Lease ending? Know your rights

You have been living happily in your home for a little over a year and have continued to pay rent to your landlord. But the lease or tenancy agreement you signed was only for one year. What happens now?

Before a landlord can raise the rent or ask you to leave at the end of a lease, there are certain rules a landlord must follow.

How much can rent be raised?

What amount of rent increase is considered lawful? Though exceptions vary from Province to Province, there are generally rules or guidelines fixing maximum rent increases. Your landlord cannot raise your rent above these rules. Check with your Province’s Landlord and Tenant Board to find out the guidelines that apply to your rental home.

Rent increases usually happen at renewal time; be sure to remember that rent increases can only occur on the anniversary of the tenancy or 12 months from the last rent increase. Your landlord cannot raise your rent more than once per year.

It is important you understand that these rules only apply to your existing tenancy agreement. If you move out, your landlord can raise the rent of your former home, to whatever amount he wishes and someone else will pay.

Landlords must provide written notice to an existing tenant before increasing rent. In most Provinces, a landlord must give a monthly tenant, ninety (90) days written notice of when the increase of rent will take effect. If your Province has these guidelines in place, the rent increase is void without a written notice. This means, you do not have the pay the rent increase until the landlord satisfies the notice requirements.

Does my lease automatically end?

Unless there is a clause in the lease that a tenant must vacate the home after the lease ends, the landlord cannot kick you out the moment the lease is over.

Generally, if no notice has been given to terminate the lease, then the lease will automatically renew as a month-to-month tenancy. Please note that the notice requirements for the renewal term will differ from the notice requirements of the original term and are often more flexible. However, all other rules from the original lease, save for the fixed term, will still apply unless agreed otherwise.

How do I end my tenancy if I don’t want it to be renewed?

What if the rent increase is legal and large and so you want to go? As an example, for tenants in Ontario, a written notice of termination must be provided 60 days in advance. Furthermore, the termination date must be the last day of their rental period for the lease. So if a notice is given on the 8th of January, for a month-to-month tenancy that begins on the first day of each month and ends on the last day of each month, the termination date would be March 31st.

A landlord and tenant may terminate a tenancy through a mutual termination agreement at any time.

Hope this gives you some idea of how complex this all can be. Most Provincial Governments offer easy access to help. Go online, check the blue pages and know your rights whether a Landlord or a Tenant!

Perhaps the most difficult part of writing these articles relates not the actual writing, but thinking of a topic to address. So help me! Mail, deliver or fax letters to the magazine or to us, use the web site (www.schwarzlaw.ca), email (info@schwarzlaw.ca) and give us your questions, concerns, critiques and quandaries. I will try to deal with them in print or electronic form.

I would like to thank our student at law, Ernest Woo for his contribution to this article.

The articles provided herein are for general information purposes only and not intended as or to be relied upon for legal advice. Consult with a lawyer for your unique situation.