Landlord Rules
A landlord can put their own rules into a lease as long as the rules don’t conflict with the RTA. These rules must be given to a tenant when they sign their lease in order to be valid. The landlord’s rules must also be “reasonable”. A rule is considered “reasonable” if:
It doesn’t violate the RTA or assign a landlords’ responsibilities to the tenant
It ensures all services are fairly distributed to tenants
It promotes the safety, comfort, and well-being of all tenants
It protects the landlord’s property from abuse
Rules must apply to all tenants equally, and a landlord must clearly explain what tenants must or must not do to comply with the rule.
Some examples of common reasonable and unreasonable rules are:
REASONABLE:
No smoking
No pets
No nails in the wall
No personal items in common areas
UNREASONABLE:
Curfews
No guests or visitors
No cooking with spices
No speaking to other tenants
Landlords can change building rules by giving a tenant 4 months’ written notice before the date of their anniversary. If a landlord misses a tenant’s anniversary date, the new rules will only come into effect on the next anniversary date. A landlord can give more than 4 months’ notice, but not less.
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A great resource to determine whether or not a rule is reasonable and why is the BC Residential Tenancies policy guidelines. These don’t apply to Nova Scotia, but they can be helpful when building an argument for why a rule is unreasonable.
Tenants have the right to ask for rules they are uncomfortable with to be changed. Know that doing this could mean the landlord decides not to rent to you.
If the landlord agrees to change a rule for you (e.g. allowing you to have a pet in a no-pets building) get the change in writing.
If a landlord is pressuring you to agree to an unreasonable rule as part of signing a lease, you can agree to the rule in order to secure the apartment. You are under no obligation to follow an unreasonable or illegal rule after signing.
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Landlord’s rules must be clear and separate from the Statutory Conditions to avoid suggesting that the rules are based in law. (Graves v Keenan, 2017 NSSM 9)
Rules cannot effectively make tenants responsible for the overhead of being a landlord. This includes cleaning costs and responsibility for normal wear and tear of apartment ownership. (Cook v Classic Property Management Ltd, 2014 NSSM 67)
