 14 day period may also add an extra day to the eviction period as well.
For more information about eviction notices and where and when to use them check out these articles:
When Not To Use a 14 Day Eviction Notice
Know When You Can Use a 24 Hour Eviction Notice
What if a tenant doesn’t leave at the end of an eviction period or of a fixed term lease?
If tenants haven’t vacated at the end of an eviction period or fixed term lease, the landlord has to apply to the courts or the RTDRS to have the tenant removed. During the hearing the hearing officer or judge will hear the reason for eviction and determine if it is valid.
In the case of an overholding tenant who hasn’t vacated at the end of the term the hearing officer or judge will also determine whether the tenant is actually overholding as per the lease and and set a court ordered date for the tenant to vacate if it’s valid.
Here’s an article about tenants that won’t leave:
Overholding Tenants
What if a tenant doesn’t leave by the court ordered eviction date?
If the tenant hasn’t vacated the premises by the time ordered by the courts, the landlord can hire a bailiff to enforce the court order. The bailiff will visit the property, inform the tenants they have to vacate and give them anywhere from 30 minutes to an additional day to get out of the property, depending on circumstances.
Any re-entrance back into the property by the tenants after that point is deemed trespassing and the tenant can be charged.
Additional Answers For Eviction Questions
Every situation is unique and every situation can have different solutions. If the answer to your eviction questions aren’t listed here, check out the comments below for more eviction questions and be sure to check out my getting started page for links to articles and guides covering specific eviction topics or areas.
Hi there. I am a tenant myself and sublease the basement suite of my residence (with home owner approval). The basement tenant brought in a temporary guest, with my awareness, who was also aware they had no legal rights to the suite. Over time we all also agreed this arrangement was satisfactory until the suite’s tenancy term concluded (Oct 1st). It was again clearly communicated (and documented) that suite’s tenant would remain legally liable and responsible for this contractual term. Their guest became increasingly erratic and uncooperative over time, until also not paying the rent or utilities they had agreed to. After several personal and peaceable attempts to discuss this with the guest, and to propose payment installments etc, I informed the suite tenant I was covering the associated costs on behalf their guest. They then agreed that I could provide the guest with a 14 day notice to vacate, unless payment arrangements were made with one of us, which the guest continues to evade addressing. The suite tenant then decided to ask their guest to leave within a week (instead of two) and to take their belongings with them as well clean up after themselves. A week passed without this guest addressing either of our concerns so as warned would occur, the suite tenant changed the locks. They now have to hire services to pack, move, and clean the suite before their lease term ends in two weeks. As they are now accruing all costs associated with this guests bad behaviour, including a seeming hording habit, they intent to sue. My questions are: What are my sublease tenant’s guests’ legal protections? What are the (sublease) tenant’s legal obligations to their guest, in terms of removal and possible storage of their belongings?
Hi Ricia,
At this point the guests rights are pretty minor. I don’t know of a specific dollar amount to worry about. Under the RTA if goods are in excess of $2,000 they have to be stored for a month and can then be sold at auction, if they are less than $2,000 in value (note this isn’t replacement value, but current value) they can be thrown out. This doesn’t actually fit under the RTA as it’s a room sublettal it sounds like so might fit under the Innkeeper’s Act which has even different rules. The majority of times the threats to sue are just that threats, but I would advise the sublet tenant to video record all the goods along with a ton of pictures to show what is exactly there. If they are concerned about being sued, they could rent a storage unit for a month document all interactions with the guest as to how they can pay the sublet tenant for the storage space and obtain their goods.
B
Hi Bill,
I am a landlord, and I have had a renter for since April 2014, and it was my fault for accepting him without a security deposit, but I trusted what he had said, “that he would pay the security deposit within the next week” and I wanted to get a renter in there for the start of the month. He was on a 6 month lease, and then it continued on a month-to-month basis. He soon lost his job, and has had other ongoing problems with a “commonlaw marriage” dispute forcing him to pay “maintenance fees” to his spouse and child, and losing his drivers license, and going from unstable job to job, with no real consistency of payments. I should have kicked him out much sooner but I had already let it build to a few thousand owing in arrears and I didn’t want to just lose that, and I kept telling myself all it’ll take is one good month of him working and making 3-5k in a month (He has had his Class 1 Driver’s License), and we would be back to even, but that “one good month” never came, and it’s been ongoing problem after problem. Now I’ve let it escalate to a total of $11500 in total charges and he’s paid me a total of $4075 (with his latest payments being $1000 on Sept 3rd, 2014, $400 on Nov 7th, 2014, and $1000 on Feb 2nd, 2015), so his total net owing amount is around $7400. My IDEAL situation, is that I can PEACEFULLY kick him out with 14-30 days notice (without having him destroy the place), and have him agree to a monthly payment plan of around $300/month as a minimum until everything is paid back. (I realize this will take like 2 years to pay back, but I am okay with that, I don’t have a huge NEED for all that money right now, I just don’t want to “lose all of it”) I would even be willing to waive late fees on the amount owing (even though there are late fees in the agreement), and also not charge any extra interest or anything. All I would want is for that $7400 owing to be paid back to me slowly in $300/month minimum payments for as long as it takes to pay back (even if it’s two years). A month ago, I had suggested this idea, and he kind of just pushed it aside, but I think it influenced him to come up with another $1000 like he did at the end of the month, put now another month has passed, and when I asked for more rent again, he just brought up more problems again and it’s unlikely he will be able to pay me anything. I really need help, I don’t know what the best thing I should do in this situation is, I am a new landlord as of last year and I have never dealt with anything like this before. I explained my ideal situation that I would want to happen, is there an easy way to enforce something like this to go through? I’m just scared that if I slam an eviction notice in his face, and ask him to sign a payment agreement, he won’t agree to the payment agreement and I will find the place trashed or he will refuse to leave. Thanks for reading my message, please help me,
Jordan
Hi Jordan,
Unfortunately for you it is not very realistic that you will ever see the money. If you even want a remote chance to get any of it, you’ll want to file for an eviction at the RTDRS or the courts ASAP.
Once you’ve served him with a hearing date you’ll at least have an opportunity to get a judgment against him and while this far from guarantees getting paid it does hinder his credit going further and if things turn around he will need to pay you off to get a mortgage or potentially to even lease or buy a vehicle.
If you are able to follow where he works you may even be able to garnishee his wages. If you simply give him an eviction notice or ask him to leave the process of trying to get any money is arduous at best and pointless at the worst.
This is why it’s so important to make sure that if you don’t find the right person it’s better to leave your unit vacant. That $1,500 or whatever mortgage payment at the beginning you might need to fund yourself is pretty minuscule when you’re now looking at over $11,000 that you are at risk of writing off.
As always if you’ve never done this or want to know the right steps for the RTDRS I do have a guide you can purchase and download immediately to help you walk through all the steps involved and the entire process. You can find it here, Alberta Landlords Guide To Evicting Tenants Using the RTDRS.
Good luck,
Bill
Hello,
I wanted to inquire and seek some possible information about landlords renting out bedroom rooms in their residential homes.
I don’t really know who else to ask ..I didn’t actually realize that it was even legally possible for a home owner to become a landlord renting out their bedrooms.
-Does any person have the legal right to rent out individual bedrooms in their residential family home..and turn it into a rental property?
-There are legal landlord acts like you have on this site of yours that actually support this now? -Would it not be considered an illegal dwelling ..being that each room does not have a proper legal entrance and exit in case of fires..etc..? I honestly thought that it would not be consider legal to make profit off of renting a residential house to more then one unrelated individual person. To a family I could see but not to individuals like it’s living back home like a family when they’re strangers
-Is it at all possible to shut down a landlord from renting their residential house to individuals? Or do they have a legal right regardless of the type dwelling to rent to more then one individual? The police wouldn’t be able to get involved because of the act?
How would you go about shutting them down if at all possible? And even if you did, they could just start renting again?
Thank you for your time. I am hoping that some of my questions may be answered.
Dezera
Hi Dezera,
Any homeowner has the right to rent out rooms in their property although depending on the location (city, town, district) there may be restrictions or additional laws regarding the number of rooms, the number of people allowed and specifics about the structure and design (window size, entrances,etc).
Tenants have similar rights but these may be restricted by clauses about subletting in any lease and they too are required to follow the same local rules.
Most municipalities require any room designated to be a bedroom to have a window and for it to be of a certain size allowing exit if necessary during a fire.
It may be possible to shut them down, but it depends on the setup and the rules locally. If they are breaking the rules then yes they may get shut down or they may have to amend their practices to follow the rules. This would be a civil matter and not a criminal matter so the police wouldn’t be involved.
