Landlord and Tenant Advisory Board FAQs

• First, think about whether the problem is a landlord-tenant issue. If your landlord or tenant is being abusive and threatening you, this is a crime. You should report such a crime to the Police.
• Do your best to try and resolve the problem on your own. Talk to your landlord or tenant directly. If this doesn't work, get advice from the Landlord and Tenant Advisory Board or from your lawyer.
• Your next step can be mediation. Mediation services may be available through the Landlord and Tenant Advisory Board in your city. It is a good alternative to going immediately to court. Mediation can be as simple as having a Consultant call your landlord or tenant to explain your position and get their side of the story. Mediation could also involve having both parties meet with a Consultant. Both the landlord and tenant must be willing to mediate; they cannot be forced to. A Consultant will act as a neutral third-party to help the landlord and tenant come to an agreement.
• You may apply to the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Services (RTDRS). Information is available online at www.rtdrs.alberta.ca
• You can also bring your problem to court. Provincial Court - Civil Division (Small Claims Court) and the Court of Queen's Bench can deal with landlord and tenant matters. You need to go to a certain court for certain procedures. As of April 1, 2001 landlords and tenants have the option of getting an order for the recovery of possession of premises, an order terminating a tenancy and an order to vacate the premises from Provincial Court or the Court of Queen's Bench. Get help from a lawyer if you need to go to the Court of Queen's Bench.

Landlord and Tenant Advisory Boards are managed by municipalities. They can do some or all of the following:

• advise landlords and tenants about tenancy matters;
• receive complaints and seek to mediate disputes between landlords and tenants;
• give information in order to educate and advise landlords and tenants about rental practices, rights and remedies; and
• receive and investigate complaints of conduct in contravention of legislation governing tenancies.

• It is an agreement between a landlord and a tenant. The landlord agrees to let the tenant live in a place. The place is called the "residential premise" or "rental unit".
• Some people call it a lease or a rental agreement.

• No. A verbal agreement is just as binding as a written agreement. A written agreement is best because people sometimes forget what they agreed to in a verbal agreement. They can't prove what they agreed to. For this reason, verbal agreements can cause problems.

• It is the law that landlords and tenants of residential property in Alberta must follow. It applies to most people who rent a place to live.
• The Residential Tenancies Act and the Regulations became law on August 1, 1992.

• The Residential Tenancies Act applies to people who rent places to live. The place could be a house, an apartment, a trailer, a room in a house, a basement, a duplex or any other place that a person lives. It does not apply to rooms in the living quarters of the landlord, if the landlord actually resides in those quarters. Also, the Residential Tenancies Act does not apply to people who rent a place for business purpose.
• The Act does not apply to people who live in:
  • and rent a mobile home site;
  • hospitals, nursing homes, senior citizens lodges, social care facilities;
  • hotels, motels, etc. when the person stays for less then 6 months;
  • campgrounds ;
  • school dorms; or
  • jails.

• The law will apply to roomers and boarders when they do not share "living quarters" with their landlord. If the bathroom, kitchen and living room are shared by several tenants (roomers and boarders), the law will apply. If the landlord shares the bathroom, kitchen and living room with the tenants, the law will not apply.

No. There are many laws that affect a residential tenancy. Some of them are:

• The Public Health Act describes the minimum standards required for a unit to be "habitable".
• The Innkeepers Act talks about what a landlord can do if a "roomer" does not pay rent.
• The Mobile Home Sites Tenancies Act has rules about renting mobile home sites.
• The Condominium Property Act gives a Condominium Corporation the right to end tenancies of rental units in a Condominium.
• The Individual Rights Protection Act says that a landlord cannot refuse to rent to someone because of the race, religion, sex, physical or mental disability, ancestry, or place of origin of that person.
• The Alberta Housing Act has rules for social housing units.
• Other laws that affects residential tenancies are municipal bylaws that have building, fire, and zoning codes.

These laws are only part of the law that affects tenancies. There are principles of law developed through court cases which affect residential tenancies as well.

