Great title, lousy article. At least that is how many of you will feel when you read this hoping to find an easy way to collect money from tenants you have evicted. Although some people have had success with collecting money from evicted tenants, unless the outstanding amount owed is over a couple thousand dollars you may be better off letting it go.
The time and energy you waste trying to collect could probably better serve you by spending extra time finding and screening for exceptional tenants to replace the less than stellar former inhabitants. For those of you looking to collect, though here is some information to help you with the process of either garnishing a former tenant’s wages, or potentially seizing tenant’s assets to pay outstanding deb.
If you are planning on doing this yourself, here is the link to the governments PDF on Getting and Collecting a Writ of Enforcement in Alberta. This 40 page document (yes 40 pages!!) walks you through the various forms and processes, but most importantly, it says this.
“Legal enforcement of a Judgment is often complex and difficult. Many aspects of creditor law and legal procedure have not been explained in this brochure. Court employees are not allowed to give you legal advice. Please consult a lawyer if you have any questions.”
They also include the phone number for the Lawyer Referral Service sponsored by the Law Society of Alberta which is 1-800-661-1095 or can be found at this link, Law Society of Alberta Lawyer Referral Service. You can receive up to half an hour free legal counsel by using this service. Once you have received some advice you can decide at that point whether to pay for additional advice or whether it may be worth it for you.
Due to the complexity, the other option is to have one of the collection/bailiff services do the process for you. Costs for this start at about $700 and can move upwards for additional services, so be sure you are receive a breakdown of what the potential charges will be prior to committing to anything.
Also, this is different from simply sending the tenant to a simple collection agency that attempts to collect outstanding money for a percentage of the debt. Companies like Foster and Co, Kurseshi and Company or Serv-it offer the full service of going through the courts and garnishing wages and can offload the time you would spend on the process.
If you have had experience collecting, or attempting to collect from former tenants, we would love to hear your thoughts on the process.
H, i just came across this as i am preparing for a small claims visit this week. I agree with you that the process is not easy, not obvious, and not guaranteed. But if you are owed more then a months rent, and you feel you know some important info on the tenants so you can collect, I would not be intimated by the small claims process. It is complex and takes time but you’re owed this money. Being a landlord is hard work, and this is part of the process for me. I’ll post again if I change my tune after this adventure is over.
What it really comes down to is time versus money. It could easily take ten or more hours the first time just to learn how to collect the money, spend time in small claims court and even then with a judgment not be able to collect. If you have to go the garnishee route, this can take even more time and unless the tenant has a good job they don;t want to lose, there is a very good chance you could collect the first payment for a couple hundred dollars and then they simply quit and find another job, so you have to begin the garnishee process all over again. So there is some arbitrary dollar amount you need to set for yourself of what is worth chasing.
Thanks for posting and I would love to get some further feedback to see how things worked out. Hopefully it works well and you are able to collect everything!
Great experienced info on here, thanks for sharing. I am facing a nightmare of my own with a couple in my basement apartment. They signed a 6 month lease in Nov/10, they NSF’d Feb’s posted dated cheque and didn’t have March’s rent either. I worked out terms with them for Feb but when March was the same that was it…out! Eviction notice posted, all steps followed to a T according to rules. They have been very vindictive since; threatening to call Health Board (claiming insufficient heat, which it isn’t), threatening to call City inspector for illegal suite, smoking in the suite (which is in their lease not to) and being inconsiderate of upstairs tenant causing a ruckus. Any advise on getting them out before 14 days are up? Thanks
Hi Tommy, or should I call you Steve?
You’ve followed all the rules so that is great, if you are comfortable with your place being fine then there should be no issue with any of their claims. The heat issue is an obvious ploy, otherwise it would have been brought up prior (be sure to point that out if it does go to the RTDRS), make sure you document all the threats ( if it is illegal expect the city to come expect after wards) and I hope you included in their lease the eviction was for not just non-payment, but for a breach (smoking) as well.
You are stuck with the 14 day notice at this point unless they threaten you or the tenant upstairs. If they do this, it can be elevated to a 24 hour eviction notice. Similar process as the 14 day, but faster. If they are not out after 24 hours you still have to go through court or RTDRS, but it will definitely put the fear into them to get the eviction ramped up from 14 days to 24 and if there are threats. Other than that, not many other options unfortunately.
Side note, hopefully your lease is fixed term and doesn’t have the option of rolling over to monthly after the term. If anyone has that in their lease, go delete it right now. While convenient not to have to go back, the headaches if something go wrong far outweigh the benefits.
Regards,
Bill
Thanks, it’s a real curve ball dealing with this stuff. “What doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger”. I really couldn’t say for sure about the suite as I bought the property with it already in, I believe it has all the safety requirements in place. If I do get a visit from the City, what should I expect and how will they notify me they have been around?
Fabulous stuff here, Bill! I have never seen a more valuable, understandable, highly educational, and unique service such as the one you are providing to landlords. THANK YOU!
Hi Harry,
Glad you are finding it helpful!
Bill
Our tenant is moving out in March after a one year lease. To be difficult they decided not to pay their last months rent in lieu of us having a damage deposit. I don’t believe the tenant will pay and just hopefully they won’t trash the place when they go. I have served them a 14 day eviction notice for non payment, and have been in a back and forth with the tenant. I anticipate they will not respect that and stay in until March. I know it could be much worse so what I am wondering is this: can I, without going through the courts or other formal process just send the amount the owe me for February’s rent to a collection agency? Does the collection agency require some type of formal court documentation to register the debt? I figure if I can’t have my rent money I wouldn’t mind being a little black spot on their credit rating. I would pay a small fee to have that type of impact, but as you said sometimes it is better to let these things go.
