One Month Eviction Notices for Cause are generally given to tenants for not following legal responsibilities under the Residential Tenancy Act or their tenancy agreement. Here are the most common reasons for receiving a One Month Notice:
- unreasonably disturbing the landlord or other occupants;
- repeatedly paying rent late (the general rule is least three times within a 12-month period);
- seriously damaging the rental unit or building;
- not repairing or paying for damage;
- endangering the landlord or other occupants;
- having too many occupants living in the rental unit;
- engaging in illegal activity that negatively affects the property, landlord, or other occupants;
- breaching a material term of the tenancy agreement and ignoring a written warning from the landlord;
- not following a Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) order; and
- living in a rental unit that the municipal government has ordered to be shut down.
If you feel that your landlord has unfairly given you a One Month Notice, you have 10 days to challenge the notice by applying for dispute resolution through the RTB. At this hearing, you will be given the opportunity to present evidence in support of your case, but the burden of proof will be on your landlord to convince the arbitrator to uphold the eviction notice.
Moving Out
If a tenant does not dispute a One Month Notice, or they participate in a dispute resolution hearing but lose, the move-out date will most likely be the last day of the next month (assuming rent is paid on the 1st of the month). For example, if your landlord gives you a One Month Notice on March 5th and you choose not to dispute it, you will have to move out by April 30th. Sometimes a landlord may list the wrong move-out date on an eviction notice. In this scenario, the notice is still valid but self-corrects to the legal move-out date.
Exceptions
If a tenant is causing extremely serious problems, the landlord can ask the RTB for permission to evict them before a One Month Notice would take effect. The landlord is not required to give the tenant an eviction notice before submitting this type of dispute resolution application. However, they must provide the tenant with notice of the hearing, so that they have a chance to gather and prepare evidence in their defence.
If an arbitrator determines that it would be unreasonable or unfair to the landlord or other occupants of the rental property to wait for a One Month Notice to take effect, the landlord will be granted an Order of Possession to take back the rental unit on an earlier date.
Previous