• Talk to your landlord. Ask your landlord to do what he or she is supposed to. Maybe your landlord doesn't know what he or she should do.
• Get advice. Talk to your lawyer or a Consultant at the Landlord and Tenant Advisory Board to make sure that what you expect your landlord to do is something that he or she is supposed to do (not just something that you want your landlord to do).
• Mediation. You can ask a mediator to help you and your landlord come to an agreement. One person you can contact to do this is the Landlord/Tenant Coordinator at the Fort McMurray Landlord and Tenant Advisory Board.
• Take your to the landlord to RTDRS or to court. This should be your last option. Try the steps above first. Get help from a lawyer if you have to go to court. There are several things that you can ask for when you go to court. Some of them are:
  • Damages. You can get money to pay for the expenses that you had because the landlord did not do what he or she was supposed to do.
  • Abatement. You can ask for a reduction in rent. The reduction will be based on what you lost because the landlord did not do what he or she was supposed to.
  • Compensation. You can get money to pay for doing what the landlord was supposed to do.
  • Termination. You can ask to end the tenancy.
  • Specific Performance. You can get the landlord to do what he or she is supposed to do.

• The security deposit cannot be more than one month's rent. If the tenant lives in subsidized public housing, the security deposit can be no more than the amount of the first month's rent.
• The total of all the deposits (pet deposit, key deposit, damage deposit) cannot be more than one month's rent.

• No. Once the security deposit has been set, the landlord cannot put an increase in place.

• No. The landlord does not have to use the security deposit for rent payments while the tenant is still living in the rental unit.

• Normal wear and tear is the change in condition that happens to things when they are used properly for a long period of time. Things just "wear out".
• For example, the hinges on an oven door may eventually wear out and break. This is normal wear and tear. A landlord cannot charge the tenant for this. If the tenant broke the hinges by putting heavy pots on the oven door, then this is damage caused by the tenant, not normal wear and tear. The landlord can charge for fixing the hinge, if the tenant broke it.
• Cigarette burns are damage, not normal wear and tear. Holes which gradually wear in carpets, floors, or counters in places where they are used a lot are normal wear and tear.

Normal wear and tear depends on the situation. Here are some things that normal wear and tear will depend on:

• How long the tenants have lived in the rental unit. When tenants live in a rental unit for 6 years, you can expect more wear and tear than when they have lived there for 1 year.
• How many tenants live in the rental unit. When there are more people living in the rental unit, you can expect more wear and tear.

• This can change yearly. The interest rate is set by Alberta Services, not by financial institutions. Click here for current and past interest rates.

• The person or persons allowed to stay in a residential unit are tenants and must pay rent. If more than one person lives there, the landlord can ask any one person to pay the whole rent.

• No. There is no limit to how much the rent can be raised in Alberta.

• It depends. You can increase the rent only if the tenancy agreement says that you can. Most fixed term agreements don't allow it. You cannot increase the rent if the agreement does not say that you can.

The amount of notice depends on the term of the tenancy. You must give the tenant a written notice.

• Monthly periodic tenancy: you must give the tenant the notice at least three tenancy months before the increase can take effect. You must give the notice to the tenant the day before the rent is due in order to take effect three months later.
• Weekly periodic tenancy: you must give the tenant the notice at least twelve tenancy weeks before the increase can take effect. You must give the notice to the tenant the day before the rent is due in order to take effect twelve weeks later.
• Other periodic tenancies: You must give the tenant the notice at least ninety days before the increase is to take effect.

• Tell the landlord that you cannot afford the increase. Sometimes landlords want to keep a good tenant and may not increase the rent if it means that the tenant will have to move.

Talk to the tenant. Find out when he or she can pay. Try to work out a payment plan. If you cannot wait for the tenant to pay, you can do one of the following two things:

• End the tenancy. You should do this when you want to end the tenancy and get new tenants.
• Seize the tenant's property. You can do this when you don't want to end the tenancy. This will let you take some of the tenant's property to pay for rent.

• You can give the tenants a "Notice of Termination for Non-Payment of Rent" for failure to pay rent. The tenants must either move or pay the rent within fourteen days. If the tenants pay the rent within the fourteen days, the tenancy does not end.

• You can give the tenant a "Notice of Termination for Substantial Breach". You can use "a series of breaches" as the reason to end the tenancy. This way, even if the tenant pays the rent within the fourteen days, the tenancy will end.

• No. Generally, you cannot enter the unit unless the tenant allows you to.

