Can a landlord evict someone not on the lease?

Alberta is the clearest case. A landlord can serve a person who is living in a tenant's unit but is not a tenant with a notice to vacate giving at least 14 days. If the person does not leave, the landlord can apply to court for an order directing them to go. If the tenant has abandoned the unit, the notice period for anyone left behind is 48 hours.

Be careful about rent. Alberta's government handbook says that if a landlord accepts rent from an unauthorized occupant, that person may be seen as a tenant, because oral and implied tenancies are valid. A landlord may ask for the names of the people living in the unit, and the lease can list who is allowed to live there.

In British Columbia, a person the tenant lets move in is an occupant with no rights or obligations under the tenancy agreement unless the landlord and tenant agree to add them as a tenant. The tenant is responsible for that person's conduct. No separate process for removing an occupant was found.

The landlord's route is a notice to end the tenancy served on the tenant, either for an unreasonable number of occupants or, where the agreement bans additional occupants as a material term, for breaking that term after written notice to fix it. The tenant can dispute the notice through the Residential Tenancy Branch.

In Manitoba, an occupant is not a tenant. Where a person is in the unit but not under a tenancy agreement, the Act says the landlord does not have to use the order of possession and writ process, but may choose to. The government gives no other steps, so our advice is that the Branch process is the safer route. Someone who took over through a sublet or assignment that did not follow the Act has no tenancy, but is bound by the tenant's obligations, and if the landlord shows it accepts them, the transfer is treated as valid.

The standard form limits occupants to the tenant, family growth by marriage, birth or adoption, and the people listed. Overcrowding that breaks health, safety or housing standards is a ground for notice to the tenant after a written warning. If you are unsure whether someone is a tenant, the Residential Tenancies Branch can decide.

Saskatchewan has no separate process for someone living with a tenant. The landlord ends the tenancy with the tenant, and an unreasonable number of occupants is one ground for notice. The writ of possession puts the landlord back in possession of the unit occupied by the tenant or any person claiming through the tenant, and the sheriff removes the occupants.

We found nothing in the Act or the government pages that says whether an occupant who is not on the agreement is a tenant, so if the person has paid you rent or you have treated them as a tenant, ask the Office of Residential Tenancies before you act.

Ontario has no separate process against an occupant who lives with the tenant. A tenant can have a roommate without the landlord's permission if municipal occupancy by-laws are respected, and the occupant is not your tenant. Your remedies run against the tenancy: many grounds for ending it cover conduct by another occupant of the unit, and overcrowding is a ground if the number of people living there breaks health, safety or housing standards.

If the tenant moves out and hands the unit to someone without an authorized sublet or assignment, you can apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board to evict both, but only within 60 days of discovering it. If you do not, the person becomes a tenant. Taking money from them for use and occupation does not make them a tenant unless you agree that it does.

New Brunswick's Residential Tenancies Act does not deal with occupants who are not tenants, and the standard form of lease lists tenants only. No rule or official guidance on removing a non-tenant occupant was found. What the Act does say is that the tenant is responsible for damage and conduct by people they allow on the premises.

Before acting, contact the Tenant and Landlord Relations Office to ask whether the person is treated as a tenant and what route applies.

Nova Scotia's standard lease allows only the tenants and occupants named in it to live in the unit without the landlord's written consent, and tenants are told to give the landlord the names of everyone who will live there. A person who occupies the unit and has paid or agreed to pay rent to the landlord is treated as a tenant, so check whether that has happened.

No official process for removing a person who is not a tenant was found in the Act, the regulations or the government guides. Contact the Residential Tenancies Program before you act.

In PEI, a person living in the unit who is not part of the tenancy agreement, a sublet or an assignment is not a tenant. The Act has no process for removing them, and no Rental Office guidance on it was found. The route the Act does give is against the tenant: a for-cause notice, for example for an unreasonable number of occupants or an unauthorized sublet, then a Director's order to vacate sent to the sheriff.

If asked, the tenant must give the owner the name of everyone living in the unit.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, people who live with the tenant but have not agreed to pay rent, such as a spouse, children, other family or roommates, are occupants, not tenants, and they should not be named in an application for dispute resolution. The standard rental agreement has a part for listing occupants.

No section or policy explaining how a landlord removes someone who is only an occupant was found. Contact the Residential Tenancies Office before you act.