I receive a considerable amount of emails and searches on our blog regarding evictions every week and quite often, it is the same or very similar questions. Here is a list of my top five eviction questions to help you out.
1) Alberta Eviction Question One – Can a tenant be evicted in the winter in Alberta?
- a. It’s cold outside, the weather can be frightful, but yes if a tenant doesn’t pay their rent or causes a serious breach of the rental agreement they can be evicted. The tenant and the landlord have a contract that both sides have to uphold and is regulated under the Residential Tenancies Act of Alberta.
2) Alberta Eviction Question Two – Can a landlord cut-off utilities to make a tenant leave?
- a. Absolutely not, if the landlord shuts off heat, water or any other utility that he is responsible for paying they can be fined and find themselves in a very bad spot. The secondary question that comes with this is no, you cannot take the front door away for repair either, nor can you change the locks on the tenant without going through the proper procedures.
3) Alberta Eviction Question Three – How expensive is it to evict a tenant?
- a. If you go through the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service (RTDRS) there is a $75 filing fee to have a hearing. If the hearing officer decides in your favour, the tenant is responsible for paying you the $75. Unfortunately collecting the outstanding $75 can be much harder than winning the hearing. If you win the hearing and the tenant still does not vacate it can cost you another $400 to hire a bailiff and have the tenant removed.
- b. There are also full service eviction companies that will charge you from $600 to $1,000 and up for the service and depending on how much additional work is required the fee will continue to increase.
4) Alberta Eviction Question Four – Do I need a bailiff to evict a tenant?
- a. For most evictions, you can complete the entire process yourself through the RTDRS and may not require a bailiff. The only time during the eviction process that you absolutely require the bailiff is if the tenants receive an order from eviction and do not vacate the premises. At this point, you require a bailiff to serve the tenant(s) with the writ of possession which gives you your property back and allow you to legally change the locks and allow the police to charge the tenants with trespassing if they return.
5) Alberta Eviction Question Five – What is the fastest way to evict a tenant?
- a. Each circumstance is different, but generally, the quickest method is to file immediately with the RTDRS and get a hearing date. This will be the quickest sure fire method to evict a tenant. You can provide a 14 day eviction notice to a tenant, and then if it appears they will not be vacating you can file at RTDRS, but it will add an additional week or more to the process.
- b. In the case of a tenant causing serious damage to the property or threatening the landlord or other tenants, you can provide them with a 24 hour eviction notice. Once again, if they do not vacate you still have to file with the RTDRS and go through the process.
Hopefully these provide you with some answers that help you move forward, either as a landlord or as a tenant. As a bonus, here is one additional eviction question.
Alberta Eviction Bonus Question – How long does an eviction take?
- If you follow the systems we recommend (including properly screening tenants), a landlord can have their property back and the tenants evicted in approximately 15 days. Depending on the circumstances, the hearing officer may allow the tenant to stay on and make additional payments to catch up outstanding rent on a set schedule. If they miss any of the payments on this set schedule, you can take your property back within a few days.
If you are a landlord and found this site while you were searching for eviction help you definitely want to check out our main eviction site
www.AlbertaEviction.com
You’ll find dozens of articles about evictions that can answer many questions landlords or tenants have. Over 1,000 comments on the sites with questions asked by people in situations likely very similar to what brought you here. And I even offer consulting and guides if you need help moving to the next step.
You can register there below and start getting information about the eviction process right away. Just click the link below or go directly to the site by clicking the link above to look around.
I rarely check comments on this site so I have disabled them.
If you need assistance or have questions please visit www.AlbertaEviction.com
Here is some more additional eviction articles for you;
The Eviction Process – an Extended Walkthrough of an Eviction
Police Tactical Visiting is a Great Reason To Evict!
Landlord Tips – Filling Vacancies and Saving Headaches!
Hi, I really like you blog and newsletter, they are very interesting and useful. By the way, I can’t find any article written by you explaining how do you implement the “properly screening tenants” as you mention in this article, that would be a good topic. Keep the good work, Daniel.
Hi Daniel,
Some of the links were at the bottom of the articel, but you can also find them here,
Random Landlord Tips
Filling Vacancies – Screening tenants
Thanks for the comments and glad youa re enjoying this!
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If I applying for assistance and the system has made an appointment fir me in 15days and stated to bring my eviction notice with me will the landlord still be able to evict me as I was unfortunately unable to cover my rent and currently waiting fir assistance or a job
So it sounds like you have applied for rental assistance somewhere, but you cannot get in to see them for 15 days, meanwhile you currently have been served an eviction notice? Let me know if I misread this.
