Evictions can be very frustrating and scary to navigate. If you have been evicted for any reason and feel it was a wrongful eviction, do not hesitate to give our office a call and talk to one of our expert legal advocates. 250-493-6822 or email support@accesscentre.org. 

The Basics

An eviction occurs when a landlord legally forces a tenant to move out of a rental unit. If your landlord wants to evict you, they must give you an approved notice with an acceptable reason for eviction according to the Residential Tenancy Act.

10 Day Eviction Notice for Non-Payment of Rent

Your landlord can evict you for not paying rent, even if you are only a few dollars short or one day late. If you receive a 10 Day Eviction Notice, you have five days to pay up in order to cancel the eviction. Alternatively, if your landlord is lying, you have five days to apply for dispute resolution so that you can prove to an arbitrator that you did in fact pay your full rent on time. If you choose neither of those options within five days of receiving the eviction notice, you will be expected to move out by the 10th day. See section 46 of the Residential Tenancy Act (RTA) for more information.

Direct Request: A 10 Day Eviction Notice is the most serious of the four types of evictions. If you do not pay your rent or apply for dispute resolution within five days of receiving the notice, your landlord can use the Residential Tenancy Branch’s “Direct Request” process to quickly obtain an Order of Possession without even participating in a dispute resolution hearing.

Utilities: If you fail to pay for utilities charges you owe, your landlord can give you a 10 Day Eviction Notice, but only after giving you 30 days written notice demanding payment.

One Month Eviction Notice for Cause

The most common reasons for receiving a One Month Eviction Notice are:

  • unreasonably disturbing your landlord or other occupants;
  • repeatedly paying rent late (at least three times within an unreasonably short period);
  • seriously damaging your rental unit or building;
  • not fixing or paying for damage caused by you, your guests, or your pets;
  • causing danger to your landlord or other occupants;
  • having too many occupants living in your rental unit;
  • engaging in illegal activity that negatively affects your rental unit, building, landlord, or other occupants; and
  • breaching a “material term” (serious rule) of your tenancy agreement and ignoring a written warning from your landlord.

There are other less common reasons for receiving a One Month Eviction Notice. For a full list, see section 47 of the Residential Tenancy Act (RTA).

If you feel that your landlord has unfairly given you a One Month Eviction Notice, you have 10 days to challenge the notice by applying for a dispute resolution hearing through the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB). At the hearing, you will be given the opportunity to present evidence in support of your case, but the burden of proof will be on your landlord to convince the arbitrator to uphold the eviction notice.

Occupant limit: Your tenancy agreement may limit the number of permanent occupants allowed in your rental unit. If so, your landlord would have a strong case for eviction if you exceeded the maximum. However, even if your tenancy agreement does not include a term about the occupant limit, your landlord can still give you a One Month Eviction Notice for Cause under section 47(1)(c) of the RTA if they believe you have moved in an unreasonable number of roommates.

Move Out Date: If you do not dispute your eviction, you have until the last day of the next month to move out (assuming you pay rent on the 1st of the month). For example, if you receive a One Month Eviction Notice on March 5th, you would have to move out by April 30th. Sometimes a landlord will list the wrong move-out date on an eviction notice. If this is the case, the notice is still valid but, according to section 53 of the RTA, self-corrects to the legal move-out date. To avoid any misunderstandings with your landlord, it can be a good idea to write them and explain the law to ensure they understand that you are not illegally overholding the rental unit. See TRAC’s template letter, Illegal Eviction Notice.

Early Eviction: If you are causing extremely serious problems, your landlord can ask the RTB for permission to evict you before a One Month Eviction Notice would take effect. Your landlord is not required to give you an eviction notice before applying for this type of dispute resolution hearing. However, they must provide you with notice of the hearing so that you have a chance to present evidence and defend yourself to an arbitrator.

If an arbitrator determines that it would be unreasonable or unfair to the landlord or other occupants of your building to wait for a One Month Eviction Notice to take effect, your landlord will be given an Order of Possession to take back your rental unit on an earlier date. See section 56 of the RTA for more information.

Two and Four Month Eviction Notices for Landlord’s Use

Two Month Eviction Notice

According to sections 49 and 49.1 of the Residential Tenancy Act (RTA), you may receive a Two Month Eviction Notice if:

  • your landlord, or a “close family member” of your landlord, wants to occupy your rental unit;
  • your rental unit was sold and the purchaser, or a “close family member” of the purchaser, wants to occupy your rental unit; or
  • you no longer qualify for your subsidized rental unit.