If it’s being run illegally you could talk to the local authorities, but the question comes up why you want it shut down? Is it causing you problems, are the tenants causing problems or do you just not want it on your street? If it’s illegal then it may be prudent to shut it down, but this may end up pushing people into the streets as a rooming property may be the only affordable option.
It also may be the landlords only option to cover their costs. trying to shut it down may cause the landlord to let the property run into foreclosure causing more grief to the neighbourhood. If you’re having issues with the property, approaching the landlord may be the best route to see if you can resolve problems. If they are aware, they may be able to resolve the issues you have and work with you rather than against you.
Personally I’ve had several rooming properties reported to me by neighbours due to tenant issues and I’ve been able to resolve them and work with the neighbours. I’ve also had a neighbour report me to the city because they were upset some branches from a tree were over their side of the fence. For these people, since I fit under the rules, now I simply ignore them and don’t even bother with them. So it can be important to choose your path wisely.
Bill
Hello Bill, I wish there was a search option on your site, to make it easy to find answers that you know you read somewhere…. 🙂
I had submitted a question a few days ago, but cannot seem to find it now.. ( I shall write down the article I am submitting it to this time…)
A shared townhouse situation ( I as the landlord do not live there.. ). Tenants did not know each other before move in, but with a few meetings they seemed fine with each other. (A guy and a girl ). Within weeks of move in, the guy is being very arrogant, demanding and causing the female tenant to feel very uncomfortable. A shorter term lease is in effect from Feb 1 to June 30. We have had a discussion with the three of us, and I have laid down some House Rules ( in hindsight ), but I have concerns that he will still make life difficult both for me, and the other tenant.
Do I have any legal option to ask him to leave before the lease is up? Am I best to advise him right now that I will not be renewing the lease with him?
Any thoughts appreciated.
Hi Lori,
The original question was under First Time Evicting A Tenant, since you used a different email address it may have been harder to see.
Basically at this point the aggressive tenant could be considered in violation of the lease as they are interfering with the right to a reasonable living environment. If they are actually threatening the tenant it gets accelerated to a situation where a 24 hour eviction notice could be issued.
House rules need to be set up from the start as they create the environment, then the job is for you to make sure they get enforced. If you let things devolve they accelerate quickly (unfortunately this is one of those life lessons for me as well, you try to be nice…).
Any conversations you have about this be sure to give him written back up of it as well which will help serve as evidence if you need to move forward with an eviction. And moving forward make sure he knows the next misstep he makes will result in an eviction, you need to be extremely firm now.
If he makes life difficult for her again, you simply need to make sure you have enough evidence to prove this and then a simple eviction for disturbing the peace and enjoyment of the other tenant should work.
You may not want to let him know about not renewing quite yet, unless you want to inform him that if this isn’t going to work out you won’t penalize him for leaving early so he has the option to vacate sooner.
Bill
Hi. My name is Chris, and I rented out a room in my house to a female who verbally agreed to following terms: No over night guests, no drinking or house parties, clean up after yourself, provide own food and personal items like laundry detergent, toilet paper etc. When this individual moved in I requested damage deposit to cover any damages done to property, items or stolen items. She paid first month rent on time but the second, third and fourth months rent was 11 days late.
On a few occasions she has had men over while I am at work drinking in house a partying. On one occasion I arrived home to find a stranger in my bathroom showering. I told her that this was not acceptable. I also told her no more drinking allowed in house.
She had been sneaking booze into my house drinking and getting drunk and passing out in her room leaving tv and lights on all night.
On December 31 I was going out and let her know I would be gone for a few hours then coming home. She stated she would baby sit my dog while I was out and charge me $20.00 an hour. I told her my dog was fine and would be ok in my house as I do this when I go to work and the dog is trained to go onto a pad provided if need to do its business.
After I left house she texted me saying she took dog into bedroom and was dog sitting and was going to charge me $20.00an hour. I replied back stating no and I did not agree to this and to please let my dog out as I did not want her looking after my dog because I knew she had been drinking. She refused. I texted back and said I was on my way home to discuss this matter.
When I got home she let dog out of her room and stated she documented how long she looked after dog and insisted she would be paid and then she claimed to have dog sit without me knowing while I was at work and was going to charge me $20.00 an hour for it. She was drunk when stating this and I told her I never agreed to this or would I be paying her for this service while she never got my permission to do. She caused a big scene and stated to me that no one disrespects her in her house. I made it clear to her that this was my house and i owned the property, and she was not my girlfriend or partner, and I gave her a verbal eviction notice to be out by end of January31, 2015 due to causing a disturbance, drinking in the house, late rent, and having men in my house without my permission.
She had texted me on my cell phone a few days before the date was up for her eviction day asking if I let her stay for another month. I would not reply to her text as I was in the house while she was home and waited for her to come ask me personally 2 days before she was suppose to be out and I told her no I had given her a months notice to be out. She had not tried to look for a place and I told her there were lots of room rentals on kijiji and to find a new place as I was not putting up with all of the trouble she was causing in house.
On Feb 1, 2015. she took my brand new vacuum cleaner without my permission and vacuumed up the room she rented sucking up paper, elastic bands, and plastic wrapping which sucked into the filter and burned out the motor in brand new vacuum cleaner which was only 2 days old.
She never reported this to me or emptied out canister of dirt. She has put over 20 empty bottles of vodka in garbage bag on my patio for garbage. Booze was not allowed in my house and had told her this.
She moved out while I was at work, and kept key and was suppose to return that day at a set time agreed by both for walk through. I went to use my vacuum cleaner only to find she had done this damage. I have pictures on what she sucked up into vacuum cleaner to cause damage to unit.
She never showed up on set time and after 1 hour she texted me asking if I were home.
I replied to her text asking what she did to my vacuum cleaner. She basically called my $499.99 unit a piece of shit and said it never cleaned up the area she vacuumed. I told her I doubt I will get my money back for a person causing this and now I am holding damage deposit. Do I have 11 days to hold the damage deposit to decide if I have reasonable grounds to keep it to cover cost of the vacuum she burned out motor in? Do I have grounds to keep damage deposit for breach of verbal agreement on house rules and section to damage property. She also had been stealing laundry detergent, food and beverages and I had to post a note on this matter to tell her to stop and buy own personal items.
She has texted me saying she has papers filled out going to take me to court. And she has come back to my house knocking on door and had been drinking. I do not want to talk to her drinking as I do not want to be accused of anything wrong or have to deal with her aggressive behaviour when drinking. Do I have any legal rights to keep damage deposit to cover damages, re-advertising room and to recover cost of stolen food items and breaking house rules? Thanks for your help.
Hi Chris,
My first question would be why are you doing all of this verbal? You should have these rules in your lease and any eviction or notices to the tenant should also include a written version in case it really goes downhill (like this!). I do have lease packages for landlords who rent out rooms in their property available on the top menu of this page (Roommate/Innkeeper Forms) and if you want to avoid future headaches like this you may want to consider them.
As you live in the property you fall under the Innkeeper’s Act and the rules are a bit different, but often fall back towards the Residential Tenancy Act when there is nothing to compare. your issue here would be proving she broke the vacuum, you know she did it, but can you prove it? If you can then you should be able to deduct the cost from the deposit. It’s almost impossible to prove she stole food or detergent, so you’ll need to give that up.
If she broke the lease under the RTA you are allowed to charge for advertising costs incurred due to a broken lease, but the Innkeeper’s Act has no ruling on this and would leave you responsible for this, especially if the lease was longer than six months which clouds everything under the IA.
At this point I doubt she has filed anything at the courts, usually the people who threaten this re the least likely too, but at the same time you need to be prepared. If you can’t prove she broke the vacuum, I’d give it up and count this all as a huge fairly costly learning curve for you. You may want to retain a portion of her deposit for cleanup, repair of other damages that you can verify from the original walk through inspection (you did do a walk through inspection didn’t you? This is also included in my forms package) and then refund the rest (make sure to provide a statement of any deductions in case it does end up in a hearing, this statement can be part of your evidence).
Hope that helps,
Bill
Good morning,
We are renting out the basement suite in our home. We live upstairs. The tenants have several people living with them who are not on the lease. Recently, another person started living with them. We had a conversation with them 1 week ago today reminding them of their lease and telling them that the person couldn’t stay for more then a week from our conversation. Instead of moving they started using the back hate so that we don’t see them and being quieter so we don’t hear them. I don’t want to evict them right now but I want to give them a written warning. Would this be the appropriate next step? Do you have a link to a letter formate I can use? If this continues, do I have grounds to evict them? If I email them the letter, is that enough proof that I gave them the letter?
Thank you,
Felicia
Hi Felicia,
I guess my first question would be why wouldn’t you want to evict them? You can’t exactly trust them and they are obviously lying to you and deceiving you. This doesn’t sound like the behaviour of people I would want to associate with or have as tenants, do you?
