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I live in Vancouver and rented a room in a shared house from the person who has the lease. I did not have to deal with the house owner ever.

The person who has the lease pulled up this agreement which I signed at the time I moved in - About 4 months ago.

Terms: The details of the term of Agreement are as follows: Prior notice of 1 Month (30 days) is needed to end the contract if needed.

Tenancy Start Date: August 4th 2019 until May 31th 2020

...

Ending the Tenancy:

The tenant may end the agreement giving 30 days’ notice, the notice must be in written, included the date the tenancy to be ended and signed. The landlord can end the tenant agreement for unpaid rent; the tenant has breached a substantive term of this agreement.

The tenant must vacate the room by 12:00 noon on the end date of the tenancy unless a later time agreed. The room and spaces use by the tenant should be left clean.

...

I have read this agreement and I understand all it contains. I agree to be bound by its terms and conditions.

A few days back she started bothering me with things like "Do not dry bra on deck rail" and other silly stuff.

Yesterday she sent me an email:

Please find attached a notice of termination of your tenancy agreement for the bedroom adjacent the living room at ADDRESS. Please depart by 1:00pm on February 1st 2020. Please ensure that you take all your belongings from the property and leave it clean in the same order which you have received it. Your deposit will be return after all checks are completed. Thank you.

Follows the text from attachment:

Re: Termination of Tenancy Agreement

This letter serves as a formal notice of termination of your tenancy agreement for the room which you occupy at the above address. February 1st 2020 is the termination date. Please move out of the rental unit on or before the date by 1pm.

Do I have to leave the place according to the agreement?

Can I tell her that I am not in breach of the agreement as I have paid up my rent in time always and there was no breach of any substantive term of this agreement

I moved in here with all my stuff and i do not wish to have to move because it's a lot of work. for no reason

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  • If the house is in a planned development, it may be against the local rules (in the US called CC&Rs) to dry clothing on a balcony. You might ask the tenant if she has a list of rules.
    – mkennedy
    Commented Jan 2, 2020 at 18:36
  • I thought you are a subtenant of the actual tenant who has a lease with the homeowner.
    – mkennedy
    Commented Jan 2, 2020 at 21:52
  • Oh yes. That's right. Subtenant. She never has shared anything of the sort except for the agreement that I originally shared in my question.
    – systemdebt
    Commented Jan 2, 2020 at 22:12
  • @mkennedy Still good for filing a dispute with Residential Tenancy Branch , right?
    – systemdebt
    Commented Jan 2, 2020 at 23:39
  • Dunno! But it might be useful for the dispute to try to get out of her whether someone complained to her or the homeowner about the "silly stuff" and whether they are against the CC&Rs or other community rules.
    – mkennedy
    Commented Jan 3, 2020 at 0:06

1 Answer 1

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BC law requires tenancy agreements to state the tenancy period, which your landlord set as August 4th 2019 until May 31th 2020. There are exceptional circumstances allowing early termination of an agreement, the only relevant one being that both parties agree in writing (I assume you are not fleeing family violence and don't require long-term care). If you have done certain wrongful things as spelled out here, they can give you 1 month notice. The law regarding form of the notice is here: unless you edited the information out, they failed to say why, which is a requirement for a notice to end tenancy. You can dispute the eviction through Residential Tenancy Branch’s dispute resolution service.

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  • Alright. I have done nothing wrongful here. What should be my next course of action? Should I just send an email that I need not move out because there is no breach of law or agreement? @user6726
    – systemdebt
    Commented Jan 2, 2020 at 6:19
  • I did not edit out any info from end of tenancy notice. I received an email with that attachment and following text: Please find attached a notice of termination of your tenancy agreement for the bedroom adjacent the living room at ADDRESS. Please depart by 1:00pm on February 1st 2020. Please ensure that you take all your belongings from the property and leave it clean in the same order which you have received it. Your deposit will be return after all checks are completed. Thank you. @user6726
    – systemdebt
    Commented Jan 2, 2020 at 6:23
  • Need I say anything to her or not move at all because she has faltered on two fronts according to law: 1. Did not give a reason for termination 2. Cannot terminate because I did not do anything wrong and am still in the tenancy period
    – systemdebt
    Commented Jan 2, 2020 at 6:35
  • 1
    You need to file a dispute with Residential Tenancy Branch promptly. There is a limited window to dispute eviction and you should not wait while the landlord does nothing.
    – user6726
    Commented Jan 2, 2020 at 15:48
  • 1
    Well, that's a question of how the courts interpret "landlord". A sublessor is typically a landlord w.r.t. a sublessee, i.e. "landlord" doesn't mean "property owner". Don't ask for legal advice, except from your own attorney (that's there rule here). You have to decide whether silence is worth the risk. I believe you can get a free determination of whether you have a landlord-tenant relationship from RTB, and if not, you would definitely need to hire a lawyer.
    – user6726
    Commented Jan 3, 2020 at 20:31

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