This paper deals generally with issues that arise at the ending of the legal relationship between a landlord and a tenant. Each section of the paper includes an informative introduction, a survey of legal rules throughout jurisdictions in Canada (at the time of publication), and issues raised around the topic of the section. The first section of this paper deals generally with the termination of the landlord and tenant relationship, and specifically with three aspects of this termination:

  • The requirements that must be fulfilled before the relationship can be terminated;
  • The method that must be used to terminate this relationship; and
  • The legal procedural steps necessary to recover one’s rights at the termination of this relationship (for example, the steps a landlord must take to recover rights when a tenant is required to move and fails to do so).

The second section of the paper considers the remedies a landlord may have in cases where a tenant has failed to pay rent due (with the exception of distress, which is discussed in ILRR / ALRI Background Paper No. 6). The legal rules surveyed are those that govern the remedies of:

  • compensation for tenant use and occupation;
  • re-entry by the landlord; and
  • accelerated rent.

The third section of the paper deals with the question of overholding, in other words, a situation in which the tenant has occupied the property in question after a tenancy has come to an end. This section specifically deals with the question: “What legal relationship will exist between the landlord and the tenant when, after overholding, the tenant offers to pay rent and it is accepted by the landlord?”

RPNo.4