You can provide the tenants who are essentially squatting there a 14 day notice to vacate that basically lays out they cannot stay. From there if that doesn’t take effect follow up with a formal eviction of the tenants for a breach of the term sof hte lease which should state the people occupying the property.
You could email them, but I’d suggest you deliver it in person, follow up with an email and/or texts so you have a nice paper trail showing what you did and that they received and were aware of it.
Bill
will do….so far no luck though
Thank you – will have to delve further into this I guess
Hi Terrie,
When you do find out the answer if you could add to this post it would definitely help others!
Thanks,
Bill
I am having trouble (as a landlord) finding any info about the rules in Alberta about a tenant that gets pregnant while living in an adult only building? the lease only states that “no other occupant(s) will occupy the premises without the written consent of the Landlord and the Tenant. Any & all future occupants MUST be approved by the Landlord”, it does not specifically say no kids. Can they be asked to leave? can they be evicted if they refuse? Also, can you state no children in a lease? Thanks for any help you can offer
Hi Terrie,
Wow, I’m not sure what the answers are for this. I’d suggest you contact the building management to discuss the rules regarding this as they should have this all worked out.
If the building is a condo complex, the rules of the condominium can over rule the Residential Tenancy Act and your lease, so that would also be of concern. The Condominium Act gives it fairly far reaching powers so that may be the area you have to base any decision on.
Regards,
Bill
Thank you for a prompt response, but, I guess I was not very clear…I am the building manager LOL and have a tenant in my adult only building (she knew this moving in) inform me she is pregnant and due in 5 months…I have suggested she find other accommodations, but if she does not go, I was wondering if I could evict her based on that statement in the lease?
Hi Terrie,
That definitely adds a different wrinkle to it. Unfortunately I still don’t have the answer, you may want to try contacting a nearby adult building and see if the management will talk to you about their process as a professional courtesy?
You are getting into some potential discrimination issues, but I’m really not sure where the lines are. If people move into an adult building, the expectations are they should be moving out when suddenly a child is involved, but as we’ve seen, if people can sue for burning themselves on hot coffee, who knows what could happen here.
Bill
Hi Bill,
I have a problem tenant issue that we briefly discussed here. She is supposed to be out of my house tomorrow, Sunday, at 12noon.
I arranged for a locksmith to come Monday morning. Can I go forward with changing the locks and not give her a key as a further push to leave or should I hold off on the key change?
D
Hi Deanna,
Unfortunately you can’t change the locks unless she is out or until you have a court order and a bailiff to enforce the court order. That was why in the email I sent you I emphasized getting to the RTDRS as soon as possible if she is not gone. While it sounds like it will be fairly easy to get her evicted, she may get a free ride until it is court ordered. You will get a judgment which can affect her credit for many many years, but that doesn’t cover the mortgage payment right now!
Bill
Hi Bill,
I am a tenant that is very confused. My landlord lives upstairs. Myself and other students live downstairs. We (the students) have a bathroom, kitchen and common room separate from our landlord. He uses his bathroom, kitchen and common room upstairs. We have a 2 entrances that are in the house. The front door that we have no keys for and only our landlord can use. And a side door which is our entrance. However, our side entrance has a locked door to his upstairs living area and we have no door to our common room/ suite downstairs. He always uses our entrance to gain access to the house (he has all the keys of course). We have no other way of keeping him out. Since he claims that we rent by the room downstairs, he is allowed to come downstairs when ever he wants and is not bound by RTA. BUT, we do not share a common living space with him and he locks us out of his area. Therefore, we are in separate spaces essentially. My question is are we still protected by RTA? Because we don’t technically fall under the law of shared living space with a landlord. Just because the landlord doesn’t consider himself under RTA, doesn’t mean he isn’t, right? He is an older man that seems more interested in messing with our lives while we trying to study. He constantly threatens eviction all the time. We are very good tenants(pay rent on time, quiet, etc.) and just want to be left alone.
Adam
Hi Adam,
From your description, this would fit under the Residential Tenancy Act, but there is some leeway for him. If you’re each renting rooms individually, the common space would be common space for the landlord as well as he needs to sign people into and out of the individual rooms and can’t be locked out of them.
There are certain expectations that come with that though as tenants have privacy rights. This would mean he shouldn’t be coming around during unreasonable hours and he shouldn’t be threatening evictions. I’d just be sure to document every interaction and keep records. If he does try to evict you, to legally do it he would need a court or RTDRS ordered eviction which requires a hearing where your documentation would be invaluable.
Bill
Hi,
What if my tennant has no money, no family, nowehere to go and is mentally unstable? She got the eviction notice from us and is willing to leave but can’t go anywhere. Not sure what my orptions are as what to do with her furniture and belongings. She doesn’t have access to the house at this point as she turned in the key yesterday.
Thank you
Hi Melanie,
As cruel as this sounds, why is this your problem? Your problem is if she isn’t paying you and the place is full of her stuff you have no income coming in to cover your mortgage payments and now you’re on the hook for everything.
This is why there are social programs in place as they are designed to try and help individuals in situations like this. The problem being, they are so abused by people taking advantage of the situation people who really need assistance like this person, have to wait weeks and/or months to get anywhere.
Now having said all this, I was in a similar circumstance many years ago, except the tenant wouldn’t leave. He was a former homeless person who was transitioning through a government program to get off the streets after a hospital stay.
I ended up working with his seventy year old sister who was trying to find him an assisted living home to move to. This ultimately took an extra three or four months to get past all the paperwork, departments and organizations involved and cost me thousands of dollars in unpaid rent, damages and other lost tenants who refused to live around him.
As for her left over items, you can store them for 30 days if they exceed $2,000 in value and then auction them off with anything in excess of what she owes you going back to her. If you believe she will land on her feet somewhere else in a few months, you may consider holding onto her goods, but it would likely be at your expense.
You’ll also want to make sure you document and inventory all the possessions with video photos and lists where applicable.
Bill
Bill,
It would be interesting to see more articles relating to the collection side of a judgement, the process, and your experience with these matters.
I was awarded monetary judgement recently, but my (evicted) tenants have a history of not following through with their financial obligations. I am not sure if I should give them a chance to pay back slowly, or if I should proceed straight to collection strategies as to not give them time to evade (because who knows what their mailing address will be in the next few months). I have a formal eviction and monetary judgement which was formally filed in court and officially served. Should I proceed straight to filling out the Writ of Enforcement and get a Garnishee Summons?
Hi Zee,
Collecting once tenants have left is really just a big disappointment. If you have a judgment, you are in a slightly better position, but it’s never a guarantee you will get paid.
Until they straighten out and realize they need credit you will just be in the background haunting them. You can garnish their wages, but if they have transient style jobs they get garnished once and they quit and then you have to repeat the process.
The hard part being trying to find out where their new place of work is, where their new residence is etc and suddenly you just find yourself wandering around wasting your valuable time.
Bill
Hi Bill,
I bought a commercial bldg with an apartment in the back. There was renters in the apartment which stayed on. I never signed any lease or agreement with them at the time of the purchase. If I need the apartment for an employee to rent or if I decide I want it for myself how much notice do I have to give the other tenant?
Hi Val,
You would need to give the tenant at least three full months notice and if the tenant later found out the reason you evicted them was different you could be liable for some very hefty fines. If you evict them with the reason you will be moving an employee in, you have to move an employee in.
Or if your intent is to move in, you have to move in. If you change your mind or suddenly re-rent it for a higher rate after they are out, you will and should be fined.
Bill
Hi Bill. I bought your Advanced Leasing package and am looking at the Tenant Application form as I am trying to lease a new unit. How do I run a criminal and credit check? Are there any good companies you recommend for doing this in Alberta?
Hi DRA,
I use Tenant Verification Services, you can find info about them here Tenant Credit Checks, however you may also want to check out the free screening course I have here, Landlord Training – Screening Tenants.
This will go over many of the important steps you need to take when screening and help make sure you get the best possible tenants!
Bill
It does, thank you. Can you serve an eviction notice and a rent increase notice at the same time?
Hi Reluctant,
You could, but it might backfire as it shows some confusion about your intent.
If you really want them out, I suggest bypassing the letter and go straight to the RTDRS filing or a court filing. It will be faster overall if you suspect they don’t want to leave, or won’t make the effort to leave and it bypasses the notice stage.
Bill
Good evening Bill,
First, thank you once again for all the wonderful help and support you provide to us landlords (and some tenants too I see). My situation is that in July I won a RTDS dispute to have my tenants evicted. The order was conditional in that they were allowed to stay until the end of August provided they paid the Aug. rent which they did.
