Tenant - Living - Laws for Tenants in Alberta - Laws for Landlords in Alberta

The Tenant

It is important to understand who is a tenant for the purposes of complying with obligations required by law and for understanding the rights given to tenants by law.

The following people are included within the definition of tenant for the purposes of the Residential Tenancies Act:

those who are permitted by the landlord to live in the rented premises under the residential tenancy agreement;
those who live in the residential premises under a sub-lease or assignment that the landlord has consented to.

When an agreement is made between a landlord and tenant, the landlord can give permission that other people will live in the premises. These people might be listed as occupants in the tenancy agreement, but may not necessarily sign the lease agreement.

For example, a couple might rent a house. One of the couple may sign the lease and the other partner may just be listed as an occupant. For the purposes of rights and obligations under the Residential Tenancies Act, the person given permission to live in the premises is also a tenant. That person therefore is liable for rent which is an obligation of a tenant under the Act, and also has the benefit of notice periods as required by the Act.

A person who has not signed the tenancy agreement will not necessarily be bound by rights and obligations in the agreement that are agreed to independently of the requirements of the Act.

For example, if the agreement states that the tenant will carry out certain repairs, the person who did not sign the agreement may have no obligation to do the repairs, as he or she was not a party to the tenancy agreement and carrying out repairs is not an obligation that the Residential Tenancies Act imposes on a tenant. The counter argument might be that there is something about the circumstances of the ongoing relationship between the non-signing tenant and the landlord that could be construed as an implied agreement and that therefore the tenant should assume those extra obligations.

If you are sharing a place to live with roommates, it is important to consider the implications of all of you signing the lease as tenants as opposed to only one of you signing the lease.

May 2005