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A big concern when renting a home is paying the rent. A landlord can only ask you to pay the amount of rent that is due, when it is due. For example, if rent is due monthly, the landlord can only require you to pay one month’s rent at a time. If you pay your rent in cash, you must be given a receipt.
Even if your landlord has not done what is required by the law—for example, they fail to maintain or fix a broken furnace—you are still required to pay rent.
Sometimes rent goes up. The rules for rent increases depend upon your living situation.
Generally, the required notice for a rent increase in a month-to-month or week-to-week rental situation is twelve months. However, landlords who are good-standing members of an approved landlord association can increase rent with six months’ notice.
A landlord cannot give notice to increase your rent until after you have lived in a place for six months. As well, they cannot increase the rent more than twice a year.
If you have a lease, rent cannot be raised unless there is a clause for increases in the lease agreement. That clause must state the amount of the increase and when it will take effect.
With leases there usually is a clause about what happens at the end of the lease. Most agreements either say that:
If your tenancy is ending, you and the landlord will need to sign a new agreement for you to continue living there. The landlord can choose whether or not to renew your lease. A new agreement must be submitted to you no later than two months’ prior to the end of your current lease, and you have thirty days to respond. The new lease can include new terms, including an increase to your rent at the beginning of the new lease period.
Some rentals include things like parking stalls, appliances, or laundry facilities. Landlords cannot take these things away from you, start charging you for them, or increase the charge for them. If your landlord wants to change these charges, they need your permission or an approval from the Office of Residential Tenancies.