While showing the suite to a new tenant the other day I noted that there was absolutely no signs of preparing to move even though D-Day is less than one week away. I am therefore quite certain they have no intention of vacating by the prescribed date/time. Should they overstay I will serve them with the Notice of Default, giving them 48 hours to get out (per the order) and hire a bailiff to remove them thereafter should it be necessary. My question then is whether or not I can deduct the cost of the bailiff service (including charge for locksmith) from the damage deposit (assuming once again that they don’t damage the property). I am also wondering how the final inspection can be done if I do have them removed by the bailiff. Do I still have to give them 2 dates to meet to go through this and if so can it simply be by text message or email?
Thank you in advance Bill.
Hi,
You’ll definitely want to keep an eye open for the next several days to see what is going on and whether they are making any moving preparations. They may simply be waiting for the weekend, or they have no where to go as they don’t understand the implications of not leaving.
You may want to even inform them of the situation and how that if you end up brining in a bailiff they will be formally locked out of the property, will incur extra expenses and costs and potentially lose access to their belongings.
Now I go into this in more detail in my Guide, but you may not need the Notice of Default. If it appears they will not be moving out on the weekend, I would consult with a bailiff before the weekend to see what they require from you on Monday to have them removed.
It may just be the court order is enough to suffice, while some bailiffs will insist on the Notice of Default as well. The bailiff service and any ensuing locksmith charges
are not supposed to be taken
from the security deposit and may require a separate hearing to try and claim that back, but most tenants won’t try and take you to court to get money back from security deposits if they owe you as it just opens them up to counter suits.
By them filing you now have their new address to go back after them.
With any notices you provide, you have to be sure they received them and electronic methods can be a gray area. Can you confirm they received the email or text? Can you confirm they read it and not someone else and they missed it? Same can be said with notices posted on doors though.
So just to be safe, I would provide written notice either handed to them, posted on all entrances in and out of the property, front, back and garage doors and also provide them with emails and texts and document everything.
Hope that helps and good luck this weekend,
Bill
Thank you once again for the valuable information and suggestions. Unfortunately I appear to be dealing with sociopath professional tenants here. As suspected, they had no intention of following the court order and being as crafty as they are, ran down to the court house on Wed afternoon and filed an appeal of sorts (detail left out purposely in case there are other pro tenants reading this thread) with the hearing date set for Friday AM. I was then served by dropping the notice in my mailbox at 8 PM Wed eve (yes,1 business day notice and not even being served properly).
The nasty tenants made up more lies that the justice at this new hearing did not believe (just as the first one in the RTDS dispute didn’t believe) yet they were still allowed to stay extra (2 weeks rather than the month they requested). They are using their innocent child as a pawn in order to manipulate and continue playing the game. I’m not certain it will be over this coming Monday (the new date to leave) as they have no shame and will go to any extent and tell any lies necessary to try to extend their stay and cause me as much stress and extra costs as possible. They are making a mockery of the whole court process as far as I am concerned. Should they not leave this Monday (assuming they don’t find some way to file yet another without merit appeal) I will serve the notice of default that allows them 48 hrs to vacate. My question is whether or not I have to give another 24 hour notice to enter when the 48 hours is up so that I can try to determine whether they abandoned the place (so that I can change the locks and get on with pursuing a judgment for associated costs/loss of rental income, etc.) or whether the services of a sheriff will in fact be necessary to remove them. I’m guessing I do have to post the new notice (or serve it with the Notice of Default but want to be sure I do everything properly). I really can’t thank you enough for providing this much needed help and advice with this whole process Bill. I wish there were more of you in the world!
Hey Edm,
Until the tenant is out, they are protected by the rules of the RTA even if they are getting evicted, so make sure you give them at least 24 hours notice before the deadline that you are coming in to complete the exit walk through and move out inspection. Don’t give them any loopholes where you’ve broken the rules.
As for professional tenants abusing the system it happens. As much as we hate it, it simply happens, there are always people who abuse the rules and the intent of the rules and usually for their gain and someone else’s loss.
The rules are in place and designed to help landlords and tenants who are breaking the rules. The appeal process is to make sure that if something is missed someone isn’t evicted improperly or a landlord isn’t taken advantage of improperly. But professional tenants take it to the extreme (as do professional slumlords).
Just remember the system is in place to help both sides and that as far as rules go, Alberta has some of the most balanced ones around, although it doesn’t seem so when you are getting taken advantage of.
Bill
Hi,
I’m grateful to have found this site…
Several years ago I was put on a property title joint with my father, who is now dying. The property is a single story w/ basement. My father entered a verbal agreement with his sister that she and her husband could rent the main floor from him, but not the basement where he intended to stay on weekends. At the time, the husband was working overseas and my aunt was on her own. No other renters were allowed and use of the basement except the laundry room was not allowed. They since have had one or both of their adult children living there for years, including allowing one to stay in one of the basement rooms, and now as of May, they have not paid rent. My father is too ill to do anything about this situation, and if he dies and they are still in the house living for free, I will be unable to afford the taxes, insurance and lease that I will become responsible for. Neither my Dad’s sister or husband work (and it’s now doubtful they will ever as they have both been diagnosed with health problems in the last 6 months to 1 yr). The adult daughter works intermittently, but does not make enough to pay the rent. As a result, I do not expect the situation to change. I intend to notify them that they need to vacate the property, but with only a verbal agreement in place, and no definite/provable lease term, I don’t know whether I should do it as just a termination of the lease, or an eviction based on non-payment.
I do expect there could be difficulties, as they have obviously been taking advantage of my Father’s kindness and health situation, and they both have problems with alcohol use.
I need to handle it the simplest and surest way possible as I do not live in Alberta and have young children, so could only go up for a short trip to clean and renovate once they vacate.
Any thoughts you have on how best to handle this situation would be appreciated!
Hi Reluctant,
Sorry to hear about your circumstances. However, you can’t let this go on. Even with a verbal agreement there are still rules in place to protect both sides. I would start with a letter to them recapping the verbal agreement, what is owed and that you expect it to be paid by X Date.
Set clear timelines and let them know that continued non-payment will result in an eviction as you simply cannot afford to cover the payments yourself.
since this outstanding amount goes back to May, you may want to offer a payment plan covering the full rent plus a portion, if that is acceptable to you. The entire intent of the letter is to clearly state this cannot go on and to have evidence in place showing you were willing to work with them, but that the free ride was complete and they have to start paying or get off.
With their health issue sand the previous history, you need to start getting firm now. It may take an additional month to get them out due to time restraints on the eviction process and the individual situation, so if they reply they won’t be able to pay, you need to start moving forward immediately with the eviction.
As an out of province landlord there are provisions for you to attend the hearings via phone conference, but you will have to file here and you will have to serve them here. Whether it is you filing or a representative is fine, so if you can’t make it here, but have friends or relatives who can complete part of the process that will work.
Hopefully this gets you started in the right direction,
Regards,
Bill
Thanks so much! I have one more question as I just don’t understand the termination of periodic tenancy rules for AB. As I understand it “our” verbal agreement with our tenants (aunt, uncle and adult daughter) is month-to-month. In the states I have lived in, either party just has to provide 30 days notice to terminate the lease for a month-to-month lease. When I read through the RTA handbook, it seems a landlord must provide 3 months for certain prescribed situations, and 365 days for major repairs. What happens if you just want to terminate the lease, simply because you do? How much notice do you have to give? Because, to clarify, my primary objective is to get them out as not only can they not be trusted to pay rent, but the actual rent they pay for the upstairs floor does NOT cover the land lease, taxes and house insurance on the property. So even if they do back-pay and start paying, we cannot afford to have them in there as the financial burden for the house has become mine and not my father’s. I was hoping to avoid evicting them based on their rent breech, but for our own finances, will if we must. But I was also afraid to approach it that way as they might suddenly come up with the money and I would then have to keep them on?
Also, can you clarify the benefit of consulting with you vs. using an eviction assistance company? To be as kind as possible, right now all I have done is told them verbally that we needed them out the end of October, and that a letter would be coming, but I did not state whether the letter would be because of their rent breech, or just a termination because I need grounds to get them out in 1.5 months, not 3 if possible. Really, really appreciate your help!
Hi Reluctant,
To terminate a monthly tenancy you need to give the tenant 3 full months notice. So at this point with it being mid September, you would have to give them October, November and december and the termination date would be January 1st.
Obviously this will take longer than the 1.5 months you need, so you are back to trying to evict them for non-payment. You could also pile on the additional reasons for eviction, such as the additional renters and using the additional space and that should be enough to make it more than just a matter of paying everything current, which should lead to a reasonably quick eviction, but whether it will be 30 days or 60 days from now depends on several factors. How backed up are the hearings (roughly two weeks from now currently), how strong your evidence and how weak theirs is.
