Renter (me) advice

[civiclvr]

Hey all,

I've been trying to find this information online but to no real end.

Here's the situation.
My landlord wishes me to go on a new lease (6 months) I do not want to go on a lease. I'm currently month to month, andhave been for the past 3 years.
I have never signed a lease with him (he bought the building when I was already month to month) and he accepted at the time that I was by month. It has been that way for 2 years.

There has never been a complaint about me, nor have I ever been late with rent.

He is telling me that if I don't sign a new lease, he will be giving me a 30 day eviction notice. In my searching through the tenancy act, I have found no grounds for which to do this. He can't end my renting based on my not signing a new lease, can he?

my reasoning for not signing a new lease? I don't want this pressure every 6 months, I don't want an immediate rent increase and I like that I can move if I need/want to.. though I haven't for 3 years and don't really have the inclination to do so.

Help/advice from those who know the Act or are landlords?

Cheers,
civiclvr

[Cos]

AFAIK there isnt a whole lot you can do except convince him

[kaput]

.

[benyl]

He can evict you because of the color of your hair. He doesn't have to give you a reason. He does have to give you 3 months notice. 30 days is not enough.

It is his property. If he gives you 3 months notice, you have to GTFO.

Read the first post:

http://forums.beyond.ca/st/250716/al...questions-faq/

[realazy]

That's what month to month means, it means you or the landlord can end the contract anytime given enough notice. There's really nothing you can do.

If you were planning to stay, a lease doesn't really affect you in any way.

[Tomaz]

Originally posted by realazy
That's what month to month means, it means you or the landlord can end the contract anytime given enough notice. There's really nothing you can do.

If you were planning to stay, a lease doesn't really affect you in any way.

Took the words out of my mouth.

OP: Looks like you will be SOL if you don't sign it. Try one more time to convince him, but if you are month to month, this shit can/will happen.

Good luck!

[Euro838]

Why don't you just tell him you will sign a 1 yr lease if he puts in a clause that you can terminate the lease given 1-3 months (you decide) notice? This way it'll lock in your rental rate for the year if you stay. Even if you break the lease like 3 months in, even if he goes to court, he's not going to get a 9 month judgement against you.

Did you ask the landlord why he wants to have a lease signed? Only reasons that I can think of are:

1) He wants to get rid of you. It is much more difficult to get rid of a tenant on a month to month than a term lease.

2) Wants to have certain enforceable conditions in a lease so if you break them, he is able to take actions.

Anyways, there are ways to make the lease in your favor so it is in YOUR best interest to have one.

If I was your landlord and I wanted you to sign a lease and you refused, I'd definitely jack your rent up a lot so you'd want to move. There are no provisions to protect you from this other than a signed term lease.

[Cos]

Originally posted by Euro838
It is much more difficult to get rid of a tenant on a month to month than a term lease.

[civiclvr]

Well, you guys further scared me, so I finally found out and contacted Service Alberta.
here's what they told me:

I can not be evicted on 30 days notice. I can, however, be evicted by 14 day notice if I am doing something illegal, or damaging the property. 24 hr notice can be given if I were to assault the landlord.

he can raise my rent, but that requires 90 day (3 months) full warning by written letter prior to increase.

He can evict me, given 365 days notice if:
family was to move into my place,
the building was to be demo'd,
building was sold,
major renovations,
conversion to condos.


His threats of 30 day eviction (illegal) and doubling my rent (legal) to get me to sign the lease are recorded.

I've seen his lease. It's scary. What with massive late fees (not a problem for me, never late) and lopsided in his ability to cancel the lease at his choosing, and his ability to evict me at the end of the lease, are reasons for me not wanting to sign it.


I've since called him back and called him out on this. He has backed down a little, saying that after he talked with me, and me telling him that I was going to call the RTA, he ALSO decided to call the Act and subsequently told me that his lawyer was wrong.
coincidence? I think not.


bottom line, I don't care if he jacks up my rent, it gives me 3 months to find a place. A 30 day notice is what scared me.. as the last 3 weeks of the notice I'd be on vacation... i leave in a little over a week.