If you do not pay before the eviction notice comes due, yes you can be evicted. If you currently have an eviction notice and bring the paperwork in with you to whoever is assisting you, they may be able to rush the payment through the system. Note that you will have to pay the rent in full as well, a partial payment wouldn’t count as a temporary reprieve.
I have a question I have been living in my new home since oct 1 2010
I live in a condo/townhome that is run by a commitee board..
Double parking t.v playing and trying to wake my children up to open the door for me as she slept as I forgot my key. Has turned into me getting a 24hr notice to move?
My landlord knows the neighbours and has said he has gotten several complaints I have not received any documents but what is the legal process for eviction in alberta? I have also had the police come to my home as a result of my ex husband but my landlord assumes it was not.. help!!!! mother of 3
Hi Kim,
I’m a bit confused, perhaps you can explain more. Double parking, playing your TV and talking to the building manager are the reasons stated on the 24 hour eviction? Or what was the reason in the eviction notice? Normally a 24 hour eviction would require a tenant threatening other tenants or the landlord or the tenants causing damage to the property.
If you are being given a 24 hour notice, they have to serve you with the eviction notice, it has to state the reason why and it has to provide a timeline for when you are supposed to be out. If they haven’t served you a written notice and it is just verbal it isn’t valid. Without more knowledge of the actual situation it is difficult to determine your status.
Can you provide the reasons stated on the eviction?
Hi Bill, I have a eviction question for you, if you have two tenants on a lease and one breaches the lease by moving out, can you evict the other one?
Hi Kristi,
Sorry for the slow reply, I didn’t see he comment for some reason. I haven’t run into this question before. I’ve had couples split up and one of them asking if they can stay, but never felt the need to evict the other one. Is there a reason for wanting to get rid of the remaining tenant? It may come down to that more than the aspect of them breaching in this case for one of them leaving. My concern if you don;t have a valid reason for wanting to evict them the courts would rule in their favour.
You could call the Alberta Landlord and Tenant line, that may help. It would be interesting to hear their response.
Regards,
Bill
I have been renting to tenant for a year now. She has been late on her rent a number of times. She has asked us twice to switch the dates the rent was due still she is late almost every month. I have talked with her a number of times about this. Last month I gave her a written wornning that she will receive a eviction notice if she is late again. She wants do a rental perchase contract but I dont feel safe in getting on that kind of contract with her. What should I do??
Hi Kevin,
Just to clarify, you have changed the date that rent was due and she was till late? If that’s the case she hardly sounds like the type of tenant you want to hold onto and entering into a rental purchase contract would lock you in for a while, sort of. The caveat there would be any sort of rental purchase be it via lease option or rent to own (really they are the same thing) would require a larger deposit up front that is forfeited if they breach the lease or walk away. Since she currently cannot make rent, putting up a sizeable good faith deposit would be a stretch as well.
If you have been tracking and documenting all of the late payments and have email and other correspondence between the tenant as evidence you can evict for continual late payments which is a breach of the lease. Here’s a link explaining what you can do from a sister site I also run, What To Do When Tenants Pay Late All The Time
Let me know how it works out and you can leave a comment on the other site if that was helpful.
Regards,
Bill
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Hi Bill, I have aproblem with tenants in the Fort McMurary. Is there anyone who can kick them out in Fort McMurray. Tell me the phome number please
Hi GTG,
I believe you can talk to Kim at Associated Eviction Services. She is based out of Edmonton, but also does some work in Fort McMurray. You can find her site at http://www.evictionservices.ca or call her at 1-780-455-1101 and let her know I referred you.
Regards,
Bill
Where can I find advice about eviction of an adult child. He is 21 and not going to school or paying rent. He refuses to do anything except sleep and be on-line. We have gone to counselling and was told by the doctor that if he doesn’t want to help himself then there is nothing counselling can do to help. Would we go through these steps to evict him or does this fall elsewhere?
Hi Sylvia,
In this case I think you can simply tell him to leave. He’s not renting from you, he is your child that you are kicking out. Tell him what day you want him out (sooner the better), let him know you are changing the locks and that if he is back on the property without permission you will charge him with trespassing. It’s tough love, but at 21 it’s time for him to grow up.
Bill
P.S. I’m not a lawyer, but when your parents kick you out, you need to leave!!!
I was renting this place at a lower price a month to help a couple of people out while I finish some work in the house for a few months. Worte up a lease for three months. Just wondering. They know that when the three months is up the rent will go up and they are fine with the price I said. (but there is to many people and at the time when I’m done the work I only would like two there. Just saying what if I dont want them in the place in three months. 2nd question – If for some reason they they dont leave can I increase the rent to somthing that they dont like or cant afford. Then find other tenants.