If they do come up with the money before the eviction date, the bright side is it is several months rent outstanding, correct? This does give you a small buffer and then your next step could be to terminate, or to increase the rent to cover your costs. Both of which would work for you.
The benefits of consulting with me is I can typically recommend your best options to move forward usually for much less than an eviction company. If you plan on hiring someone to do the eviction for you, then an eviction company would make more sense. If you’re trying to determine what, how or whether you can evict them, I’m typically the better option to start with (in my opinion 8′]).
Using an eviction service company for an eviction is typically going to start around $800, if your time is constrained, if the it appears to be a tough eviction, if you are emotionally involved either through family relations or other reasons or if you want to be hands off, then an eviction service company is the way to go.
If you want to do this on your own, through the RTDRS or the courts and need guidance, questions answered and a better understanding of this process before you move on, then I believe you would be better off spending 30 minutes on a consulting call with me to get your ducks in a row.
Dozens and dozens of landlords have gone through this procedure with me (and even quite a few tenants looking for information) and the most common positive is it’s just given them more confidence in knowing what to do and how to proceed.
Now, many of the answers are already on the site, but if you don’t have the time to look through the over 1,200 comments to see if your scenario fits exactly or if you have a unique situation like it sounds like yours is, the consultation just helps answer more questions. also, many of the landlords I consult with prefer the phone call just to keep the info out of a potentially internet savvy tenant they are evicting.
The quick link to the consulting info is here, Eviction Consultation.
Hope that helps answer your questions,
Bill
We had a “rent to own” not work out. We paid monthly rent, a deposit and paid for property taxes. We also did a number of repairs to the property on behalf of the owner.
Bank wouldn’t approve a mortgage due to extensive structural damage from water after an inspector was hired, plus found mold through out entire house.
Owner of house refunded us $6000 2 months ago and now wants to take civil action law suit to get money back. Has served us with a 3 day notice that states “notice to tenant to leave or pay”
Hi Jared,
Rent to own can be tricky as the paperwork varies from place to place. If he refunded you money much of the next steps to recover it will require going to court and he may not get very far there. It would be up to you to hire a lawyer to defend yourself or to do it b your self. That may depend n your evidence, how much you understand the rules and whether he has a lawyer.
As for the three day notice to leave or pay, it’s another example of a landlord getting free form off the internet. The three day notice to leave or pay (or quit) is common in California, but not applicable in Alberta, just don’t tell him, simply refuse to go. To evict you, he will need to take you to court and yu can let them make fun of him there for using the wrong forms.
Bill
I have been served with and eviction notice, no reasons for eviction given. This is a commercial lease space . Is this proper procedure and what are my options. Was given 30 days notice.
Hi Melanie,
From my understanding commercial leases are governed mostly by contract law and what the lease itself contains rather than a specific act like the Residential Tenancies Act.
You may want to review your lease to see what rights you have and what grounds the landlord may have to evict. If it seems too complex, which many commercial leases tend to be, you may want to consult a lawyer who does work with commercial leases. Once you have signed them you are bound by the lease, but there may be some clauses built in that can help protect you at the same time, especially when it comes to an eviction without warrant.
Regards,
Bill
Hi Bill,
First I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for providing such a great service to all. I am nearly through with my personal nightmare of evicting nasty tenants thanks in large part to the great advice you provide not only on this site but also via your consulting services. The RTDS dispute hearing took place a few days ago, I won and the tenants are to vacate by the end of August. The advice on creating a timeline together with references to the supporting evidence for the hearing worked very well and helped me to get a better understanding of just what these scammers were up to. Now keeping my fingers crossed that the rest goes smoothly, that they leave as required at the end of August and don’t damage the property (and hopefully not harm me either!!!).
I am fearful of visiting the property due to the abusive language and emotional volatility displayed by the tenants (which was a big part of the reason I won) so not sure how I am going to be able to rent the property for Sept 1. Do you have any suggestions as to where I could find someone to hire to escort me on maintenance visits if required between now and the eviction date and most importantly for the final move-out inspection? Also, can I ask the RTDS for the original triplicate inspection report back now that the hearing is over? Should I have simply provided a copy of that rather than the original (the instructions said to provide originals and I didn’t want to leave anything at all to chance!)?
Thank you once again Bill, keep up the great work!!!
Hi Edmonton Landlord,
Tried and true methods that I break down in my guide seem to keep working 8′]
You can never be sure how evicted tenants will leave the property, but you have to assume at the least there will be minimal clean up and lots of stuff left behind, rarely anything of value.
As for visiting the property, I’d recommend starting with a friend or two accompanying you, or if you really fear for your safety, you can call the police and they will meet you at the property to ensure your safety. Just remember, you are on their schedule so if they have emergencies you can get bumped back hours on occasion. And don’t forget to provide them with a 24 hour inspection notice prior to even the final walk through as they are still officially tenants until they vacate.
For the application, even though they ask for originals, I keep my originals and provide copies, I’ll bring originals with me to the hearing if I think it will be necessary. For the walk through you may just have to use your copy. I have never asked for any information that I submitted back and they may have a process for it, but I’m unsure.
Hope that helps and glad I could help to get you started,
Bill
Hello,
We recently evicted a tenant that was 4 months behind on rent and numerous other breaches of the rental agreement (threats, smoking inside unit, additional tenants moving in without payment of rent etc.) He has moved out, but has literally left everything he owned in the unit (food, pictures, bedding, clothes, shoes…so many belongings). We worry he had no where to go and left with just the clothes on his back. We have left everything un-touched and have tried to ask him to claim his items (since July 1, 2014). We told him we would start packing up his items for him and store them in the garage for another two weeks (July 17). After July 17 we said we would also porvide transportation for his belongings to another location if desired. What are the laws around keeping a tenants belongings and disposing of said items? We are trying to be compasionate about the situation while still trying to avoid being taken advantage of. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Jen
Hi Jennifer,
The rules basically state that if the value of the goods is in excess of $2,000 you have to hold onto it for 30 days and can then auction it off to recover any outstanding money owed with any excess money going back to the tenant.
If it’s less than $2,000 it was a bit fuzzier. I would suggest holding onto it for 30 days and then you should be able to dispose of ti. The issue being how do you determine the value.
Before you move or pack anything, video record and inventory everything so he can’t come back in six months and say you threw out his vintage 1890 collectible coffee table that was worth $100,000. Especially if it was actually a badly worn 2008 Ikea coffee table…
Since you have the garage space you have a good spot to temporarily store the stuff, but make sure you contact him multiple times in multiple ways to update him as to what will happen with definite time lines as to when he has to grab the stuff.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hi Bill,
Thank you for your guidance, and information packed booklet on the eviction process. As a result of paying attention to detail and following your advice My tenants have moved out and I’ve regained control of my property.
My question is in handling the security deposit. There is significant damage to one of the rooms in which I will have to do some repairs. The tenant has requested I pay their balance back to them in an Electronic Funds transfer, as well as to scan and e-mail the statement of accounts. They want to keep their new address confidential and will not give me the new address.
I am wondering if you have any advice on this method of final transaction to close up any loose ends. I did get a sighed outgoing inspection that acknowledges the damage. My concern now is following process to show receipt of delivery of final statement of accounts, as well as payment on the balance of the security deposit.
Hi Blaine,
That is fantastic to hear you have control back of your property. Glad I was able to help.
Now regarding the security deposit.Just because they want you to pay via EFT, it doesn’t mean you have to comply with their request. You may not be set up for ETF, it may require extra time on your behalf or it may simply be soemthing you’re not comfortable with.
You do however, have to send them a statement of their account with any deductions listed and the remainder of their deposit (if any) within ten days after they have signed out. You need to send this to their last known address….
If you’re mailing it, I would suggest sending it via registered mail so you can track it. If it happens to be the address of your property, that’s also fine. It’s their responsibility to set up mail forwarding and if they don’t, simply retain the letter that was delivered to your property as proof of sending it.
I would however email them the statement and update them that you are mailing it to them. The rest is up to them to ensure they receive it.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hi Bill,
We are landlords with a very clear NO SMOKING clause in the lease. We have rented to tenants that are smokers who have agreed to ONLY smoke outside. During visits to the property we’ve noticed a smoke smell in the house and asked if they were smoking in the house and they said no….so we thought it could have been the smell of their clothes, etc. Upon another visit to the property we have now found evidence that they are indeed smoking in the house. What are the steps we can/should take to get the problem addressed? Are they in breech of their rental contract that they clearly signed indicating no smoking? Do we have grounds to evict? Any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks.