You are entitled to enter the rental unit without consent but after notice to the tenant to: inspect the sate of repair of the premises, make repairs to the premises, take necessary steps to control pests in the premises, for the purpose of showing the premises to prospective purchasers, or to show the premises to prospective tenants. You must serve a notice to enter to the tenant at least 24 hours before the time of entry.

You can enter the unit without telling the tenant or serving notice to enter for only two reasons:

• Emergency: You believe there is an emergency and you have to enter the unit. E.g.:frozen pipes, smoke or water leaking out of the unit.
• Abandonment: You believe that the tenant has left the unit and is not going to come back.

• It depends on the agreement between the landlord and the tenant. The owner of residential property in Fort McMurray must keep the property up to certain standards in order for it to be "habitable". Sometimes the landlord will do the repairs. Sometimes the landlord and tenant agree that the tenant will do the repairs.
• We suggest that the landlord do major repairs like roofing, structural and electrical and that the tenants do more minor repairs like changing light bulbs and fuses.

Use a 24-hour notice when you are concerned for the safety of other tenants and the building. You can give a tenant a "notice to terminate tenancy for damage or assault" and ask the tenant to leave in 24 hours for only two reasons:

• Damage. The tenant has done, permitted or threatened to cause significant damage to the rental unit or common areas.
• Assault. The tenant has physically assaulted, or threatened to physically assault you or other tenants.

If the tenant does not leave in 24 hours, you must apply to a court within 10 days of the termination date in order to end the tenancy and force the tenant to move out.

• Yes.

• The landlord can end the tenancy if the rental unit becomes a registered condominium after the periodic tenancy began and the landlord wants to sell the condominium unit (i.e.: the rental unit). The landlord must give 365 days notice in this case.
• If the rental unit was a condominium unit when the tenancy began, the landlord must have one of the reasons, listed below, to end the tenancy.

You must try to find a new tenant for the rental unit as soon as possible.

• If you cannot get a new tenant or you lose rental income, you can charge the tenant an amount equal to rent for the month.
• If you rent the unit right away, without losing any rent income, you cannot get the previous tenant to pay anything for rent for that month.

• Some people call this "breaking a lease". Your landlord should try to find new tenants for the rental unit. You will have to pay your landlord for rent up until the landlord finds a new tenant or until the end date of the tenancy.

The landlord or tenant serves a notice to terminate:

• by a tenant to the landlord, on or before the first day of a tenancy month to be effective on the last day of that tenancy month,
• by a landlord to the tenant, on or before the first day of the notice period, which is three consecutive tenancy months, to be effective on the last day of the notice period. This notice may only be given for one of the reasons set out in the Residential Tenancies Ministerial Regulations. (outlined in the next question)

• If the landlord or a relative intends to occupy the premises.
• If the landlord has entered into an agreement to sell the premises of the tenant.
• If the purchaser or a relative of the purchaser intends to occupy the premises.
• If an agreement has been made to sell one detached or semi-detached unit and/or condominium unit.
• If the purchaser requests in writing that the landlord give the tenant a notice to terminate the tenancy.
• If the landlord intends to demolish the building in which the premises are located or make major renovations to the premises requiring the premises to be unoccupied.
• If the landlord intends to use the premises for a non-residential purpose.
• If the landlord is an educational institution and the tenant is or will no longer be a student when the notice period for terminating the tenancy has passed.
• If the premises rented are subsidized housing and the tenant is no longer eligible for such housing, has not reported income respecting eligibility, or the public funding for the program is cancelled.
• If the premises are being converted to condominium use. (see next question)
• Where the tenancy was entered into because of employment by the landlord, and the employment has ended. (See "How much notice is required to terminate the periodic tenancy of an employee?")

• At least 365 days written notice. Three full tenancy months if a rented unit has been sold and the new owner wants possession.

The landlord or the tenant (employee) may terminate the tenancy by serving notice on the other party in sufficient time to provide a period of notice of termination of tenancy:

• equal to the period of notice of termination of employment required under the Employment Standards Code,
• equal to the period of notice of termination of employment agreed to by the landlord and tenant,
• of one week's duration, if tenancy began with employment,
• whichever of the above periods is longest.

