Tenants

Your landlord has an obligation to keep the premises in a good state of repair, fit for habitation, and in a state that complies with health, building and maintenance and occupancy standards required by law.

You should try to speak with your landlord first to see if you can work something out. Consider writing a letter. If that does not work, you can apply to the Director of Residential Tenancies.

You can contact the Residential Tenancies Branch for more information:

• • Residential Tenancies Branch
  • 1700 – 155 Carlton St.
  • Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 3H8
  • Telephone (204) 945-2476; Toll Free: 1-800-782-8403
  • Fax: (204) 945-6273
  • email:
  • https://www.gov.mb.ca/cca/rtb/index.html

Your landlord may occasionally need to enter your suite for the purposes of repairs, making condition reports, or insurance or safety inspections. Usually, your landlord must give you written notice of at least 24 hours before entering your suite. The notice must say why entry is needed and give either the time of entry or a reasonable timeframe for the entry.

However, there are certain instances when a landlord can come into your rental suite without giving written notice:

• • If access is necessary during an emergency,
  • If you have consented to that particular entry,
  • To provide services included in your tenancy agreement (for example, housekeeping),
  • To show the unit to prospective tenants (after you have indicated that you are leaving), and
  • To make a move-out condition report on the day you move out.

Three months before your lease is up, your landlord should provide you with a new lease agreement for the same length of time and with the same benefits and obligations, excluding a possible rent increase.

If the landlord does not provide a new lease agreement providing at least three months’ notice, there is an automatic renewal of the lease for the same period of time—or one year, whichever is less—with the same benefits and obligations. Your landlord may still choose to raise your rent at a later date, which would require them to give you at least three months’ notice.

Speak to your landlord and see whether they will still allow you to submit the signed lease agreement. However, because you have passed the time limit for submitting the lease, the landlord can refuse to accept the new lease and you may be forced to move.

A landlord may attempt to raise your rent every year as long as they provide notice at least three months before your lease is up. The notice must set out:

• • the amount of rent you currently pay,
  • the intended increase in rent and the date that it is effective,
  • the maximum rent increase set out in the regulations,
  • a statement of the three month notice requirement, and
  • information on the option to dispute the rent increase.

You may file an objection with the Director of the Residential Tenancies Branch at least 60 days before the increase is to come into effect. The Director will consider, among other things, the rents charged before the intended increase, any increases in actual expenses, changes in services and facilities, any repair orders, and objections and concerns raised by the tenant. The Residential Tenancies Branch can be contacted at:

• • Winnipeg:
    • 1700 – 155 Carlton Street
    • (204) 945-2476 or 1-800-782-8403
  • Brandon:
    • 143 – 340 9th Street
    • (204) 726-6230 or 1-800-656-8481
  • Thompson:
    • 113 – 59 Elizabeth Road
    • (204) 677-6496 or 1-800-229-063

Your landlord has to give you at least 3 months’ notice. If you have a school aged child, the landlord cannot end the lease during the school year (September 1 – June 30). If you are given notice to move for reasons other than cause (for example, not paying rent on time), your landlord may also have to help with moving costs up to $500.

What you can do depends on why you got the eviction notice. If you didn’t pay the rent within 3 days of the rent being due, the landlord can give you an eviction notice. In this situation, your landlord can decide how long you have to move out, but must give you at least 24 hours from the time of giving notice.

5 days’ notice of eviction is enough in certain situations. These include:

• • When you have not kept your apartment to ordinary standards of health, cleanliness or sanitation and this causes an immediate risk to the health or safety of other tenants or the landlord
  • When you or someone you allow into the building causes an extraordinary disturbance to others in the building
  • When you cause extraordinary damage to the apartment or building

In most other situations, the landlord must give you notice of at least one rental payment period (usually a month).

If you think that the landlord didn’t give you enough notice, you should call or visit the Residential Tenancies Branch as soon as you get the eviction notice.

No. A lease is a legal contract that both the landlord and the tenant must follow.

If you move out, you are still responsible for the rent for the remainder of the lease. See what arrangements you can make with your landlord. It may be possible for you to sublet the apartment. This means that you find someone else who is willing to move in and pay the rent. The lease stays in your name and you are responsible for damage, even if you’re not living there. The landlord must agree to the sublet. Or, you may be able to assign your lease. Again, the landlord would have to agree. You would find someone else who is willing to move in and pay the rent. The new tenant would take over the rest of the lease and is responsible for obligations under the lease. The landlord would collect a new security deposit from the new tenant.

No. A lease is a legal contract that both the landlord and the tenant must follow.

If you can’t afford the rent, you may have to move out, but you are still responsible for the rent payments. It may be possible for you to sublet the apartment. This means that you find someone else who is willing to move in and pay the rent. The lease stays in your name and you are responsible for damage even if you’re not living there. The landlord must agree to the sublet. Or, you may be able to assign your lease. Again, the landlord would have to agree. You would find someone else who is willing to move in and pay the rent. The new tenant would take over the rest of the lease and is responsible for obligations under the lease. The landlord would collect a new security deposit from the new tenant.

Yes, if you are moving to a personal care home. In this situation, you can end your lease by giving the landlord notice in writing of at least one rental period (usually one month) from the last day of the previous rental period.

If your landlord has no claim against the damage deposit (for example the unit was not damaged) your landlord has 14 days after the date of the termination of your tenancy to return the damage deposit, as well as any interest.

If there is a claim for damage, your landlord has 28 days after the date of the termination of the tenancy to inform you of the claim by written notice. If your landlord’s claim is less than the damage deposit, the excess must be returned to you.

CanLII (or The Canadian Legal Information Institute) is a not-for-profit organization managed by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. CanLII has a free database of legal information, including cases from each province and territory in Canada. You can search court decisions of various levels of court, tribunals, and administrative and regulatory bodies. There are also statutes and regulations available on the website, and legal commentary.

The Manitoba section of CanLII has court cases from the Manitoba Court of Appeal, Court of King’s Bench, and Provincial Court. There are decisions available from the Manitoba Human Rights Commission, Manitoba Labour Board, Manitoba Securities Commission, Manitoba Health Appeal Board, Labour Arbitration Awards, College of Physicians & Surgeons of Manitoba Discipline Committee, and the Manitoba Law Society Discipline Committee.

CanLII

http://www.canlii.org/en/mb/

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