Hi,
You definitely cannot let them use the security deposit for last month’s rent as it leaves you exposed if there are any damages. If they don’t leave by the eviction date, you can either coast and hope they leave (leaving them in complete control) or take them to court through the RTDRS or the regular court system (putting you in control).
You can approach a collection agency, but without a judgement from the court or an airtight case showing they owe you money they likely won’t be able to do much for you. They could make soem harassing phone calls, but wouldn’t have much leverage. If you do go through the courts (or RTDRS) and get a judgment against them, this will also show up on their credit report, so it works as additional leverage.
Hope that helps a bit,
Bill
Bill thanks for your response. So guess what… I found a bit of a loop at the bank today I’m hoping it works out for me. So I have a cheque that they have put a stop payment on. Apparently… if I cash the cheque it goes through the system, uses up the ‘stop payment’ then has to be certified. Certifying it is a matter of going to their branch and having them pull the signature card or at another branch and they fax the signature card to to branch of your choice. The bank then certifies it and then I can watch the account and when there are funds available I can put the cheque through again. At least this is what I was told. And also based on that we bank and the same institution. So that may be a way for me to get the rent and then have them leave the place respectfully getting their damage deposit back at the final walk through, preferrably at eviction date or at the March 1 date. We’ll see, I’ll keep you posted. I do have tenant insurance on the property and if they vandalize before they leave at least I have that to fall back on. Keys and remotes are costly enough. Hopefully I can get my rent and then make them accountable for the state of the premises and returning all of the keys etc.
Question for you… if it’s not written in the rental agreement a charge for NSF or late payments can I inform them of that today and start charging them as of today or a nearby date?
You are absolutely correct. You can go the branch the check was issued from and get any check certified, if there are sufficient funds available and if you pay the fee. You might also want to check out some of the information about dealing with tenants over at http://www.albertaeviction.com
Regards,
Bill
You can get a away with the NSF charge, but you cannot charge them any late penalties. For the NSF, it needs to be a reasonable amount. So if the bank charges you $15, you can charge $15, not $100
Regards,
Bill
Bill thanks so much for all the info. and sharing the wealth of information you have. Am checking your video’s out on youtube. My tenant returned with a “you can’t evict me in the winter” response. And I am realize that is not true thanks to your blog’s and videos. What is funny to me is that it’s been unseasonably warm this winter and she plans on moving out two weeks later anyway. Some people you just can’t ‘fix’.
Thanks again.
It’s funny, both the evicting tenants in the winter video and post receive a ton of traffic. So few tenants realize they can be evicted anytime of the year in Alberta, if they don’t pay their rent! glad you are finding the information helpful.
Regards,
Bill
Hi Bill,
I noticed in a post above you talked about not rolling a 6 month fixed lease into a monthly. I’m still new to the rental game and have lots to learn. This is what I have been doing, they sign a 6 month lease then go month to month, can you explain why I shouldn’t be doing this and what I should be doing. I also have a question about this….the tenant rents now from the 1st to the last day of the month, he has now given me notice on the 15th of May that he will be leaving on the 15th of June. If I can’t rent the suite for the 16th of June can I keep the pro rated amount for the remaining days of June and also I am then stuck with the utility bill on that suite from the time he signs off for the rest of June. Hope I haven’t confused things here, I just find it so frustrating when I call the Landlord Tenant Board, what I am finding out is that Landlords don’t have many rights with the exception of taking my time and energy going to the courts for what is rightfully mine to start with.
Thanks Bill, you do a wonderful service for us here
Lorie
Hi Lorie,
The reason for using a fixed term is that it’s far easier to get problem tenants out of your property with a fixed term. Once the fixed term comes up, you simply don’t need to renew if it isn’t working out.
With month to month it becomes more difficult, although not impossible. You need to give them three full months notice with month to month when it comes to ending a tenancy, you need reasons to end the tenancy and tenants can fight your reasons. It really just gives you control.
As for leaving in the middle of the month, the tenant is still responsible for the month’s rent. The tenant realistically has the property until the last day of the month. If you can work out an agreement with the tenant where they keep the place neat and clean to help you show it and if you rent it for the 16th I would suggest prorating the payment, but I don’t believe you are obligated to do that (or at least I haven’t run into this, so I cannot guarantee the validity, so if it gets sticky you might have to do more research) , much like they aren’t obligated to give you the keys early.
As for landlords rights, they have the biggest right of all, being able to choose which tenants they allow in as renters. This is the absolute biggest downfall for most new landlords, they let the first breathing tenant in without doing any screening and this is a direct path to problems! Other than that, once a landlord understands the rules, it can make a huge difference!
Regards,
Bill
Now I’m not positive on t
I was in a dispute with my tenants about fixing a dryer, as I was told about it the day I was leaving for vacation. I asked the tenant when the dryer stopped working and was told 5 days prior,I asked them to wait until I was back from my two week vacation. I was harassed non stop and told them to wait the two weeks. to no avail…we had a 1 year lease term. Not coming due until August 2015. She informed me that she was moving out via text Feb 1st. I came back and found out her Januarys cheque went NSF and I posted a 14 day eviction notice for them to move Jan 31st. I was told by tenant to use security deposit for rent. As it turned out they did leave my home was clean but I went in the following day to really clean which took 4 hours of my time. Did not receive proper 30 day notice and would like to know what my rights are. Can I take them to court? can I go to the collection agency? do I collect for the Month of February seeing that I was not given 30 day notice? do I collect for the 4 hours I cleaned? do I collect for the NSF months rent for January? Not sure how to handle this but I do not want them to walk away from this thinking this was the right way to handle it. As it turns out I did purchase a new dryer as I could not do that from CUBA!
Wish you would have posted this on my current site as posted multiple places on this page. I could have potentially saved you quite a bit of money.
Bill