Can a tenant be evicted for drug use?

Every Alberta tenancy includes the tenant's promise not to perform illegal acts or carry on an illegal trade, business or occupation in the unit, the common areas or the property. Breaking it is a substantial breach, so the landlord can give at least 14 days' notice or apply to the RTDRS or the Alberta Court of Justice. If you disagree with the notice, give the landlord a written objection with your reasons before the 14 days end. The landlord must then get an order.

Smoking is mostly a lease question. Provincial law bans smoking and vaping, including cannabis, in the common areas of multi-unit buildings, but we found no provincial ban inside a unit. A landlord or condo board can ban smoking and growing cannabis in the rental agreement, and repeated breach of a smoking rule may be a substantial breach.

A landlord can use a One Month Notice to End Tenancy for Cause (RTB-33) when the tenant or a guest has engaged in illegal activity that has damaged or is likely to damage the landlord's property, has hurt another occupant's quiet enjoyment or safety, or has put a lawful right of the landlord or others at risk. You have 10 days to dispute it with the Residential Tenancy Branch. If you apply in time the notice is on hold, and at the hearing it is up to the landlord to provide evidence. In the most urgent and serious cases the landlord can ask the Branch to end the tenancy early.

A landlord can ban smoking, vaping and growing cannabis plants, but the ban must be in the tenancy agreement. With no such clause, tenants may smoke or vape in their unit and on balconies.

A tenant or guest must not carry on unlawful activity that damages the property, interferes with others' enjoyment or harms others' safety or well-being. A landlord must first give a written warning to correct the problem, and if it is not fixed in a reasonable time can give notice of one rental payment period. Where the activity is a significant risk or substantially interferes with others, notice can take effect in 5 days. Drug trafficking and unlawful cannabis sale are deemed safety risks, no conviction is needed, and the Branch can consider police statements, photos and recordings.

Smoking and vaping, including cannabis, are banned in the common areas of a residential building. Inside a unit, a no-smoking clause is a house rule that must be in writing, made known to the tenant and reasonable.

A landlord can give one month's notice for cause when the tenant or someone the tenant lets onto the property has been involved in noxious, offensive or illegal activity that has damaged or is likely to damage the landlord's property, or has harmed others' quiet enjoyment, security or safety. Where the problem can be fixed, the landlord must give a reasonable period to fix it. You have 15 days to dispute the notice in writing. In serious cases the landlord can apply for an order ending the tenancy earlier than a notice would, and an order under the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act that ends a tenancy ends it under the Act too.

A landlord can make reasonable written rules about the tenant's use of the unit, and the Act expressly lets those rules ban possessing, using, selling or distributing cannabis and growing cannabis plants there. A tenant can challenge a rule as unreasonable.

A landlord can give a notice of termination (form N6) if a tenant or another occupant commits an illegal act, or carries on an illegal trade, business or occupation, in the unit or the complex, or lets someone else do so. The termination date can be no earlier than the 10th day after the notice when the activity involves producing or trafficking an illegal drug, or possessing one to traffic, and no earlier than the 20th day in all other cases. A separate 10-day ground applies where the unit is used in a way inconsistent with residential use that causes serious damage. The notice does not end the tenancy by itself: the landlord needs an order from the Landlord and Tenant Board.

The Residential Tenancies Act says nothing about smoking in a unit. Adults 19 and over can smoke or vape cannabis in a private residence but not in indoor common areas, and may grow up to four plants per residence if the lease or condo rules do not forbid it.

We found no general rule on illegal activity by a tenant in the Residential Tenancies Act, but the government says landlords may apply to end a lease early if a tenant is causing extensive damage, creating a health or safety risk, or conducting illegal activity on site. In that case a landlord asks a residential tenancies officer to serve a notice to quit directly, and the officer sets the vacate time. A landlord may also serve a written notice of the complaint first, and conduct problems must stop immediately. An order under the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act that ends a tenancy takes effect despite the Act.

The government says landlords can ban smoking and growing cannabis in their units, and that unless a lease prohibits them, they are allowed. A landlord also cannot knowingly allow a place to be used for illegal cannabis distribution or sale.

In Nova Scotia a landlord who wants to end a tenancy for illegal activity applies to the Director of Residential Tenancies for an order. The ground covers illegal activity by the tenant or a guest that damages or is likely to damage the landlord's property, harms other occupants or puts their lawful rights at risk. It goes through a hearing, and we found no immediate or same-day notice. Hearings are by telephone, and each side's evidence must reach the other parties and the Director at least 5 days before.

No provincial statute bans smoking inside a rented unit; the lease and landlord rules decide. A 2026 amendment to the Cannabis Control Act also makes it an offence for a landlord to authorize or permit premises to be used in breach of that Act, with a due diligence defence.

A landlord can give a notice for cause when the tenant or someone the tenant allowed onto the property has engaged in illegal activity that damaged or is likely to damage the landlord's property, harmed another occupant's quiet enjoyment, security, safety or physical well-being, or put a lawful right of the landlord or another occupant at risk. The notice takes effect no earlier than one month after it is received, ending the day before rent is due, and you have 10 days to dispute it. In serious cases the landlord can apply to the Director for an earlier end date.

Growing recreational cannabis in a rented home needs the landlord's written permission. The Rental Office says a tenant can be evicted for smoking in the unit, without giving details, so check your lease and ask the Office.

We found no section on illegal activity as such in the Residential Tenancies Act, 2018. The government's standard rental form has terms that the tenant will use the unit for residential purposes only and will not engage in illegal activity that damages the landlord's property, harms other occupants' peaceful enjoyment or safety, or jeopardizes their lawful rights. Breaking a material term starts the material term process: a written notice to fix it, then, if it is not fixed in a reasonable time, a notice of at least one month before the end of the rental period. Interference with others' peaceful enjoyment or privacy has a shorter notice of at least 5 days.

A landlord may prohibit smoking or growing cannabis as a condition of the rental agreement, and the standard form has boxes for both. Contact the Residential Tenancies Office about a specific case.