The Alberta Law Reform Institute (ALRI) is in the preliminary stages of exploring a potential law reform project on the Alberta Residential Tenancies Act. The Residential Tenancies Act, establishes the rights, rules, and obligations that govern the relationship between a landlord and tenant.

ALRI held three stakeholder engagement sessions in November. The first being an online session through Zoom and two in-person sessions in Calgary and Edmonton. The sessions were attended by representatives from Alberta based groups working in tenant advocacy, community legal support, landlord and real estate management, vulnerable persons support, affordable housing, as well as representatives from the Alberta government.

Conversation was focused on the Residential Tenancies Act in general but ALRI also conducted small breakout discussions focused on human rights, housing standards, fixed term tenancies, and evictions. Discussions were exploratory in nature with an overarching goal of identifying what data currently exists and what data could be useful in identifying specific areas of the law in need of reform.

The findings from the session will help inform the scope of a potential project on the Residential Tenancies Act should it become an official law reform project. ALRI thanks all of the participants for their time, expertise, and experiences.