In addition to legal eviction tactics, many landlords result to illegal evictions as well. These can include obviously illegal actions like changing locks on a tenant, shutting off utilities, or removing appliances, furniture, or doors. These can also include less obvious actions that make the unit so unpleasant to live in for the tenant that they choose to leave. This includes bullying, harassment, and not doing repairs and maintenance.

The tactics above can be fought by filing a complaint with Residential Tenancies, usually a Form J. See Intimidation & Harassment for more on this, and Disputes & Resolutions for more on filing a Form J.

Any eviction without the proper legal form and service of documents is illegal. For more on serving legal documents, see Disputes & Resolutions.

See our Resources for a template letter to send to a landlord informing them you will not be complying with an illegal eviction notice.