Thanks
If you wrote the lease for a fixed term, you can choose to simply not renew it and then they have to leave. In a situation like that though I would give them 30-45 days notice that you aren’t renewing so they have ample time to find a new place.
If they don’t leave, it’s a fairly simple process to evict them for overholding. You can find more information at http://www.AlbertaEviction.com
Regards,
Bill
Hello, I have a roommate that I don’t want living there anymore. He is not on the lease. How much notice do I have to give him. I need him out! Breaks all the rules set by the landlord. Should I ask the landlord to kick him out and how much notice? Thanks.
Hi Kyle,
Are you subletting to him, or are you both on the lease. Depending on this it can change how you have to deal with it. If you are are both on the lease and he is breaking the rules, you are both responsible for the place and could both be evicted.
If you are subletting to him, and he is paying you, you fall under the Innkeeper’s Act versus the Residential Tenancy Act and can evict him almost immediately.
You can find out more about this over at http://www.AlbertaEviction.com, specifically do a search for Innkeeper’s Act and there are some huge discussions going on over there to help people understand the difference and how it applies ot them.
Bill
Bill,
Would storing a motorcycle in the living room of a property be considered a substantial breach? I’m thinking it is, for potential damage or at the least a fire hazard.
Thank you in advance for your reply.
Hi Chris,
Sorry for the very late reply, but yes I could see that fitting as a breach. Most leases these days have sections that refer to hazardous items in the house and it’s not much of a stretch to call a vehicle hazardous. Just to cover yourself, I would likely start with a letter to them advising them that storing the vehicle in the property is unacceptable and continuation of it or a repeat of it will be grounds for offense. There is a chance they simply don;t know any better, but more realistically they simply don;t care because they only rent there.
Bill
Hi Bill….I have a rather convoluted situation ….
My Mom and Step Dad are desiring to get rid of a tenant who happens to be a former family member (daughter in law) who has been living in my late Brothers house for the last decade or so….since my brother died and since the House is in my Mothers name as my late father would have it as such, my Mother and Step Dad now want her out so they can sell the place…
Their was never any lease signed because it was my Moms son living there until he passed last year….the daughter in law has it in her head that the house belongs to her but the reality is that my late brother never left any kind of will or direction indicating that and regardless, my Mother is the house owner by title…..
Now for my own edification, what is the process for my Mother to get the tenant out of the house so she can sell her property……..right now, my Mom does have her Lawyer working on it but I wondered how long will this process take…..
As I stated earlier, their is no lease agreement so what does my Mom have to abide by in terms of evicting her tenant….
Thanks
Devon
Hi Devon,
Remember, I’m not a lawyer, so this is just based on my opinion and what I understand about evictions and rental property. So here goes.
I would start by giving her written notice that the property is being sold and that she needs to be out in 90 days. The 90 days should be three full months, so she would have to be out by November 1st. I would also include the info that the property was never the brother’s, but always the mothers and then provide soem additional info explaining the situation and backing it up.
I’m reading between the lines here and assuming there may be some bad blood, if so you have to determine whether it’s worth making some peace to get the property sold or you would prefer dragging this out until next year. If you want to accelerate it, make an offer to give the former daughter in law enough cash to cover her security deposit and first month’s rent, if she moves out right away, maybe even increase it to two or three month’s rent as an additional incentive.
If there is no lease, you fit into a gray area. Was there a verbal agreement that the property would one day be the brother’s? Was there any type of agreement for the brother to pay the mortgage and if so has the daughter in law carried this forth? The mother is on the title, but who is on the mortgage and/or is the property paid off? There are literally dozens of different scenarios that could play out from this and the daughter in law may have the potential to drag this out for years depending on what those scenarios involve.
You would have to establish your brother and sister in law were indeed tenants, that there wasn’t any other agreement about eventually owning the home, or that there wasn’t anything else in place other than simple tenancy. If you can do that, it might boil down to three months, if you can’t, well the only people who will be happy are the lawyers as it drags on for a while.
Regards,
Bill
Thanks for the answer Bill….my Mother is on the Mortgage as well as the house title and the occupant has already been given 90 days notice and that is up on August 15 of this year….yes their is some bad blood to be sure….no my Brother never left anything indicating what he would have done with the house….not written anyways…..and he owed my Mom and Step Dad a fortune…hence the reason they are eager to get their former Daughter in Law out of the house and sold and being that it is in Varsity, it is a pretty nice place and worth a few dollars.
