Other Alberta Laws

Aside from the law relating to contracts and the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), there are other laws that may be important for you to know about. These can be significant because they apply instead of the Residential Tenancies Act, or because they apply in addition to the Residential Tenancies Act.

Other laws to be aware of when making an agreement to rent property include:

• the Public Health Act defines what is required to make rented premises habitable;  
• the Alberta Housing Act applies rules to social housing units;
• the Mobile Homes Sites Tenancies Act establishes rules for renting mobile home sites (Ministerial Regulation);
• the Human Rights Act states that you cannot refuse to rent property to someone on the basis of the person's race, religion, sex, physical or mental disability, ancestry, place of origin, source of income or sexual preference;
• the Condominium Property Act applies rules to rental units in a condominium building (Regulation);
• the Co-operatives Associations Act concerns the ownership of property on a co-operative basis (Regulation);
• the Innkeepers Act gives remedies to a landlord against a ‘roomer’ who does not pay rent;
• the Statute of Frauds requires that every contract creating an interest in leasehold for three years or more must be in writing and signed by the parties;
• the Municipal Government Act gives municipalities various powers where a building is dangerous to public safety or a detriment to the surrounding area, including removal of the property;
• the Safety Codes Act provides the provincial Building Code and allows Safety Officers to order demolition of a building where unsafe conditions exist;
• the Civil Enforcement Act (Regulation);
• various municipal bylaws establish building, fire and zoning codes, and property standards; and
• privacy laws.

Alberta statutes can be viewed at http://www.qp.gov.ab.ca/catalogue/.

Local bylaws may be accessed through your local authority website, for example, http://www.edmonton.ca/ or http://www.calgary.ca/. Alternatively, you can call your local authority to request bylaw information.

October 2007