Not 1 but 2 Month’s Notice

At Downtown Suites we manage all End of Tenancy Notice in an atmosphere of trust, tact and timeliness. Today, I’d like to share more with you on the fine points of the BC Residential Tenancy Act.

When a rental unit requires extensive renovations or repairs, so extensive that the place would have to be vacant, the landlord may give notice to the tenant. In this situation, the requirement is not one but two months’ notice. These renovations would also need all the legally relevant permits and approvals before notice could be given. As well, the Residential Tenancy Act says that the landlord needs to intend these repairs “in good faith”, to ensure that this is an actual renovation/repair and not simply a ruse to remove the tenant. In addition, the landlord needs to be aware that the tenant could give ten days’ notice after receiving this two month notice, with a potential loss of revenue to the landlord.

There are many reasons why an owner might need to give a resident tenant notice to vacate, and landlords should be familiar with the Residential Tenancy Act to understand which of these require two months’ notice.

Such as: the conversion of the residential property to strata lots, or conversion into a not-for-profit housing coop. Of course, in both of these situations all legal permits must be in place.

Or: if a rental unit needs to be made available for a residential building’s caretaker or manager, two months’ notice can be given to the tenant of that suite, to make room for the caretaker.

Other permitted reasons for notice include the demolition of the rental unit, and the conversion of the rental unit to another non-residential use. In earlier posts, I’ve gone over the situations related to notice for the purposes of sale.

The 10 days’ notice scenario:
A tenant receives two months’ notice. He turns around and gives the landlord 10 days’ written notice for an earlier move-out date. Along with this notice, he pays rent to the landlord, covering the time of notice to the move-out date. However, the landlord has the tenant’s previously paid rent (for a period after that effective date) such as a post-dated cheque for the full month and future months. She must return these funds to the tenant. (Please note that this scenario doesn’t apply to a fixed term tenancy.)

Confusing? As experienced residential property managers, we can help you with the ins and outs of these and other tenant situations. Contact us at Downtown Suites.

(This is an important Evergreen Resource article, revisited from our archives.)