Hi Jody,
From my experience, this is not correctable. If they felt they could disregard your no smoking policy, even if they tell you they won’t do it again, why would you ever trust them and why would they follow through the second time if they couldn’t the first. The damage is also done as your house will now smell of smoke for ages.
With every eviction you have to provide proof of the breach of the lease, so as long as your evidence is provable you can move forward. If your evidence is suspect or not very strong, there is a chance it will get thrown out. Hopefully worst case you have a fixed term lease in place that is coming due shortly and can simply not renew to get them out if you don’t have enough evidence.
Hope that points you in the right direction, if you do need more info, I do provide consulting services and can usually get back to people same day and with much more detailed answers.
Regards,
Bill
Hi Bill
I’m not sure this is the right venue for this but here goes. My mother is renting a condo she received a complaint from the condo board about alleged marijuana use. She is a medical marijuana user with all of her paperwork from health canada. She only smokes outside on the balcony. The board is threatening a $500 fine and eviction.
Would this eviction be legal? The allegation is that this is an illegal act against the criminal code as week as a breach of the condo by laws. The building is full of cigarette smokers who smoke in their units the halls wreak of stale cigarette smoke which seems more obnoxious than the occasional marijuana cigarette on the balcony. Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.
Hey Tommy,
Tough situation, if she has all the paperwork and it’s legal for her to possess and smoke marijuana for medical reasons, then it’s not an illegal act. As for the condo bylaws, that is where it gets tricky. Usually condo bylaws over rule many of the other Residential Tenancy Rules, but in this case Health Canada may over rules the condo rules.
This will most likely require a lawyer to represent her as we are now going to be getting into precedents of condo rules over other rules/laws and it’s relatively new when it comes to medical marijuana use. So unfortunately I don’t have a very clear answer for you.
This wouldn’t be something you would want to hand over to a regular family lawyer, it is most likely going to need someone who specializes in court cases, so the downside is it may get expensive. The question that arises is whether it would be worth it?
You mom could fight the eviction on her own and there is a chance she could win as well, it would just take her (or you) doing a bunch of homework to find out if anything similar has happened and what the results were. If you go this route, worst case it may cost you the $500 fine plus get she still gets evicted, but she may get 30 days to vacate or even longer depending on the scenario. This would definitely be the more cost effective route, but no guarantees either way.
Sorry I couldn’t help more,
Bill
Thanks for the advice. I think she’s going to have to fight it. She only moved in a few months ago and finding somewhere decent in Calgary with the vancies being so low was very challenging. Would be better to try and fight if we can. I’ll start researching lawyers Monday. Her landlord was fantastic about the whole thing and has no desire to evict if he can avoid it.
Thanks
Bill;
Unfortunately not all Landlords are like yourself 🙁 I am currently finding myself, as a tenant, going through the eviction process with my Landlord. My apartment has been deemed “uninhabitable” by Edmonton Environmental Health due to the aparment falling below “Alberta’s Minimum Housing Standards” as outlined in the Residential Tenancies Act. I started my negotiations with the landlord, upon failing, I turned to the government who inspected and deemed unihabitable. This of course did not ‘scare’ the landlord into making any of the necessary repairs (I have no smoke detector, bathroom fan, and about a 4’x4′ section of exposed plywood due to missing ceramic tile. It also took me a couple months to even get a fridge from him!) The list goes on, so I finally hired a lawyer. My lawyer advised me to discontinue rent payments, which I’ve never done before and to be honest, am a bit uncomfortable with as I have fully met my end of the lease and it’s the landlord who is failing to comply with the ordered repairs. So now, I have recieved a 14 day notice of eviction, however I do not know what to expect from my landlord. I do not want to move, but I do not want to pay until he makes the repairs ordered by Environmental Health. Do you have any advice for me as it seems nobody who is ‘supposed’ to help, is actually helping.
Thank you in advance
Hi Dave,
Sorry to hear things are not going so well for you. There are a couple avenues you need to pursue and you need to do them quickly. Discontinuing rent isn’t necessarily one of them! Under the Residential Tenancy Act non-payment is definitely grounds for eviction, even if the landlord isn’t holding up their end.
Instead you have a couple options to pursue. First I would start off by contacting the Health Authority in Edmonton and let them know the landlord isn’t doing anything about the repairs. Second, you need to apply to the courts (you may be able to use the RTDRS, but the courts would hold more teeth and have more power in this situation) for a rent abatement and an order for the landlord to remedy the problems.
I would make sure you start going through your records and document everything that has gone on to the best of your knowledge so that you go into court well prepared. Fumbling through memory in front of the judge is not going to represent you as well as having everything detailed in your application and all your back up records showing approximate times and dates of discussions and events will. Many bad tenants use the courts and the Health Services route to try and delay evictions or cause back end problems for landlords when they get evicted. If you come across as this type of tenant, it may not bode as well as someone just trying to live in a safe environment.
You really need to get into court to get the landlord ordered to fix the problems. The Health Authority may have some recourse if he doesn’t move forward, but the judge can also incorporate fines and penalties which is the real leverage for this landlord it sounds like.
Ultimately though, you need to get out of this place. It appears your landlord isn’t the type to take care of his properties or his tenants, so your longer term plan should be to find a new place. Even court ordered, I don’t suspect it will be the best place for you long term.
Hope this helps,
Bill
Bill,
I recently began renting a townhouse from a lady, and signed a rental agreement that identified me as the tenant and her as the owner. She also resides in the residence. She had cats in the property, as well as running some business (personal training, reiki, photography) in our unit. She also used the facilities’s common gym area for business activity (she conducted personal training there too). I found this strange, but I assumed she had the necessary agreements and licenses in place from the property mgmt/city. I got a letter on April 30 that indicated that all occupants were being evicted. It was the first letter I saw and I assume there were notices of warning before I moved in (April 1).
I confronted her and she was rather nonchalant as she was planning on moving out in the summer anyway. While not necessarily implied, I am currently assuming she knowingly broke the bylaws of the city and the bylaws of the condo corporation.
My question are as follow: Can I go after her legally due to being misplaced by her incompetence/knowingly breaching bylaws? Does it make a difference? Does it make a difference whether she was renting that property or if she was the owner (I have yet to confirm whether she owned the unit).
Thanks,
Wilson
Hi Wilson,
I think your priority at this point is going to be to find another place. It doesn’t matter whether she defrauded you or not, if the eviction goes through, you will be out.
There are numerous reasons why your lease with her could be invalidated, she may not have had permission from the actual landlord or owner to sublet, she may have been illegally running a business in an improperly zoned area etc.
You would have grounds to potentially sure her for some sort of fraud, but how far that would get you I’m not sure. As I’ve observed with legal cases you often have to spend $1.50 to get a judgment for $1.00 that is no guarantee you will even get paid.
If you represented yourself you may have a case that could go under small claims court, but again the priority will be to find a new place first.
Unfortunately, this is the type of scenario that gives landlords a bad name and gives tenants a bad taste about landlords. I wish there was better news I could provide you.
Bill
Hi Bill,
Thank you for your response and it did help us greatly. Your right in saying that we should have acted from day 1 and we didn’t because we thought we’d give them a chance. Now the property is a complete mess that we’ll have to clean up, but I did learn one very valuable tip and that’s to not grab a renter too quickly without properly checking all their credentials. Our home is in High River and it was flooded. Once we repaired the property, we grab the first person who responded thinking we wouldn’t find anyone to live there. Big Mistake! I’m so happy to have found your site and since we own another property and are looking at other rentals to buy, I think your package and guides are invaluable.
Laura
Hi Laura,
You learned one of the hardest lessons and you’re way ahead for it! You might want to take a look at the FREE screening course I put together for landlords. It walks you through a ton of tips to make sure you get the right tenants next time, you can find it here, How to Screen Tenants.
Regards,
Bill
Hello,
I have a tenant who breached our agreement by building an enclosed separate room in the triple car garage without authorization and it also looks very suspect because it’s locked from the inside. They have also been 20 days over due on rent after the cheque bounced last month and 4 months behind in town utilities. We are constantly chasing them for money. Plus, there is damage to the carpets, walls, closet doors and the exposed aggregate driveway. I gave them a 14 day notice to vacate and she told me to “shut the front door”. The end of their lease agreement is June 30th. What are the chances that taking her to court will work and get her out sooner? And at this point would it be better to just wait it out?
Thank you.
Hi Laura,
Ok, that’s a bit weird. Obviously you won’t be renewing and you need to let them know that as soon as possible. You likely could go to court and have them evicted, but without all the details I couldn’t confirm how quickly that would take place. If there’s kids involved it takes longer depending on many other variables they could end up on a payment plan taking them until June 30th etc.
