Can a tenant be evicted for noise complaints?

Alberta tenants must not interfere in any significant way with the landlord or other tenants, and the province's handbook gives playing loud music well into the night as an example. Breaking this is a substantial breach, so the landlord can serve at least 14 days' notice or apply to the RTDRS or the Alberta Court of Justice.

If you disagree with a 14-day notice, give the landlord a written objection explaining why before the 14 days are over. The landlord then has to get an order, and you can stay until one is made. A landlord cannot end a tenancy only because you made a complaint or an application or gave evidence.

BC tenants must make sure they, their pets and their guests do not unreasonably disturb other occupants. Significantly interfering with or unreasonably disturbing another occupant or the landlord is a ground for a One Month Notice to End Tenancy for Cause (RTB-33), and you have 10 days to dispute it. If you apply in time, the notice is on hold, and at the hearing it is up to the landlord to provide evidence. In serious cases the landlord can apply to end the tenancy early without a cause notice.

If you are the one being disturbed, BC landlords must provide quiet enjoyment to all tenants and must take steps to fix a disturbance complaint.

Manitoba tenants must not unreasonably disturb the landlord, other tenants or neighbouring properties, and must not let their guests do so. Before ending a tenancy over a disturbance, the landlord must give written notice to fix it; if you do not fix it within a reasonable time, the landlord can give notice of one rental payment period. An extraordinary disturbance allows a 5-day notice with no warning.

A landlord who receives a disturbance complaint must look into it without delay and try to resolve it. The Manitoba Human Rights Commission says refusing to rent to families with children because they are "too noisy" is likely family status discrimination.

Saskatchewan landlords can give one month's notice for cause when a tenant, or someone the tenant lets in, significantly interferes with or unreasonably disturbs another tenant, an occupant, the landlord or neighbours. Where the problem can be fixed, the tenant must get a reasonable chance to fix it, and you have 15 days to dispute the notice. In serious cases the landlord can apply for an early end to the tenancy.

Tenants have a right to freedom from unreasonable disturbance that they can enforce against the landlord at the Office of Residential Tenancies. At a hearing you can ask for relief against a notice given in retaliation for a good-faith complaint or for enforcing your rights.

In Ontario a landlord can end a tenancy when the tenant, another occupant or a guest substantially interferes with the reasonable enjoyment of the building by the landlord or another tenant. The usual notice is an N5 of at least 20 days, which is void if the conduct stops within 7 days. If it happens again more than 7 days but less than 6 months after the first notice, a further notice of at least 14 days can be given. If the landlord lives in a building of 3 or fewer units, an N7 of 10 days applies.

The landlord then needs an order from the Landlord and Tenant Board, and at the hearing the landlord must prove the case. The Board must consider refusing or delaying the eviction, and must refuse it in listed cases, for example where the application is retaliation or the landlord is in serious breach.

New Brunswick tenants must behave, and make sure people there with their consent behave, in a way that does not cause a disturbance or nuisance. If a tenant does, the landlord can serve a written notice stating the complaint, and conduct problems must stop immediately. If they continue, a residential tenancies officer can order compliance and serve a notice to quit, and where the usual notice is not appropriate the landlord can ask an officer to serve a notice to quit directly.

Landlords are responsible for addressing nuisance and disturbance issues. A landlord's notice to end your tenancy served within one year after you complained is not valid if you tell a residential tenancies officer in writing within 15 days that you contest it, unless the landlord shows the complaint was not the reason.

Statutory condition 3 bars Nova Scotia tenants from interfering with the landlord's or other tenants' occupancy. A breach lets the landlord serve a Form E notice to quit, effective at least 15 days after it is given (30 days in a land-lease community), and you can apply to the Director of Residential Tenancies to set it aside. Where a tenant or guest significantly interferes with or unreasonably disturbs others, the landlord can instead apply to the Director to end the tenancy, and that goes to a hearing.

Hearings are by telephone, and each side's evidence must reach the other parties and the Director at least 5 days before the hearing. The Director or Small Claims Court can set aside a notice given in retaliation for a tenant trying to enforce their rights.

PEI tenants, and anyone they let in, must not unreasonably interfere with the rights, quiet enjoyment and reasonable privacy of the landlord or other tenants. Significantly interfering with or unreasonably disturbing another occupant or the landlord is a ground for a notice for cause of at least one month, 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.

A notice on this ground cannot be used where the conduct was family violence against the tenant and a protection order or the prescribed statement is in place. Harassing a tenant to stop them applying under the Act, or in retaliation, is an offence with a fine of up to $25,000.

Statutory condition 7(a) bars Newfoundland and Labrador tenants from unreasonably interfering with the rights and reasonable privacy of the landlord or other tenants. If a tenant breaks it, the landlord can give notice to vacate on a date at least 5 days after the notice is served. The Residential Tenancies Office's policy treats this as an ongoing unreasonable disturbance outside normal everyday living, such as excessive noise, aggressive or obnoxious behaviour, or threats and harassment. A single egregious incident can be enough, but noise neither you nor the landlord controls, such as nearby night clubs or neighbours, is not a reason.

The notice does not enforce itself: the landlord must apply for vacant possession, and the case is decided at a teleconference hearing where you can contest it. You can also apply to have the notice's validity decided, and if you believe it is retaliation for a complaint or application, you must apply within one month of receiving it.