Tenant Rights
Sandy Hutchens on the dos and don'ts of tenant rights
Keeping records of your rent and lease
Although you are not legally obliged to keep these records, it is very important that you do keep them. You should keep copies of the following: your lease, cancelled rent cheques or bank statements and notices that your landlord may have given you. If there is any dispute or disagreement in the future between you and the landlord you should have a paper trail to back you up. Otherwise it will just be your word against his or her's.
Ending a lease early and leaving notice
You can leave a lease early depending on what type of tenant you are. If your lease has not ended, doublecheck the date. It is usually for a one year term and you do have a commitment to the lease. You should discuss it with your landlord and if they agree to ending the lease early make sure you get that in writing. Include the date you are leaving and ensure that both you and the landlord sign the agreement. If your landlord does not agree to early termination of the lease, call a lawyer or a Legal Clinic. A tenant is obligated to offer the landlord 60 days minimum written notice.
One way of getting out of a lease is to locate another tenant willing to take over the lease, such as by advertising it. See Part six of Residential Tenancies Act, regarding Assignment and Subletting. Look here to see if the landlord refuses or doesn't respond, or conversely contact the IEU.
Assignment of your lease is the preferrable route since the new tenant takes over all of the responsibilities for the apartment lease. Subletting is an alternative but since you continue to be liable for the lease conditions this is usually only used when you wish to keep your lease, but will be gone for some time and want someone else to live in the apartment while paying the rent.
If you never had a lease to begin with, or your original lease expired and you continued to live in the apartment without signing a new one, and your rent is to be paid monthly, you then have a month-to-month tenancy. You still must give at lease 60 days written notice prior to the end of the last month you wish to live there.
If you fail to give your notice on time, you will be responsible for an extra month of rent.
There are a couple of exceptions to the 60 day rule for a monthly tenancy. That is for a termination effective on either the last day of February or March. For terminations of a tenancy for the final day of February, notice must be given no later than the preceding January 1. For a termination effective of March 31, notice must be given no later than Feb. 1. Tenants who rent on a week-to-week basis must give 28 days written notice.
Charging fees for breaking a lease
If you have agreed to a lease for a specif period of time and the end date yet has not yet been reached, you can try to negotiate with the landlord. If you are planning to end your lease at the end date of the agreement and tender 60 days notice of that fact, or if you are a month-to-month tenant and tender 60 days notice, or if you are a week-to-week renter and tender 28 days notice, the landlord can not legally charge you a fee for not renewing your lease.
A landlord entering the apartment
Before they enter your apartment a landlord or an employee of the landlord must give you 24 hours written notice for entry supplying a reason as well as the time which must be between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.. It once was that even under the Tenant Protection Act, the landlord had to have a good reason to come in, in order to make repairs, but currently under the Residential Tenancies Act, they can claim it is just to do an inspection. There is no notice required in cases of emergencies, if you give the landlord permission to do so, or in cases where a notice to terminate the lease (by either the tenant or landlord) has been served.
Pets and apartments
If a landlord says you must get rid of your pet or move you must only do so if the pet is dangerous, causes allergies or problems for other tenants or the landlord. Then you must get rid of the pet or move elsewhere as per Landlord application to terminate tenancy based on animals.
It is so that even if you signed a lease with a "no pets" clause, if the pet is not a problem for anybody they can not enforce it. These no pets clauses are legally invalid. You don't have to move or get rid of your pet unless the Board issues a written order.
Appropriate temperatures for your apartment
Temperatures are set under municipal bylaws. If you do not cause the cold temperatures, (keeping windows open), or setting a thermostat to a low temperature, then the landlord is obligated to keep a minimum temperature as set by the municipality. If the landlord is not meeting the minimum, you can complain to the city's Building and Inspections department or a local city councillor.