Landlord and Tenant Disputes

I’m guessing most of us like to live in a peaceful and harmonious environment, but the reality is, occasionally we have to deal with conflicts and disagreements. When it comes to your relationship with your landlord or your tenant, we hope it’s a good one, but if there are ever any disputes there are a few things you can do to try resolve them.

The first thing we recommend you do, is just sit down and try talk about the problem and work towards a resolution. This rule of thumb applies to most disputes and your landlord tenant relationship is not an exception to that rule. Sometimes all it takes is some time and dialogue to solve the most complex disputes, so this is where we think you should start. Once you come to some sort of consensus or conclusion, it may help to get it in writing and signed so you have something official to refer to going forward. Which leads to our next point.

If you are not able to work your way through the conflict amicably, the next step may be to use any legal documentation or resources that you have available. The first one we recommend you use is the lease agreement. This will usually give you a good understanding of each parties rights and responsibilities, and if it’s written well, it will help you navigate the more straightforward or objective issues. If the lease agreement is not able to help resolve the conflict, your next legal resource is the Provincial Court or the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service (RTDRS) for Alberta, for British Columbia, for Manitoba, for Newfoundland and Labrador, for Saskatchewan and for Ontario. Alternatively, some academic institutions have legal services that are available to students at a reasonable cost or free of charge. If you live in Edmonton, the University of Alberta has Student Legal Services, if you live in Calgary, the University of Calgary has Student Legal Assistance. Same applies to UBC, UVic, MUN, University of Winnipeg and Manitoba and most of the major Universities in Ontario. These resources will help you settle the dispute and identify any sort of penalties, compensation or legal recourse that is due.

We hope you never get into any sort of conflicts with your landlord or tenants, but if you do, we hope this helps you resolve any conflicts. If you have any other ideas, please comment below, contact us or comment on our social media.