Tenant Survival Manual

Chapters

Introduction

The Residential Tenancies Act

Landlord and Tenant Board

Are You Covered by the Law?

Private Market Housing

Social Housing

Before You  Move In

Tenancy Agreements

Discrimination

Information Package

Last Month's Rent

Key Deposit

Illegal Charges

Rent

Rent Increases

Above Guideline Rent Increases

Rent Reductions

Automatic Rent Reductions

Rent Freezes

Trouble Paying Your Rent?

Rent in Social Housing

Repairs and Maintenance

How to Get Repairs Done

Working Together

Privacy

Locks and Keys

Harassment

Ending a Tenancy

Subletting

Assigning

Evictions

Eviction Procedure

Reasons for Eviction

Conversion, Demolition or Renovation

How To File an Application

Hearings

About the FMTA

Ending Your Tenancy

If you want to move out, the Residential Tenancies Act requires that you give the property owner written notice.

If You are a Month-to-Month Tenant:

If you are a month-to-month tenant (which means that you haven’t signed a lease, or chose not to renew your existing lease) you must give a property owner at least 60 days written notice. If you rent your apartment by the week, you must give a property owner at least 28 days written notice.

You can get a notice of termination form from the Landlord and Tenant Board (Form N9) or you can write a notice yourself. If you write your own notice, it must contain:

ü      Your name

ü      The property owner’s name

ü      The date of termination (which is the last day before you pay your rent – for example, if you pay your rent on June 1^st, your date of termination would be May 31^st)

If you paid a Last Month’s Rent deposit, it must be used for the last month that you are in your apartment.

If You Have a Lease:

If you have signed a lease and you want to move, your date of termination must be the last day of the lease. You still have to give at least 60 days notice before the end of your lease. For example, if you signed a one-year lease on June 1st, 2007, the earliest you could leave would be May 31st, 2008: You would have to give notice to the property owner on or before April 1st, 2008.

If you have signed a lease but need to leave before the end of the lease, you have a few options:

·        You can ask the property owner to let you out of the lease early and get him or her to sign an agreement to terminate a tenancy, which is a form available at the Landlord and Tenant Board (Form N11). The property owner does not have to do this.

·        If the property owner refuses to sign an agreement to terminate the tenancy, you may choose to sublet or assign your apartment.