The biggest challenge to your case is you delayed doing anything until now. If you had taken action the very first time they were late and essentially “shut the door” on them by taking immediate action it would have put you n a much stronger position.
Unfortunately by being nice, letting them get away with late payments and then an NSF payment you’ve set the standard and the standard says this is acceptable, even if it’s not. A court could look at this as being how you run your business and simply allow the lease to run until the end of June, or if you have sufficient evidence showing you tried to enforce payments, you followed up and you tried to do everything by the book, they would allow you to evict sooner.
In this situation, I would have avoided the 14 day notice and gone directly to a hearing as the 14 day notice just gives them more time. Also, I would suggest the positive for you going to court is to get a judgment if there is still anything outstanding as you will most likely lose money for all the required repairs.
With the judgment, it’s not a guarantee you will get paid, but it does start the clock to get them out potentially faster.
So this answer was all over the place, due to the lack of information I have, but hopefully it helps a bit.
Bill
Just wondering, if we evict a tenant, but he still has 3 months left in the lease, is he responsible for paying the rent until we find a new tenant? Thanks so much.
Hi Nicole,
Not if you’re evicting him.
Bill
yes very helpful thank you. so one more question so me and my rent the condo and my bf was away and I couldnt get him my half because he never accepted my email transfer and so I told the landlord this on the 31st said me and him were kinda off so would it be alright if i found someone else if they approved to move into the other room more reliable and easier to get ahold of because they know im in school and really need a place but they instantly just said no thats not reliable we are just done with you guys so she sent me the termination and not anywhere does it say if we pay the full amount in the 14 day the termination will be ended which I didnt know that like my bf contacted them on the 3rd and they said just have the 2600 dollars by noon on the move out date or your stuff will be seized and u will be talking to a judge. So u already eliminated a few of the costs but so do we have to pay the 1000 dollars for the 14 days we got to stay
Hi Tonya,
Part of this depends on the reason they used for the eviction. If it was for non-payment, then paying the rent voids the eviction, if it was for the extra dog, then it wouldn’t.
You may have grounds to fight this, but big picture it may be worth finding a new place. With all these “charges” they are coming up with it may be to your benefit to fight it in court with them and let the judge or hearing officer decide if it’s evictable. This will give you more time and they cannot seize your items, there is a definite process to this.
In this case, since they gave you the notice, at the end of the notice period, if you haven’t left, they then have to take you to court or the RTDRS for a hearing which is usually a couple weeks after and at that point a decision is made whether you are evicted and if so, a date is set as to when.
I wouldn’t make the extra payments, but rather force them to go to court and see where that takes you. Just make sure to document everything along the way.
Regards,
Bill
Hi Bill,
I am 23 years old and a student at the UofA School of Business. I live with my mother, and her boyfriend in a condominium that is owned by my mother.
Tonight, there was a domestic disturbance in the home between myself and her boyfriend. He violently called used foul language, and taunted me (trying to fight). I immediately called the police. He was drinking heavily.
After the police showed, they asked their questions and in the end, even while my mom was adamant about him leaving, they were unable to get him to leave because there was no physical abuse, and the fact he gives her $800/month and has been living with us for a few years (around 2). His driver’s license does not have our address on it, but his old address. Only my mother’s name is on the mortgage.
I don’t exactly understand the legal environment from my mother’s point of view. She wants him out immediately, and will be contacting the proper source in the morning (Referred by the police officer). She wants to change the locks as well.
Your help is greatly appreciated. Thank you,
Hi Christian,
This gets to be a bit of an issue from more than just an eviction standpoint. Since your mother and boyfriend have been together for a couple of years, I believe you now fall into common law as far as the marriage goes.
This calls for a separate set of rules and may require a lawyer who specializes in family law to assist you as it’s no longer evicting a tenant, but a spousal breakup if that’s the route your mom intends to go down.
This brings all sorts of issues into play like common property who has ownership of what and more and is far beyond the scope of help I can provide unfortunately.
Hope this at least points you in the right direction.
Bill
our landlord has given us a substantial breach and terminated our lease because when she came to the condo we had another dog on the premesis The condo does allow pets so we have our own dog and they I have my mothers dog while she gets better becuase it was tooo much work because she is sick Is this allowed? Pluse she came up with a $750 rerenting fee 375 pet cleaning fee and $175 for returning our key fog keys with a grand total of $2363 but our rent is 1575 and we already paid our damage and she is demanding this on top.
Hi Tonya,
You’re caught in a catch-22 here. You probably did the right thing by looking after your mother’s dog, but you should have notified the landlord and explained the situation.
Having not done so, you have potentially breached the lease, but that can depend on the wording about pets and notification written into your lease. You may want to re-read the lease and see what specifics it says about extra pets or whether it even mentions it.
As for the additional charges, they seem out of line. She can’t charge you a re-renting fee if she’s evicting you, there is an option to do this if you break the lease, but she’s initiating it and that will likely get thrown out if you go to the RTDRS or the courts. Returning the keys and getting charged also sounds like a cash grab and not enforceable.
Finally the pet cleaning fee is also a cash grab. If there are damages or problems related to the pets, that has to be deducted from the security deposit or paid by you. She can’t come up with a random (or fixed) number to charge you if she hasn’t inspected the property.
Side note, did you do a walk through before you moved in and was it signed by you or someone else on the lease and the landlord? If not, they won’t be able to charge you for any damages.
Hope that helps a bit,
Bill
I am a homeowner who’s been letting a friend live in my home free of charge for the past 45 days or so to allow them to save money for a place of their own.. im at the point where id like them to leave but am finding resistance.. do i need to give any sort of formal notice to remove them from my home since they aren’t actually renters?
Hi John,
I ran into this a couple of years ago, but I couldn’t really find an answer at that time either. I believe that you don’t actually fall under the RTA, but I can’t specifically recall why or where you fit.
I would suggest you start by sitting down with them with a formal request for them to vacate by XX time. I would suggest perhaps either mid this month or the end if you can hang on that long, explain that this was a short arrangement originally and it’s reached a point where you simply want your house back.
You might also want to back that up with a copy in writing.
Just be firm and let them know they have to be out by that date. No exceptions. If it looks like nothing is happening by that time, you will have to expand on your options and take it to the next level, but first step is to put your foot down and have backup in writing.
Again, I can’t remember the specific rules about this, but since you don’t really fit under the Residential Tenancy Act, you may be able to simply have the police escort them off the property and even the potential threat of this happening may be enough to help with their decision.
Bill
Hello Bill,
I have a tenant that is in a fixed term until the end of July this year. I was hoping to sell the home late this spring but the tenant has become incredibly unco-operative. She has threatened not to allow showings, dicatated that there will be no open houses, 30 minute showing schedules only. My realtor is ready to bail as he doesn;t want totry and sell a $950,000 executive rental with an unhappy, unco-operative tenant.
If the tenant is starting to get volitile and non-compliant are there ground to evict? If so, what is the process?
My property management company is sitting on the fence and not offering much support.
Warm regards,
Brad Hicks
Hi Brad,
Realistically, you may have to wait until the end of the lease to successfully sell your property if the tenant is uncooperative. You’re facing a double challenge here. Your Realtor is ready to give up and other Realtors will find it too challenging to work around your tenant, so you likely won’t get showings anyway.
Unfortunately, these aren’t reasons to evict as the tenant is allowed to have their own privacy and they have rights as far as advanced notice of showings.
On the other hand, you also have some leverage. She will need a landlord reference if she is renting expensive properties. Whether it’s in August or sooner, and you need to let her know you will definitely be terminating the lease at the end of the term and answering any and all landlord questions about her as a tenant when she looks for her next place.
With vacancy rates near or below 1% right now having a good landlord reference could make a huge difference for her. If she is planning on buying a property, it negates your leverage, but it’s an option.
Bill
Hello,
I am a newby landlord with some problem tenants. They pay their rent late every month, which I understand to be a breach of the lease agreement. Recently, we got a call from our neighbour who has had 2 tenants ask to get out of there lease early because my tenant is often making a lot of noise, has 2 dogs (our lease agreement stated that there were to be no pets) that have been defecting all over the patio and grass area. I have also been told he maybe involved in illegal actives and there is damage to the blinds that I can see from the outside of the unit. I am a little nervous to go inside and see what its current condition is. We have tried numerous times to reach our tenant and today his phone said it was no longer in service. Tomorrow I plan on going over and giving him an eviction notice. We had hoped that we could talk to our tenant before serving him a eviction notice but now that we can’t seem to get a hold of him, I plan on going straight to a notice. My question, however, is do I have to prove he has been pestering the neighbours or is failure to pay rent on time enough? I have read that a tenant can argue the reasons they are being evicted and I want to make sure I have all my ducks in a row.