Yes…I am seeing this already drag out…and of course the Lawyers on both sides love this…..but my Mom has been a Landlord in Alberta and Arizona….she is pretty used to this but this is unique because it was family at least by marriage…..
Nothing was really ever agreed on written wise but perhaps some verbal agreements but knowing my Mom, she never would have committed to the house being ever handed over to her daughter in law and neither would have my late Father…..indeed, in my Dads will, he leaves everything to me, my late brother and his ex wife….that is my Mom……
Their is no lease…all my brother did was pay my mom for the mortage on a monthly basis…..and his widow has been doing the same for the last 7 months but she was short this past month and late…..she has no job and she is getting late on the utilities…..
It is only a matter of time but my Mom would like this over quickly….of course that rarely happens …..
Thanks for your insight and any additional ideas.
Devon
I would add my Mom did make a cash offer to get her out but the daughter in law is adamant that she wants the whole place …..obviously that isnèt going to happen and no offer now will be forth coming….
Also, no the house is not paid off….about 140 000 still left owing……
Thanks
Devon
Bill,
I have a room mate that I am trying to evict, she is on a month to month lease. She does not pay her rent on time. Her on-suite flooded, their is damage to the bathroom walls and the bedroom, she did not tell me until the tenant down stairs tenants noticed water coming into their on-suite. This happened on a weekend I was notified on a Tuesday. I am responsible for all damages.
I do believe her financial issues are not mine, she is responsible for her own financial well being when rent was late I sucked it up and gave her the benefit of the doubt.
I served her with an eviction notice once and of course she is not leaving I am about to serve her for a second time. By the end of this eviction notice she has had a month to find other accomidationis. I want her gone, I need to get contractors in to do work. Is my next step filing with the RTRS, I have tried to be understanding but it has gotten me nowhere.
Thanks
Jeremy
Hey Jeremy,
I wouldn’t serve her, I would proceed directly to the RTDRS. Eviction notices are pretty worthless if you expect someone won’t leave. To get someone out legally, you need a court ordered eviction notice and a landlord’s eviction notice just ends up delaying that by two weeks.
Beside the fact that most of the notices are invalid anyway as they typically miss some of the specific details required to make them valid.
Being understanding at this point won’t really help you, you need to get her out unless you are fine paying for the repairs and incurring extra costs out of your pocket.
You may also want to check out the info at http://www.AlbertaEviction.com where you can pick up a guide to walk you through the RTDRS and many other helpful tips about evicting someone.
Bill
I am renting a place and when we moved in we had a dog. The landlord came over to exchange a washing machine and noticed dogpoop on the basement cement floor. The dog was recently killed on the road and we have gotten two puppies. The dogs are not allowed on the carpet and cannot get downstairs. We have no rental agreement. Is this a legal reason to evict? Or demand we get rid of the dogs within 4 days?
Thank you!
Hi Tina,
Just read your comment, without a written lease agreement it can be harder for the landlord to evict you for having pets. Especially if they originally allowed pets. You have a pretty good argument to stay at this point.
Regards,
Bill
An agent of my landlord (or so she says) put a note under my door stating she will not be renewing my fixed term lease which ended August 31, 2012. As a side note, the landlord has cashed 4 monthly rent cheques since then. No reason was spelled out and no date or signature was included. Question 1: Can I be evicted with a note under the door or must they do it in person? Question 2: Can I be evicted without cause? Question 3: Can they refuse to accept my next rent cheque and what do I do if they won’t take it (assuming they will then evict me for non-payment of rent)?
Hi Marissa,
So first off she is supposed to have a reason to evict you unless she is not renewing the lease term. In this case, since the lease term ended at the end of August and she didn’t inform you at that time it defaults to a month to month lease which now changes everything.
Now it’s no longer a matter of not renewing the term at the end of it, she has to give you 90 days notice to terminate the lease because it’s month to month. If she just gave it to you, you wouldn’t have to be out until the end of March at this point as the 90 days must include three full months. If the notice she gave you was for just 30 days, it’s invalid. So that’s the good news for you.
As for whether they have to do it in person, no they do not. Part of this is because the real problem tenants simply avoid their landlords so they would never get evicted. Due to this as long as the note is properly posted and properly written up it is valid. Ironically the majority of the eviction notices I see are done wrong and invalid, they are dated wrong, they don’t have the correct information, they don’t include the reason why, they don’t include the landlords address, they aren’t signed or a majority of little pieces missed by the landlord.
