Landlord By Design: Complete Guide to Residential Property Management by Currie Michael

Author:Currie, Michael [Currie, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Michael P Currie
Published: 2016-09-21T16:00:00+00:00

How Do You Evict a Tenant for Bad Behavior?

I’m proud to admit that this problem doesn’t come up too often. I’ll also admit that this problem has come up. We can screen tenants as well as we want; however, we cannot control who the tenants bring to our properties. I also get this question a lot, so I know it is a concern for many people. I’ll start with what bad behavior or (good behavior) is. Here’s the Nova Scotia definition:

Good Behavior – A landlord or tenant shall conduct himself in such a manner as not to interfere with the possessions or occupancy of the tenant or of the landlord and other tenants, respectively.

As you can see, this definition is open to interpretation. If you have a tenant who is exhibiting unacceptable or disruptive behavior, you will need to contact the residential tenancy office. A residential tenancy officer will determine if the behavior is not good .

The length of time that the tenant will have to move out will be decided on a case-by-case basis.

There’s one level above the “good behavior” clause. That is eviction based on safety and security. If you have a tenant who poses a risk to the safety or security of you (the landlord) or other tenants, you can serve a five-day eviction. If the tenant refuses to leave, you’ll need to file notice with residential tenancies and wait for a hearing.

In Nova Scotia, a tenant cannot be evicted for doing something illegal, as long as it doesn’t pose a risk to safety or is disruptive to the other tenants.

You can still contact the police (they may take care of the problem for you).

We’ve had to use the lack of good behavior section twice and serve a 5-day eviction notice. In both cases, the tenants left. One left right on day number five; in the other case, we made a deal and gave them a couple of weeks.

The first time was my favorite eviction, which I wrote about in the last section.

The second time, it was a problem with a couple. This couple seemed normal when they applied and signed a lease. They both worked and didn’t have a problem meeting rent obligations.

The particular building they moved into had a mix of children and older people. It could be described as a quiet family building.

It wasn’t long after this couple moved in that the complaints against them began to come in. It started with minor problems, like smoking inside and some loud music. They committed to turning down the music and smoking outside only. The next complaints involved these tenant drinking heavily outside in the yard.

They had not lived in the building long before we realized we had problem tenants. We addressed the concerns, and, in the light of day, they were very convincing. Then one Saturday night, all hell broke loose. I’m not sure, and will likely never know the full truth, but to sum it up, it involved loud music, drinking, fighting (possible physical), and a call to 911.

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