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 Jimmy,
Yes you should be able to evict him under the Innkeeper’s act versus the Residential tenancy Act rules. Give him the ultimatum to vacate by X day or you will bring in the police to escort him out.
Now depending on where you are sometimes the police aren’t as cooperative, which may force you to got to court, so make sure you do everything with written notice to him so you have documentation in case of a hearing.
I only check these comments once a month you may want to visit AlbertaEviction.com for quicker responses.
Bill
Hi ,I am renting a room off of someone ,I am not on the lease,and our agreement was that I could pay,what I could towards my rent as I got it,I pay $500 a month and have given $200 towards ,my rent this month and because they are behind in their own bills I was told to have the rest of the rent today or beat . I would have no problem with this but I do have pets and a lot of stuff with noplace to go with it,I was just wondering if they could evict me with no notice lime that or does the 14 day notice apply
Since I’m replying a month after you posted this, it’s probably too late, but that is also why I added to the page, I rarely check this and to visit http://www.albertaevictions.com for faster updates.
Depending on your lease and setup they may be able to have you removed right away as you likely don’t fit under the Residential Tenancy Act when you rent a room in the landlords house. Without more details, I couldn’t verify this for sure.
Bill
Hello,
I have been renting my place for the last 4 years. I signed a lease when I first moved in but never renewed it. The lease stated that I’m not allowed “pets”. Due to circumstances I had to take our family dog (13 year old,perfectly trained). This was almost a year ago. My landlord just sent me a text saying I have to move out by July 31st. I’m not disputing leaving, I’m just not sure that I can find a place by then. How long do I have? Also I have never once paid my rent late, always on time and sometimes well before.
Hi Bobby,
Just saw this, I don’t visit this site much anymore, hence all the links to the AlbertaEviction.com site.
First, if he only sent you a text, it wasn’t valid, it needs to be a written letter. Second, even if he does give you the letter, you don’t need to move immediately, until he has a court order evicting you you can continue to stay and search for a new place.
If you do get a notice of a hearing, I’d make sure to attend explain you are searching for another place and just continue to move forward.
Bill
hi…hoping you are still checking messages on this 🙂
I am legally evicting my tenants with a court order. I am concerned that they may not remove all their belongings by the eviction date. What do I do with their stuff?? If there are guidelines that I need to follow, I want to do that.
I’m currently in a rent to own contract, with a 6 month extension. I put $20,000.00 Cash down as a “prerental” deposit ( as it is written up ) plus a $2500.00 damage deposit, The owner is not willing to show the down payment of $34,400.00 to the lender, nor is he willing to show it to CMHC. I have met all the requirement’s of the rent to own contract, the only reason I’m not able to get the mortgage is because of his unwillingness to show my down payment. the rent I pay is $3575.50/mnth. Can I stay in the house until such time as the amount he owes me is deducted from the total, if not, whats the time frame that he would need to give me back the prerental deposit ? The contract reads that im not entitled to any ” credit, refund, or reimbursements for any amounts of ” RENT” paid.
You’re outside the Residential Tenancy Act as you are under a rent to own contract. In order for him to remove you from the property he has to take you to court and you will both likely want to have lawyers.
It will come down to the contract and any additional paperwork/evidence you can provide.
Bill