• Your agreement will continue with your new landlord unless you and your new landlord make a new agreement. Of course the name of the landlord and the address where you pay rent may change when a new landlord takes over.

• The current landlord may be different from the one who collected the deposit. A different person may now own or manage the property. The current landlord must give the security deposits and interests back to the tenants even if he or she did not collect them from the tenant. A new landlord is responsible for providing a statement of security deposit to all tenants.
• There are many persons or companies who will fall under the definition of "landlord" according to the Residential Tenancies Act. If you are in this situation, you should get advice from the Landlord and Tenant Advisory Board, or your lawyer.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Has the tenant paid the rent?
• Has anyone seen the tenant or his or her family in the building? If not, does anyone know where he or she is?
• Are the utilities or phone still connected?
• Is the tenant picking up his or her mail?
• Is there a lot of furniture and clothing in the apartment?
• Is there food in the fridge?

If the answer to all of these questions is "no," then the tenant has probably abandoned the place. If you have an emergency contact for the tenant, try calling that person before you do anything else.

• Decide how much the property left behind is worth. Think about how much money you could get for it if you sold the property. Get the property appraised if it is hard to decide how much it is worth.
• You can get rid of the property if it is worth less than $2,000.
• You can sell the property for a reasonable price if the property is worth $2,000 or more but storing it would be unsafe and unsanitary. You can also sell the property if the cost of storing it is more than the worth of the property or if the property will lose value quickly.
• You must store the property and sell by public auction or a court approved private sale if the property is worth more that $2,000.
• You are required by law to keep a detailed record of the storage and disposition or sale of the abandoned goods, including a description of the goods, the period for which and the location at which they were stored. A landlord is required to keep these records for at least 3 years.
• If you are dealing with abandoned goods, talk to the Landlord and Tenant Advisory Board or your lawyer for advice.

Decide whether you want the people to live there or not. If you do not want the people living there, you can:

• Give the people a notice to vacate. Give them a written notice asking them to leave the rental unit in 48 hours. You must sign the notice and it must say what time and day the people are to move out by.
• Change the locks. Before you change the locks, be sure that you have not accepted the people as tenants. If you allow them to stay there, you could have made them your tenants.

If you want the people to live there:

• Start a new tenancy. Make a new residential tenancy agreement with them and start a new tenancy. Make sure that the other tenant is not coming back before doing this! End the first tenancy by posting a notice of termination addressed to the first tenant before starting the new tenancy.

• Yes, the landlord can collect all of the rent from any one of the tenants who are allowed to live in a rental unit under a residential tenancy agreement.

• First of all, realize that it is not your landlord's problem. It is your problem. Unfortunately, you may be left paying the whole rent. You would then have to find your ex-roommate and ask him or her to pay. You may have to take your ex-roommate to court.

• Think about whether the roommate will be a good "tenant". Consider whether the roommate can afford the rent and whether he or she will keep the place clean and not damage the place. Make sure that the new roommate is not going to leave you paying the rent or do damage that gives the landlord a reason to end the tenancy.
• Make a written agreement with the roommate. How much notice do you each give each other if you want to move out? Who will pay the rent? How will it be paid? Who will pay the other utility and phone bills? It is also a good idea to make a list of items that you have each brought into the tenancy.
• Get your landlord's consent. Ask the landlord to put your new roommate on your tenancy agreement.

• Yes. You are responsible for anyone that you let into the rental unit. If that person causes damage, you must pay the landlord for it. You can ask that person to pay for the damage and you can take that person to court if he or she doesn't pay.

• Some residential tenancy agreements say that a tenant must inform the landlord if a person stays for longer than a certain number of days. In this case you must tell the landlord that you have a guest staying with you.

• Yes. A landlord can give a guest a written notice and ask the person to leave in 14 days. The notice must be signed by the landlord and say the date and time that the person is to leave by. If the person does not leave in these 14 days, the landlord can apply to court for an order directing the person to leave.
• If the tenant is no longer living there but the "guest" remains, the landlord can give the person a written notice and ask him or her to leave in 48 hours. If the person doesn't leave, the landlord can apply to court for an order for possession.

• The landlord can give the notice to an adult person in the rental unit.
• The landlord can also post the notice on the door.
• **"An adult is a person who is 18 years old or older"

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