They are supposed to have a reason for evicting you, although if they really want you out, there are numerous ways to do it such as rent increases to a point it forces you out or finding you in violation of other policies stated in the lease.
And they can refuse to accept your payment, but if they don’t have a valid reason for the eviction, it can backfire on them. Just document when and where you tried to pay them if it does come down to a hearing at some point. If their eviction was invalid, they refused to take payment and then they try to evict you through the courts or the RTDRS if you document all the issues (no real reason to evict, you are on a monthly lease now as they never renewed or terminated the fixed term, improper eviction notice periods, etc) the hearing officer or judge will very likely find the landlord at fault.
If they unsuccessfully try to evict you and get reprimanded and fail, it will be much harder for them to evict you or try to evict you a second time as you can point out they are simply harassing you now, if there is no valid reason to evict.If they try the rent increase approach, you can try taking them to the RTDRS to complain that they are illegally forcing you out and their rent increase may get thrown out, if it is unreasonable, if it’s only $50 to $100 it may be allowed.
So bottom line, they likely won’t be able to evict you for this, if it’s not signed as you pointed out and they didn’t include a reason (although you said it mentions not renewing the fixed lease?), it’s not valid anyway. the problem is, if they really want to get rid of you, will it be worth staying. It might take another six months or a year, but it could be a hostile environment, so weigh your options carefully. Don’t burn your bridges, document everything the landlord has done and be prepared for a bit of a battle.
hope that helps,
Bill
Hello. My partner and I have been renting a home for almost 4 and a half years. We did originally sign a one year lease with the understanding that they wanted to have access to walk through the home every 3 – 4 months. We have had another 2 children in this time totally us with four. We have never had to sign a lease since that first lease expired. We had, I believe maybe 2 checks on the home. Our landlords have always been happy with us and the condition of the home. We had planned on staying hear until when could afford to buy a home.
In mid June, we receive a call saying that they wanted to come over to talk to us. The landlord came alone without his wife the next night. He told us that we were being given 3 months (90 days) to leave because he and his wife were in the process of separating and he wanted our house. Bad news for us but when understood. I told him that I wasn’t impressed with him throwing this at us mid month. Most homes are rented at the beginning on the month. The next day or the day after, we received a type letter in our mailbox. This letter was dated a few days before we receive this in the mail. We have until September 9th to vacate. I feel this is an eviction but not a fault of our own. I told him that We could rent something on the first of August or September and would use the extra days to clean the home properly while it was empty. We would hand in our keys as soon as possible. I also said that because he did this mid month that I would hope after all years renting, they would not charge us for the extra 9 days. We would have to pay rent on the first as well as damage deposit. I would assume our damage deposit would be returned 10 days after we vacate. They know we have 4 kids under 6 years of age, a 15 year old that belongs to my partner and live on a single income. This I believe only boils down to whether they want to be nice or not.
My question is this: seeing as we were asked to leave, do we still need to give a 30 day notice or not. Doe the notice have to be from the first to the first or can it be any thirty days within the allotted 3 months. I personally think we should be able to leave whenever, but the laws always seem to favor the landlord. My partner spoke to the lady landlord and she told him that if we left in Sept rather than August, it would be much better for then. Leaving in Sept would only give us 2 or 3 days to move, get set up and start 2 children in school. Not an enjoyable thought. We don’t know how to leave without getting penalized but we believe in being fair. Any thoughts on the notice or if we need to give one, would be much appreciated. Thank you.
Nicole
Hi Nicole,
Since you are actually on a month to month basis due to the original term arrangement not being renewed, legally you wouldn’t have to be out until the end of the month. Also, the landlord has to give you three full months notice.
If he gave notice in mid June, that would include July, August and September, again giving you until the end of the month which would be September 30th.
As a tenant under a month to month lease you only have to provide 30 days notice which also must include one full month. So if you find a place for September 1st, you just have to provide notice before August 1st for it to be valid. Doing it this way would be in your best interest in case the landlord decides to try and hold you to the extra nine days as it would show you followed all the rules and they did not.
If you provide the proper notice you wouldn’t be subject to any penalties and shouldn’t have a problem. Also with the length of time you have been there it would be very hard for the landlord to retain any portion of your security deposit unless you left the place in a mess and it sounds like you are quite conscientious, so I don’t see this as a problem.
In your case the laws actually favour you. You only have to provide 30 days notice where as the landlord has to provide 90 days. He has already doen it wrong and you are armed with the knowledge of how it should be done. Technically you could even dispute his eviction notice resetting the clock and causing him to have to resubmit a 90 days notice pushing back the actual date to be out until November 1st now.
