What happens if your landlord dies?

Alberta's Residential Tenancies Act counts the owner's heirs, personal representatives and successors in title as the landlord, so on our reading your tenancy continues with the estate. Anyone who takes over the landlord's interest also takes over the duties for your security deposit, and must refund it at the end of the tenancy even if the deposit was never handed over to them.

Alberta's rules for ending a tenancy because of a sale are in the regulation: the buyer must ask the landlord in writing to give the tenant a notice. If something goes wrong, you can apply to the RTDRS or the Alberta Court of Justice.

When a BC landlord dies, the Residential Tenancy Branch says the executor or administrator becomes the new landlord, with all the rights and duties that come with it. You must keep paying rent. If you do not know who the executor is, keep paying the same way as before, and the executor can ask you in writing to change how rent is paid.

Your deposit duties "run with the land", so whoever becomes the landlord must return it. A court order in a foreclosure or estate case cannot be enforced against a tenant who was not a party to it. In a foreclosure, the tenancy branch says you keep paying rent, and if the court issues an Order for the Conduct of Sale you must move out by the possession date in it.

Manitoba's Act counts the owner's heirs, personal representatives and successors in title as the landlord, and when the landlord changes, every benefit and duty under the Act and any written tenancy agreement binds the new landlord. We found no separate section on a landlord's death, and on our reading the tenancy continues.

A new landlord must give you written notice in the prescribed form, and until you get it you can keep paying rent to the former landlord. A new landlord is also liable for any deposit and interest owed to you that the former landlord did not pay.

Saskatchewan's Act includes the owner's heirs, personal representatives and successors in title in the meaning of landlord, and we found nothing in the Act's list of ways a tenancy ends that mentions a landlord's death. On our reading, your agreement carries on with the estate.

When the property passes to a new owner, the new landlord steps into your existing agreement as if they had signed it, with the same rights and duties. The former landlord must hand over the written agreements, deposits and deposit records right away.

In Ontario, a landlord's death or a sale does not end your tenancy, which can end only as the Residential Tenancies Act allows. The estate or the buyer steps into the landlord's place, and the covenants in your lease run with the land.

The rent stays the same: the 12-month rule for increases counts from your last increase, not from the change of owner, and 90 days' written notice is still needed. A new landlord cannot ask for a new rent deposit if you already paid one, and must apply the one you paid to your last rental period. A buyer can end the tenancy only with an N12 in the limited cases the Act allows.

We found no section of New Brunswick's Act on a landlord's death, but the covenants in a lease run with the land, and the province says the terms of a lease stay the same no matter who owns the property. Your security deposit is held by the Tenant and Landlord Relations Office, not by the landlord.

When the property is sold, the buyer takes on all the duties of the tenancy, and the seller must send a notice of transfer (Form 8) to you and to the Tenant and Landlord Relations Office within seven days. The office then moves the deposits it holds to the new owner.

Nova Scotia's Act counts the landlord's heirs, assigns and legal representatives as the landlord, and we found no section that ends a tenancy because the landlord dies. On our reading, your lease continues with the estate.

On a sale or transfer, your security deposit is treated as transferred to the new landlord, who becomes responsible for it, and the trust account goes with it. The province's renting guide puts it simply: the trust account stays with the property, not with the landlord.

In PEI, the owner's heirs, personal representatives and successors in title count as the landlord, so the estate takes over the landlord's rights and duties, and we found no rule in the Act ending a tenancy on the landlord's death. The landlord's obligations under that part of the Act run with the rental unit, and the deposit duties pass to whoever takes over the landlord's interest.

A new landlord must give you written notice, as soon as practicable, of their name and contact details and of the deposit and interest they hold. A court order in a foreclosure or estate case cannot be enforced against a tenant who was not a party to it.

Newfoundland and Labrador's policy says that when a landlord dies and there is no surviving joint landlord, the tenancy continues on the same terms until it is ended under the Act. Where there are joint landlords, the others stay responsible for everything in the agreement.

A new landlord must give you written notice of their name and address right away. Your written or verbal agreement continues as if nothing had changed, the new landlord cannot give you shorter notice to end it, and the new owner is responsible for your deposit. A foreclosure may be an exception.