Premises - Tenant Remedies - Disputes - Laws for Landlords in Alberta

Premises Not Available at the Beginning of Tenancy

You make a promise when you enter into a fixed-term or periodic tenancy agreement that the premises will be available for the tenant at the beginning of the tenancy. This promise becomes a term of the tenancy agreement whether or not it is mentioned by you or the tenant. If the premises are not ready for the tenant to move into on the agreed date, he can simply state that he no longer wishes to move into the premises and be part of the tenancy agreement. Alternatively he can take legal action against you:

apply to the Court of Queen’s Bench for an order that you live up to your obligation and make the premises available. In legal terms, this is called an Order for Specific Performance of the contract and can only be obtained from the Court of Queen’s Bench;
pursue a claim for general damages arising as a result of you breaching the agreement. General damages consist of money in a general sum to cover matters such as inconvenience or anxiety; or
pursue a claim for special damages that arise as a result of your action. To be successful in getting special damages he has to prove that you could have reasonably known that this type of loss would arise.

The tenant has to decide whether to reject the tenancy or get a court order to require you to fulfill your obligations. Whichever of those two alternatives he chooses, he can also pursue the claims for general and special damages.

If you do not return prepaid rent to the tenant and he thinks you may have committed an offence under the Residential Tenancies Act, he can file a complaint with Alberta Government Services. If you are later convicted of an offence, the judge can order all or part of the prepaid rent to be returned to the tenant. If you still do not return the money, he can file the order in the Court of Queen's Bench and take enforcement proceedings against you.

January 2006