Hoep this helped, for more information about the Alberta Eviction process, you can visit http://www.AlbertaEviction.com where I actually tend to answer questions faster. This site I only check in on every few weeks.
Bill
Hi, we had people sign a rent to own agreement. It expires end of this month. Due to the floods, they asked for an extension of one year. They also built an illegal suite with stove in the basement, which I discovered when checking the house out. I am not comfortable renewing. They have put about 12,000 down over the two years. I feel bad for them, but how can I trust them after this? Do I just tell them I am not renewing and they have to vacate, or wait till I have a lawyer review it?
Hi Marty,
This mostly revolves around your rent to own agreement and how it’s written to resolve this type of scenario. If it’s not broken down it could end up you may have to refund part or all of their $12,000 down. Does your lease state they have to go through you to do any changes to the property like renovations? If it does it could be grounds for eviction as well as termination of the contract.
A proper rent to own agreement consist of the purchase option and a lease option and how both parts are written can vary greatly.
Depending on the relationship as well, not renewing could put their hackles up. If they feel they aren’t going to get their $12k back, they may cause $12k of damages to get even. Not saying they would, but this may be a concern for you.
Maybe you need to meet them in the middle and write a new six month contract where they have to purchase in six months or vacate, plus make them responsible for any of the changes they made to the property and/or costs to return it back to it’s original state.
If your purchase priced is based on a fixed price delaying it would be in their favor as the floods will cause prices to go up faster than normal for a while. If it’s based on the current market price at time of purchase it may be beneficial for you to wait a little longer.
Regarding the $12k, did they put that down as separate deposits to you or was it all part of one rolled in rent check? If it’s one check you may run into issues with them trying to get financing as well as the portion towards the downpayment isn’t clearly defined unless it’s separate and many banks won’t accept that as the downpayment causing the deal to also fall through.
Bottom line there are a ton of potential hotspots you need to worry about.
Bill
My landlord has given me a 14 day notice to evict (it clearly states that at the top of the letter). Within the body of the letter it states that if I don’t pay my rent, I need to be out by August 18 and if I do pay my rent I need to be out by August 31. The letter is dated August 2 and was left on the floor in the hallway outside of my apartment. We have tried to pay the rent twice since then. The first time they did not answer the door and yesterday they refused to take the cheque stating that we were evicted and could not pay on the fourth of the month. Can they refuse payment in order to have me out by mid month? This has been a hostile environment since the new owners took possession…we get notes about random new rules under the door weekly…we are leaving but mid month for non-payment when they won’t accept payment may not be doable.
Hi Marissa,
If you haven’t paid rent, you are able to be evicted, that’s the bad news, the good news is you won’t have to be out until the end of the month anyways most likely. If you don’t pay by the 18th, the landlord still has to take you to court or the RTDRS to get an official court ordered eviction. This can take an additional five days or more just for the hearing and then the hearing officer or judge sets the eviction date.
No way to tell the exact date this would be, but typically the earliest would be the end of the month or potentially mid next month depending on the severity of your breach. If it’s a one time deal of non-payment and you have extending circumstances as to why and can show it, you would get more time. If the landlord is ill prepared and appears incompetent, you will get more time, If the landlord has made legal errors, you will get more time.
All in all there is much in your favor, unless this is a constant problem of being late and again it would come down to whether the landlord is evicting you properly. Is there a specific reason for the eviction? Last year you had informed me your lease ended and your landlord was not renewing, but had continued to cash your rent checks. If this is still the same place, unless you signed a new lease, you are on a month to month basis, so they can’t order you out by the end of the month, unless of course you haven’t paid and they still have to take you to court.
Does that clarify things a bit?
Bill
Can a landlord evict a tenant if they have small children and nowhere to go?
Our new landlord has been breaking rules, now she has left her Daughter in charge and left. Her daughter is trying to break more rules and is doing illegal acts… she is trying to force people to sign agreements that goes against the terms and laws set by the RTA. We are fearful that she will try to evict us if we refuse to sign these agreements… we have a 7 week old baby and if we had a place to go to we would have moved when all this first started…
We need help…
Hi Poly,
Anyone can be evicted if they break the terms of the lease or the Residential Tenancy Act. There are set timelines for this to occur and it can vary depending on the breach. With children, you will be given more time, but if it was for something serious like threatening the landlord or major damage to the property, that timeline can be as short as 24 hours.
The important part for you to know is that if you do sign the agreement and they are against the rules set out in the RTA, the RTA rules supersede the lease agreement. So even if you sign and they are trying to enact something against the RTA rules, they won’t be able to evict you for it and depending on what they do, they may even face fines.
