Offences

A landlord commits an offence in the following circumstances:

where the security deposit is not returned to you within 10 days of your having given up possession of the premises;
where the requirements for making deductions from the deposit, including providing a full accounting to you for deductions made within the required time limits are not complied with;
where deductions are made from a deposit when the full requirements for inspection reports have not been met;
where the appropriate procedure for returning a security deposit or an accounting of it is not used. That is by a method other than personal service, or regular, registered or certified mail;
where records relating to the handling of a security deposit have not been completed or retained.

As a tenant, you can make a complaint about a suspected offence to Service Alberta who will investigate the matter. The landlord can be prosecuted for the offence and fined up to $5,000. At the trial, the landlord can be ordered to pay all or part of the security deposit that is owed, together with interest. If the landlord does not comply with the court order, you can enter the order as a judgment of the Court of Queen's Bench and enforce the order as if it were a judgment from the Court of Queen's Bench. This means that you can take advantage of a garnishee procedure that allows for the attachment of wages or a bank account to pay a judgment. For more information, see Alberta Courts - Court of Queen's Bench - Publications and Forms - Getting and Collecting Your Judgment in Alberta.

December 2010