My Landlord Wants to Evict Me: Difference between revisions

{{Template:Legal Help Guide TOC}}If you rent your home from someone else, you are probably covered by the '''''Residential Tenancy Act'''''. If so, your landlord needs to have a good reason to evict you, such as if you do damage to his or her property, seriously disturb your neighbours or don’t pay your rent. The landlord can also ask you to leave if he or she is doing major renovations or getting a close relative to move into your place.

*'''10 days''' in advance if you haven't paid your rent on time.

*'''One month''' in advance if there is '''cause''', such as:

 

*'''Two months''' in advance if the landlord is doing major renovations or a close family member moves in. Close family members include the landlord’s parents, children or spouse, or the parents or children of the landlord’s spouse.

#If you are being evicted for not paying your rent, you can pay it within '''five days''' of receiving the eviction notice. If you do this, the notice of eviction will be cancelled, unless the landlord is claiming that you have repeatedly been late in paying your rent.

#Otherwise, if you believe the landlord does not have good reason to evict you, get and complete a [http://www.rto.gov.bc.ca/documents/RTB-12-T.pdf '''Tenant's Application for Dispute Resolution'''], available from the [[Residential Tenancy Branch]] or most [[Service BC]] (Government Agent) offices.  

#Send the completed application or take it in to a Residential Tenancy Branch office or Service BC (Government Agent) office together with a filing fee of $50. For a 10 day notice, you have '''five days''' to apply for dispute resolution. For a one month notice, you have '''10 days'''. For a two month notice, you have '''15 days'''. If you can't afford the $50 filing fee, you can apply at the office to have the fee waived. See the Residential Tenancy Branch's [http://www.rto.gov.bc.ca/documents/RTB-17.pdf Application to Waive Filing Fee] to see the documents you may need to provide with that application.

Residential Tenancy Branch staff will look at your application. After the application has been approved and you have paid your $50, you will receive '''hearing documents'''. You need to serve a copy of these documents on your landlord.

At the hearing with an '''arbitrator''', the landlord will have to give evidence of why he or she wants to evict you. You will then be given the chance to say why you shouldn't be evicted. The arbitrator will make a decision about whether or not you can stay in your place.  

If you don't like the decision, you can apply to review it by completing an '''[http://www.rto.gov.bc.ca/documents/RTB-2.pdf Application for Review Consideration]''' and paying a $25 filing fee. However, there will only be a review if you missed the original hearing, you have new evidence that was not available at the time of the original hearing, or the decision was obtained by fraud. Otherwise, only a Supreme Court judge can review an arbitrator's decision. You will need advice from a lawyer to do this.

See the [[Resource List]] in this Guide for a list of helpful resources. Your best bets are:

*[[Access Pro Bono]], [[Lawyer Referral Service]], and [[Private Bar Lawyers]].

* The Clicklaw common question "[http://www.clicklaw.bc.ca/question/commonquestion/1082 My landlord is threatening to evict me]".

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