[Euro838]

To COS

There are only a handful of reasons which are not very easy to meet if you want to boot out a tenant that is not on a fixed term. Even if you wanted to do major renovations, it would require 1 year's notice.

Originally from the Code of Practice from Service Alberta

A landlord can only end a periodic tenancy when the tenant has not committed a substantial breach for the
following reasons (court case: #10):
1. The landlord or a relative of the landlord intends to live in the residential premises (court case: #39)
2. The landlord has sold the residential premises and the purchaser or a relative of the purchaser wants to
move in
3. The landlord has sold a detached or semi-detached dwelling unit or condominium unit, and the purchaser
has requested in writing that the tenancy be terminated
4. The landlord intends to demolish the building
5. The landlord intends to use the residential premises for a non-residential use, such as business purposes
6. The landlord is an educational institution and the tenant is no longer a student or will no longer be a
student at the termination date specified in the notice of termination

VS

Originally from the Code of Practice from Service Alberta


fixed term tenancy

A tenancy that begins on a specific day, and ends on a specific day.

• Neither the landlord nor the tenant has to give notice to the other party to end the fixed term tenancy agreement.
• If the landlord agrees to allow the tenant to continue renting, the RTA says the tenancy automatically becomes a periodic tenancy, unless the landlord and tenant make a new residential tenancy agreement.

[civiclvr]

oh sorry.. I missed Benyl's post.
Yes I can be evicted for no reason after 3 months.. not 30 days.

[Cos]

Originally posted by civiclvr

He can evict me, given 365 days notice if:
family was to move into my place,
the building was to be demo'd,
building was sold,
major renovations,
conversion to condos.

nevermind saw your fixed post

[Jynx]

Month to month lease means he can kick you out any time with one months notice. No questions asked. That's the risk of going month to month.

Think about it like this:

You want the flexibility of not getting locked into a lease but yet you expect him to treat you as tho you are locked into a lease? No way buddy. Its a 2 way street. Month to month means month to month both ways!

[civiclvr]

Originally posted by Jynx
Month to month lease means he can kick you out any time with one months notice. No questions asked. That's the risk of going month to month.

Think about it like this:

You want the flexibility of not getting locked into a lease but yet you expect him to treat you as tho you are locked into a lease? No way buddy. Its a 2 way street. Month to month means month to month both ways!

sorry but you are incorrect:
http://www.servicealberta.ca/1022.cfm#anchor5

quote"
Amount of Notice Required
The required notice depends on who is giving the notice and the type of tenancy.

Type of Periodic Tenancy for Tenant:

Week-to-week - 1 full tenancy week
Month-to-month - 1 full tenancy month

Type of Periodic Tenancy for Landlord:

Week-to-week - 1 full tenancy week
Month-to-month - 3 full tenancy months

When does notice have to be given?



that's 3 months from his end.

[Euro838]

Periodic tenancy (i.e. month to month) is not very easy to get rid of squaters unless you follow through on one of the reasons posted in the Act.

It is not as simple as "month to month means month to month". There is more protection for tenants than landlords and unless it's an outright breach, the courts will generally side with the tenant.

[BlackArcher101]

Originally posted by Euro838
Why don't you just tell him you will sign a 1 yr lease if he puts in a clause that you can terminate the lease given 1-3 months (you decide) notice? This way it'll lock in your rental rate for the year if you stay.

You don't need a lease to lock in the rental rate. No matter the agreement type (6, 12 or month to month), a landlord cannot raise the rent within 12 months of the last increase.

If you sign a new 6 month lease which switches to month to month, then the landlord cannot raise the rent until 6 months of month to month (12 months total) are done with.

[Black Gts]

I currently being fucked by a landlord, 2008 we signed a one year lease. 2009 no lease. April 2010, we were asked to sign a lease to show the bank. We were told, don't worry its just for show we can still be month to month. Come August we ask for an out, are given said out, come now we got nitpicked damages that equal the rent. It was not perfect but some of the damages are plain silly. Also we were "threatened" with paying an additional half months rent. So whatever it is what it is, but don't do any favours, if you need to, have a personal lease dated after the legal one, if its an agreement on the side.