“Close family member”: The RTA defines a “close family member” as the landlord’s spouse, or the parents or children of the landlord or the landlord’s spouse.

If you would like to challenge a Two Month Eviction Notice, you have 15 days to apply for a dispute resolution hearing through the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB). At the hearing, you will be given the opportunity to present evidence in support of your case, but the burden of proof will be on your landlord to convince the arbitrator to uphold the eviction notice.

Four Month Notice

According to section 49 of the RTA, your landlord can give you a Four Month Eviction Notice if they plan to:

  • demolish a rental unit;
  • convert the residential property to strata lots under the Strata Property Act;
  • convert the residential property into cooperative housing under the Cooperative Association Act;
  • convert a rental unit for use by a caretaker, manager, or superintendent of the residential property; or
  • convert a rental unit to a non-residential use.

If you would like to challenge a Four Month Eviction Notice, you have 30 days to apply for a dispute resolution hearing through the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB). At the hearing, you will be given the opportunity to present evidence in support of your case, but the burden of proof will be on your landlord to convince the arbitrator to uphold the eviction notice.

Evictions for renovations: The RTA also allows landlords to evict tenants, with four months’ notice, for major renovations that require a unit to be empty for an extended period. However, unlike other types of evictions, the landlord is required to apply for a dispute resolution hearing through the RTB, rather than serve an eviction notice on the tenant. This means that the onus to initiate dispute resolution proceedings is reversed. Instead of you being required to dispute an eviction notice for renovations by a certain deadline, your landlord is automatically required to apply for permission from the RTB to evict you. At this mandatory dispute resolution hearing, you will be given the opportunity to present evidence in support of your case, but the burden of proof will be on your landlord to convince the arbitrator to approve the eviction.

Permits: Your landlord must obtain the necessary permits required by law before issuing you a Four Month Eviction Notice, or applying to the RTB for permission to evict you for renovations.

“Right of first refusal”: In residential properties containing five or more rental units, tenants being evicted due to renovations or repairs have a “right of first refusal” to return to their unit once the renovations or repairs have been completed.

If you are interested in being offered a new tenancy agreement for your renovated unit, provide your landlord with written notice of your intention to use your right of first refusal. This will require your landlord to, at least 45 days before the completion of the renovations or repairs, inform you of the date your renovated unit will be available and provide you with a new tenancy agreement for that effective date. Although this may sound like a great opportunity, the problem is that your landlord can set your new rent at whatever amount they desire.

There are strict penalties when it comes to this area of the law. If your landlord does not offer you a right of first refusal after you have given proper notice, they could end up owing you 12 months of your previous rent as compensation. See sections 51.2 and 51.3 of the RTA for more information.

Move Out Date: If you do not dispute a “landlord’s use” eviction notice, your move-out date will be two or four months later, on the last day of the month (assuming you pay rent on the 1st of the month). For example, if you receive a Four Month Eviction Notice on March 5th, you would have to move out by July 31st. Sometimes a landlord will list the wrong move-out date on an eviction notice. If this is the case, the notice is still valid but, according to section 53 of the RTA, self-corrects to the legal move-out date. To avoid any misunderstandings with your landlord, it can be a good idea to write them and explain the law to ensure they understand that you are not illegally overholding the rental unit. See TRAC’s template letter, Illegal Eviction Notice.

Compensation: Landlord’s Use of Property Eviction Notices have nothing to do with bad behaviour. For this reason, if you receive a Two Month or Four Month Eviction Notice, you are entitled to one month rent as compensation to help with the financial burden of moving. Your landlord must either pay you this money or give you the last month rent free.

Exception: The one exception is if you are being evicted because you no longer qualify for your subsidized rental unit. If this is the case, you are not entitled to any compensation.

Deadlines to Dispute Eviction Notices

There are strict deadlines for disputing eviction notices:

  • 5 days to dispute a 10 Day Eviction Notice;
  • 10 days to dispute a One Month Eviction Notice;
  • 15 days to dispute a Two Month Eviction Notice; and
  • 30 days to dispute a Four Month Eviction Notice.

You must apply for dispute resolution within these deadlines. Failing to do so means that, from a legal standpoint, you are accepting the eviction notice and agreeing to move out.

Exceptions: Arbitrators do have the power to extend a deadline to apply for dispute resolution, but not beyond the effective date of an eviction notice. Extensions will only be granted in exceptional circumstances, such as hospitalization that prevented a tenant from disputing an eviction notice on time. See Residential Tenancy Branch Policy Guideline 36 for more information.

 

Info directly from Evictions – TRAC (tenants.bc.ca)