Legislation Commented On: Ministerial Order No. SA: 005/2020 [Service Alberta]
Since May 1, 2020, a landlord in Alberta has been able to evict a residential tenant for non-payment of rent and utilities even if the failure to pay is due to circumstances beyond the tenant’s control caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. At least one politically prominent landlord has already starting eviction proceedings (see here and here). In place of the suspension of evictions that expired April 30, the government introduced a duty on landlords to make reasonable efforts to enter into meaningful payment plans with their tenants. According to the government description of this new duty (in Rent Payment Plans COVID-19), landlords will have to prove they made these efforts before landlords can issue a 14-day notice or apply to the courts or Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service (RTDRS) to terminate a tenancy for non-payment of rent. Landlords may eventually have to prove that they made those efforts if tenants sue them or refuse to leave the rental premises, but there is a gap in the new law that makes it unnecessarily difficult for tenants – or anyone else – to enforce a landlord’s new duty. The Minister for Service Alberta needs to amend section 29 of the Residential Tenancies Act, SA 2004, c R-17.1 (RTA) and section 32 of the Mobile Home Sites Tenancies Act, RSA 2000, c M-20 (MHSTA) to allow tenants who have failed to pay rent to object to a 14-day notice terminating a tenancy on the basis that the landlord has not complied with its new duty.