Bottom line, if you are paying your rent on time, not breaching any of the laws set out in the RTA and under the lease that comply, they will have a hard time evicting you. Even if they provide you with an eviction notice, you can fight it and they have to go to the courts or the RTDRS and if they are breaking the rules laid out in the RTA, the eviction can be thrown out making it even more difficult for them to evict you later as it will look like a revenge eviction.
Hope that helps,
Bill
For more information about the eviction process in Alberta visit our eviction information site at
http://www.AlbertaEviction.com
I am a property owner in Alberta and I rent the house to a tenant. This tenant then sublet the property to different people. The lease with my direct tenant has expired and he has no intention to renew the lease. His tenants are still living in my house. As my understand, they are of course not my tenants. I did not screen and choose them. I dont have any contract with them. Questions: 1/ Are they my tenants? 2/ How can I evict these occupants to get the property back? How long will it take? Thanks.
Hey Johnson,
I only check this site about once a week, fortunately you had good timing. You may be able to evict them at this point although it’s a little trickier now. Did you allow the tenant to sublet, or did he break the lease by doing so? As you mentioned with sublet tenants you have no control over screening and choosing the tenants, so I wouldn’t recommend allowing this.
It sounds like you had a fixed term lease, does it default to month to month after the fixed term? Or how did the lease expire? Did you provide the original tenant any notice you weren’t renewing if it was fixed term? Technically you don’t have to, but if you don’t how do you expect them to be out on time?
The problem you are going to run into at this point is you technically need to evict the former tenant, not the current tenant, so it will depend on whether you allowed subletting. I’m not sure of the specific rules of this, but if you didn’t allow subletting, you can evict the current tenants for essentially squatting.
You may have to call the RTDRS specifically to address this (or the courts) and much of this will fall back on whether you originally allowed the sublet and/or provided any direction for the subletting.
Bill
Hey there, I have been at my place for over a year now and my lease just finshed, I have paid rent a few days late quite often I wont lie, but never more then a week or so at the most, the landlord came to my house and gave me a letter to pay the remaining amount in 3 days or a court hearing would be in order, i paid it in 5 days as they gave me the notice on a friday and expected payment by monday, so they counted the weekend as 2 days of the notice, now i am all paid up but he still served me with a court hearing notice and told me he either wants me out or to me on a set pay date and if im late he can kick me out in 48 hours, i am currently lookng for a new place now cause its not worth all the hassle, but heres the kicker, the tenant upstairs is a drunk, he has tryed to start fights with me on a monthly basis, i recorded him uttering death threats to me, saying he wa specifly going to kill me and bury me… i played it for my land lord, he took a copy of the repording… and did nothing…. we have called the cops on the tenant upstairs before. the landlord knows this and still did nothig to ensure our saftey or even try to evict the vioent tenant… even tho i am moving i still want to show up for the hearing to tell the courts how little they have done to help… Do you think theres a point for me to show up for it and tell them my story before i leave? thanks so much.
Hi Nathan,
If the upstairs tenant threatened you, he should have been evicted originally. Still the landlord has the right to evict you if you are continually paying late.
It sounds like you are making the right decision moving on, but you should either work on a modified rent schedule to make sure you;re not late at your new place. With a tighter rental market in Alberta many landlords won;t hesitate to evict if someone is causing problems as there are so many tenants who will pay on time just to keep a place.
It wouldn’t hurt to attend and will actually be beneficial if you need extra time to move on. You can explain your side of the story, and depending on the reason for the landlord evicting it may get thrown out or they may put you on a payment schedule that you have to stick to until you leave.
Regards,
Bill
Thanks for yor reply Bill, I have secured a new place to live for nov 1st, I am going to attend the hearing and request my damage depostit back as I have actaully impoved the property by installing smoke alarms, fixing window tracks and repairing holes in the wall.
I am wondering how long I have to wait for my deposit back, should i stay in the suite until they return it? I have been jipped for my deposit beore when they asked me to wait a week and the place was in perfect shape. I dont want it to happen again.
Also when i attend the hearing should i mention that I have told my landlord about the threats from the above intoxicted tentant and let them know they did nothing to ensure my saftey?
They also told me they just wanted to put me on a payment conditon so if i am late they can evict me in 48 hours… or course im not going to let them do that lol Its easier to just move. And when i attend the hearing should I bring the recordings of the threats beng made to me? Will they listin to it?