Hi Chrystal,
Skip the eviction notice and go straight to either the RTDRS or the courts to evict them. If you give them the eviction notice and they don’t leave at the end of the 14 days, you then have to go to court or the RTDRS anyway and you just gave them another 16 days to hang out at your place.
And yes you have to prove he breached the lease by continually paying late, hopefully you provided warning notices each time it was late or there is a communication trail you can show? Also, don’t just evict for the late payments, also evict for the pets and disturbing the neighbours and the damage. They may be able to get away with one breach and be given extra time, but multiple breaches sets the stage for them to go faster.
Bill
Hi Bill,
We have renters in our mobile home, on a farm. They have two bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, living room, all fully furnished. We held onto the master bedroom with on suite, and share laundry. (we live in our holiday trailer on the property for approximately 5-6 months a year to tend to the haying and lawn care). There is no lease agreement, no damage deposit. (they were friends). My husband has been chasing rent for 24 months with these tenants (which I know is our fault) 12 of those months have been late payments, NSF cheques. They are in Arizona for a few months in the winter (right now) and feel that they shouldn’t have to pay rent. We are not on the property at this time. They are 1600.00 in arrears. Having conversation with them, they said they are moving out, but we don’t know when, as they don’t have enough money to get home! They have a bed, some clothes, and pictures in the home and two horses on the property along with saddles, ect! What are our rights at this point to be able to remove their personal belongings, clean trailer and get some reliable renters in? We get it now…..we have to run this rental property like a business!
Thank you Bill
Jan
Hi Jan,
Running it as a business will definitely change your mindset, so that will be a great place to start. Right now, you have so many issues I’m not sure where to start.
So let’s start with the big one, you actually fall under the Mobile Home Sites Tenancies Act which, while similar, has some differences from the Residential Tenancy Act. I am not familiar with it as none of my properties are mobile homes and I haven’t had to go through it.
I did link to it above there for you to review.
Without a lease, without a damage deposit and without a walk through (which you didn’t mention, but I am assuming wasn’t completed), you have very little chance of collecting anything outstanding or to claim for any damages. So collecting back rent is really just a hope.
You can still evict them though and for this it will likely have to go through the courts versus the RTDRS due to the lack of paperwork and the type of property.
You cannot remove any of their belongings until you get a court eviction or unless they abandon the property.So you are stuck there. The important part now is to act quickly and review the Mobile Homes Tenancy Act, start the appropriate process through the courts to get a hearing and get a date they have to be out and then once you have possession of your property you can move forward.
Breaking it down like this will help make it easier. Note I didn’t say easy, just easier and more business/methodical.
At this point, if they have little money and you obviously cannot trust them, do not take any notice from them about moving out as serious, you need to go to court to get a legal valid end date for your this. Anything else will simply turn into delays.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Thank You Bill for your reply, and the link to Mobile Home. We appreciate your advice and we will definitely run this this property as a business with the proper paper work in order!
Thanks again Bill
Jan
Glad you found it helpful Jan, Hope everything works out for you.
Bill
Sorry, You are right. Big thanks for your reply. Wow, Free advise on a legal question. Thanks for your time. God Bless spell check, Dar
Thanks Dar, I really appreciate you coming back and replying.
Also, just to be clear, I’m not a lawyer, I’m just a landlord that has helped hundreds and hundreds of landlords and tenants with eviction and bad roommate problems. I don’t even play a lawyer on TV!
Bill
i hav a rm mate @ my house who screwed up. they on the agreed date. but let all der stuff & a mess. it’s been 3wks. not much value of der left property. it’s smelly. under d innkeepers law, wat do i do with there stuff left @ d house. big thanks, dar
Wow, first I had a horrible time trying to read this. There is a time and a place for “text” speak and this likely wasn’t it as it’s already gotten us off on the wrong foot. Sorry for pre-judging, but making it harder for me to understand the problem doesn’t help.
As I understand it your room mate bailed, left their stuff behind, it stinks and you are wondering what to do with it?
In any case you will want to itemize what it is, this can be with pictures and/or video if it’s easier. If it’s basically worthless items that appear abandoned, it can be disposed of, the inventory protects you in case they come back later saying there was valuable items. If there are items of value, try contacting the former roommate again and give them a deadline to retrieve, or you will sell or dispose of the items.
Technically there is a process of auctioning off times if it is of larger value, but I am going out on a limb and saying this will all just likely end up in the trash as it doesn’t sound very valuable.
Bill
we have tenants in our home which we also live first they will not pay damage deposit as they agreed in writing, and they also have a dog which is not licensed or has his shots, we have 2 dogs they are up to date we want these 2 out for we are worried their dog might catch something and so will our dogs what can we do thanks
Hi Kal,
If they have moved in and haven’t paid the deposit, you are caught in a tough situation. Never ever let tenants in without the first month’s rent and deposit in hand prior. You can go after them for breach of the agreement, but that won’t get them kicked out, they’ll just have to pay their deposit in a predetermined time frame.
Did you do a walk through inspection when they first moved in? If so, did both parties sign and date it? If not, your damage deposit is worthless anyway. they can essentially destroy your place and you have a horrible time trying to collect anything if you can at all.
As for the dog, if your lease allows pets, you are again out of luck. You can threaten to report the unlicensed pet unless they move. But that might backfire as well and they may simply get the dog licensed.
If you have a fixed term lease, at least you can not renew it when it comes up, if you decided to go month to month, again, more problems for you. You’ll have to wait for them to screw up to evict them.
Regards,
Bill
Hello,
Just wanted to say thank you to Bill for helping me out. First as an acting representative for someone as well as a tenant with my own rental problem. He has been a great help. It has made it easier for on both fronts. Thanks again Bill. I did greatly appreciate it.
Its owned by a Landlord and its run by the property management company. I would like to call you and explain this in great detail. or call me.
Hi Ingrid,
I’m not sure how I can really help you. As I mentioned, your best bet is to talk to the landlord directly in this case. You may also have the option of complaining to the better business bureau.
Regards,
Bill
MY LANDLORD GAVE US A 90 DAY RE POSSESION NOTICE. AND I SPOKE TO MY LAWYER ABOUT IT AND HE WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT BOTH UPSTAIRS AND US THE LOWER TENANTS HAD TO LEAVE BUT THE EXTREMELY PROBLEMATIC TENANT GETS TO STAY? WHAT THE HECK IS UP WITH THAT? THE PROPERTY MANAGER WAS GOING TO ALSO GIVE THE UPSTAIRS TENANT A KEY TO OUR HOME BECAUSE THE TENANT UPSTAIRS WAS DOING INAPPROPRIATE THINGS TILL WEEE HOURS IN THE MORNING SUCH AS EXCESSIVE NOISE TILL 2 AM AND MANY TIMES WE HAD TO CALL THE POLICE ON THE TENANT UPSTAIRS TO STOP THE BEHAVIOURS. THE COPS CAME BY AT 1 AM AND WOKE US UP BECAUSE THE BREAKERS KEPT GOING OFF BECAUSE OF THE UPSTAIRS TENANT RUNNING TOO MANY APPLIANCES AND THIS PERSON UPSTAIRS CONSTANTLY LIED BOUT EVERYTHING. THIS HAS BEEN A COMPLETE MESS AND THE FACT THAT THIS NUISANCE TENANT HAS CAUSED NOTHING BUT EXTREME STRESS AND SUFFERING FOR US AND EVEN THOUGH SHE IS A SINGLE MOTHER AS WELL DOESN’T MEAN SHE IS ABOVE THE LAWS.
Ingrid,
First off, you just seem to be ranting. Second, all caps when posting anywhere is considered to be shouting. third, if you’ve talked to your lawyer, they should be able to help you, if they can, fourth, police don’t show up due to breakers going off.
Bill
I have a problem neighbor who is constantly disturbing us and my Landlord has not done anything to deal with this very serious problem. The property manager is not complying to any laws and we have had to call the police and all that on this nuisance tenant. I am at my wits end and feeling very stressed. Been over a year of Us hiding and avoiding this tenant and this problem tenant also is very much so a bully to us. What can I do?
Hi Ingrid,
Is the property owned by a large company or is it a condo building? If it’s a condo, you may have more options such as complaining to the condo board to get some action.
If it’s owned by a company you may have to bypass the property manager and go directly to the company to complain. If the other tenant is bullying you and making actual threats you can complain to the police about it and your landlord should have the ability to give them an eviction notice based on this, if they will take action and that may simply require hounding them.
Unfortunately with the low vacancy rates in Alberta right now it’s a double edged sword. On one hand if tenants behave badly it’s easy to find better tenants while at the same time it can create extra work for a property manager if they have to evict a tenant and then find new ones.
Regards,
Bill