Governing Legislation and Resources for Landlord and Tenant Law (19:XIX)

A. Legislation and Regulations

Residential Tenancy Act, SBC 2002, c 78 [RTA]. Website: http://www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/02078_01

Residential Tenancy Regulation, BC Reg 477/2003, [RTR]. Website: http://www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/477_2003

• The RTA and RTR set out the law of residential tenancies in BC. They will often hold the ultimate answer to questions relating to disputes between landlords and tenants.
• For the current status of the RTA and RTR, refer to CCH British Columbia Real Estate Law Guide, Robert J. Maguire, Rose H. McConnell, loose-leaf (Toronto, ON: CCH, undated).

Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act, SBC 2002, c 77 [MHPTA]. Website: http://www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/02077_01

Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Regulation, BC Reg 481/2003 Website: http://www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/481_2003

The Residential Tenancy Act, SBC 2002, c 78 [RTA] and Residential Tenancy Regulation [RTR], BC Reg 477/2003 as well as the rules of procedure are amended occasionally; check the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) website (http://www.gov.bc.ca/landlordtenant) to get the most up to date information.

B. Resources and Policy Guidelines

TRAC Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre

Provides a variety of publications relating to tenant law, including the Tenant Survival Guide (also available online as a wikibook, via the Clicklaw website: http://wiki.clicklaw.bc.ca/index.php/Tenant_Survival_Guide) Other print materials are available in the following 19 languages: English, French, Arabic, Burmese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Filipino, Japanese, Karen, Kinyarwanda, Korean, Oromo, Portuguese, Punjabi, Persian, Spanish, Swahili, Tigrinya, and Vietnamese.

Online Website

Residential Tenancy Branch

Main Office

Online Website Address 400 - 5021 Kingsway Burnaby, B.C. V5H 4A5 Office Hours: M-F 9:00 am - 4:00 pm Phone

Information line

Online E-mail: HSRTO@gov.bc.ca Phone Metro Vancouver 604-660-1020 Victoria 250-387-1602 Elsewhere in BC 1-800-665-8779 Fax: 604-660-2363

Downtown Satellite Office

Address 520 Richards Street Vancouver, B.C. V6B 3A2 Office Hours: M-F 9:00 am – 11:30 am (closed on the last Tuesday of every month) Phone

Downtown Eastside Satellite Office

Address Four Corners 390 Main Street (Entrance on Hastings) Vancouver, B.C. V6A 2T1 Office Hours: M-F 12:30 pm - 4:00pm Phone

NOTE: The main office in Burnaby is a full service office. The Richards Street and Downtown Eastside are satellite offices and do not handle money. Dispute applications can only be filed there by low income applicants who are eligible for a fee waiver. Those offices are staffed with information officers.

The RTB website (http://www.gov.bc.ca/landlordtenant) contains forms, legislation and RTB interpretation guidelines, and includes the following useful publications:

Residential Tenancy Branch Dispute Resolution Rules of Procedure Website: http://bit.ly/1Igbqmg

Residential Tenancy Information Sheets Website: http://bit.ly/1KTmo6l

Residential Tenancy Act: A Guide for Landlords and Tenants in British Columbia, (B.C. Office of Housing and Construction Standards, rev. April 2011). The guide is available in English, French, Punjabi, and Chinese Traditional. Website: http://bit.ly/1SixTX7

Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act: A Guide for Landlords and Tenants in British Columbia (BC Office of Housing and Construction Standards, rev. January 2011). This Guide is available in English. Website: http://bit.ly/1SixTX7

RTB Policy Guidelines: detailed information on common problem areas; drafted by RTB Arbitrators. Website: http://bit.ly/1ei1NfH

RTB Calculators: Help in calculating rent increases, dates, deposits and more. Website: http://bit.ly/29tvVCU

B.C. Housing

Information for tenants living in public, subsidized housing.

Online Website Address Suite 101 - 4555 Kingsway Burnaby, B.C. V5H 4V8 Phone Toll-free: 1-800-257-7756

Landlord BC

Online Website E-mail: info@landlordbc.ca Phone Direct: 1-888-330-6707

Vancouver members (formerly BCAOMA):

Address 203 - 1847 West Broadway Vancouver, British Columbia V6J 1Y6 Phone 604-733-9420 Fax: 604-733-9420

Victoria and province-wide members (formerly ROMS BC):

Address 830B Pembroke Street Victoria, British Columbia V8T 1J9 Phone 250-382-6324 Fax Local: 250-382-6006 Fax Toll-Free: 1-877-382-6006

C. Books

Margaret Carter-Pyne, Residential Tenancy Law in British Columbia: Everything you need to know to prevent a disaster (Victoria, BC: Sunnymead Publishing, 2009).

• A useful resource for tenants in preparing for a hearing.

Allan Wotherspoon, Annotated British Columbia Residential Tenancy Act (Aurora, ON: Canada Law Book, 2005).

• This is a loose-leaf volume updated once or twice annually.

CCH British Columbia Real Estate Law Guide, Robert J. Maguire, Rose H. McConnell, loose-leaf (Toronto, ON: CCH, undated).

• A summary of the state of the RTA and RTR.

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