I should also mention that I was only late on rent because i work out of town and anytime i set up a time to meet he would send someone different, i.e the maintenance guy, a different resident manager from the company, and when i moved in the first gy told me rent would be picked up every month on the 1st, after the first guy was fired they expected me to drive 30kms to bring them rent ever month so it made it very difficult to see them between there hours of business as it conflics with my hours of work.
Thanks again for your advice Bill.
Nate
Hi Nathan,
The landlord has to return the deposit, a portion of the deposit and/or a statement of any deductions within ten days after the rental ends. If they don’t provide you one or a combination of both, you can then take them to the courts or the RTDRS to get a judgment for it.
Note they can mail it out to you, so long as they can show they sent it to you and if you haven’t provided a forwarding address they can always send it to the last known address. Which is where you currently are at and unless you pay for mail forwarding means you wouldn’t see it.
So make sure you provide a forwarding address or get the mail forwarded!
I would bring up the information you mentioned about the threats, it wouldn’t hurt to bring the recording, although the judge or hearing officer may not listen to it, but better to have it just in case.
If you’re moving the payment plan is irrelevant, so make sure you mention that to the hearing officer.
Ultimately, if you’re late paying you’re late paying whether it’s due to working out of town or not. You can make arrangements to leave post dated checks, do email payments or various other methods of payment, but the responsibility falls on you. Having said that, you shouldn’t have to drive to meet them. They should make arrangements to meet you if something hasn’t been set up or they should have something in place that works for both of you.
This isn’t always possible and I understand the playing field is currently tilted in the landlords favour in Alberta due to the low vacancy rates. But a good landlord will make things work for a good tenant, so if people aren’t being reasonable, it may not be the right place to stay anyway and is just a precursor to future problems.
Hope that helps,
Bill
Hello, today we had a hearing with the RTDRS and we have an order for us to vacate by noon on July 31, 2014. We have a new home to move into and an 8 year old daughter and asked to stay until the 15th of August but unfortunately this was the decision of the adjudicator. We feel the amount of $ we have been ordered to pay is not right and would like to appeal the order. If we do will that put a stay on the current Order? If not if we d not vacate on the 31st how long will it take for the Civil Enforcement to come? We are so stressed we told the member we have no family to move in with, we have a child and we were not asking to stay forever and would even pay the extended time. We live in St. Albert and need to stay here for our child’s sake and finding a rental has been extremely difficult landlords have been saying they will have 25-50 applications so it has been a hard process. Rent has been paid up to date every month, however the landlord says we owe for utilities that he incurred at the beginning of our lease. Today in the hearing his wife stated it was their fault for not cancelling the utilities but yet the member awarded for us to pay them when the lease clearly states “utilities are not included in the rent” and we had utilities in our name from the beginning. We need to file an appeal ASAP as the 31st is next week but wonder if it is worth it, feeling very dejected today.
Hi Matlyn,
Whether the appeal will stay the order or not depends on what you’re appealing and whether it gets approved. You will need some justification for an appeal as not all appeals are approved.Understand that even if you do get a stay and then lose the appeal, it will also just put you in a worse situation as there will be even more costs added to the judgement.
As for how long you have after the 31st, it could be possible the landlord could show up with civil enforcement by early afternoon on the 31st as the order is for noon on that date.
Now, from my experience, when tenants have young children, they are typically given additional time, unless there are some extenuating circumstance. Usually the hearing officers are extremely lenient in those cases and often to the dissatisfaction of the landlords.
Seeing that you have been given only 7 days this may give you an opportunity for an appeal, however, typically whenever tenants are given short periods to leave the property, there is more going on than just one issue. Especially something as innocuous as some unpaid utilities. So is there some additional information that you omitted here?
Bill
Hi Bill
No the only issues addressed on the order is the money owing and possession for the 31st. We asked for 2 weeks along with a schedule to pay the money and he came back with this order. Also in the hearing the landlord admitted not shutting off the utilities was his mistake. We are not able to find anywhere to stay.
Hey Bill,
Have my name on the lease, and Ive sublet a room to another party. We didn’t have a written agreement when he moved in, just a verbal agreement on rent an utilities but nothing else.
I asked him to leave and gave him two months notice, however this has turned him incredibly hostile, he is leaving the front door open, he is leaving all the lights in the house on to run up the bills, has accused my son of rifling through his room, not to mention his aggressive demeanor.
He drinks daily, I have two small children, I am nervous about his anger and drinking and I want him out soon as possible, what are my options here?
Someone told me I would fall under the innkeepers act, and because of this I could evict him almost immediately with written notice, is this true? What would you recommend?