How to Become a Landlord in Manitoba

The provincial law does not ask you to register or hold a landlord licence. The Residential Tenancies Act applies to rented residential premises, and the Residential Tenancies Branch (RTB) administers it. This guide does not cover city rules, so ask your municipality whether it has its own licensing or zoning requirements.

The Act does not apply to every arrangement. Exclusions include transient accommodation in a hotel or motel, a vacation home used for a seasonal or temporary period, co-op housing for members, student housing provided by an educational institution and a hospital or personal care home. A room in a boarding house counts only where 5 or more rooms are provided.

Renting a room in your own home is a grey area. The RTB treats shared accommodation as outside its jurisdiction and decides case by case. Signs of a tenancy include a lockable private room, a key to the main entrance, buying and cooking one's own food, doing one's own housekeeping, and no family relationship with the owner. Our Ask page on renting a room in your house has a short version.

An agreement can be written, oral or implied. It must be in writing in two cases: when you require a guarantor and when the tenancy includes tenant services such as meals. A written agreement must use the prescribed form and be signed by both sides. The standard one is Form 1, the Standard Residential Tenancy Agreement. There is a separate Form 1.1 for tenancies with tenant services and Form 2 for mobile homes and sites. The Residential Tenancies Regulation page links all of them.

You may add your own terms, but they must be consistent with the form and the Act, and any duty you place on the tenant must be reasonable. An agreement that is not on the prescribed form is treated as including the form's terms, and anything inconsistent with the form or the Act is void. Nothing in an agreement can waive the Act.

Within 21 days after the tenant signs and gives you the agreement, you must give the tenant a copy signed by both of you. When you first enter an agreement you must also give the tenant written notice of your legal name, phone number and address for documents, or those of your agent. It may be posted in a conspicuous place in the building instead. Our Manitoba lease agreements guide covers the tenant's view.

• Security deposit. At most half of the first month's rent. It earns interest at 0.5 per cent a year under the regulation. You return it within 14 days after the tenancy ends if you have no claim, or send a written claim within 28 days. Details are in our Manitoba security deposit guide.
• Pet damage deposit. Only if you permit a pet, up to one month's rent, one per tenancy, and none for a service animal.
• Application fees. Banned. Screening rules are in our Manitoba tenant screening guide.
• Late fees. You must tell the tenant in writing beforehand that you intend to charge one. The maximum is $10 for the due date plus $2 for each later day, to a total of $100. No fee applies if the delay was beyond the tenant's control.
• Bounced cheques. Your cost charge is capped at $60.
• Receipts. You must give a written receipt when rent is paid in cash. Automatic debit and pre-authorized payments count as cash.
• Postdated cheques. You cannot require them, though a tenant may give them voluntarily.

Rent can go up once in any 12-month period, and not earlier than 12 months after the unit is first rented. You give at least 3 months' written notice on the Notice of Increase in Rent form, or your own form with the same information. The 2026 guideline is 1.8 per cent, and the 2027 guideline is 3.0 per cent starting January 1, 2027. Some units are exempt, such as those at or above a rent threshold, newer buildings for a limited time and certain social housing.

You cannot simply end a tenancy. You need a lawful reason and the right notice. The periods depend on the reason.

For no-fault reasons you must pay reasonable moving expenses up to $500, and a fixed term cannot end before its end date. If a fixed term is ending, you must offer a renewal at least 3 months ahead. A tenant in a periodic tenancy gives one full rental payment period of notice. The details are in our guides to landlord notices and raising rent in Manitoba.

• Repairs. Keep the unit, the complex and the promised services in a good state of repair, fit to live in, and meeting health, building and maintenance standards.
• Vital services. Do not withhold heat, gas, electricity or water.
• Entry. Give written notice, 24 hours to 2 weeks ahead, except in an emergency or with consent.
• Locks. Provide doors and locks that make the unit reasonably secure, and do not change a lock without the tenant's consent.
• Belongings. You may not seize a tenant's property for unpaid rent.
• Human rights. You cannot discriminate in renting on the grounds in The Human Rights Code.

If a tenant stays after a valid notice, apply to the RTB for an order of possession. If the tenant still does not leave, the order is filed in the Court of King's Bench and Sheriff's Officers remove the tenant. Changing the locks to force a tenant out is prohibited and can draw an administrative penalty.

No law found requires tenant insurance. The RTB says a landlord generally cannot insist that a tenant carry liability insurance, though it may be reasonable in some cases, such as a waterbed or a large aquarium. The RTB recommends that tenants buy it.

1. Check city rules, such as licensing and zoning, with your municipality.
2. Decide the rent and any deposit within the limits above.
3. Screen applicants with the same criteria for everyone, charge no application fee and respect the Human Rights Code.
4. Fill in Form 1 from the Regulation page, sign it with the tenant, and give the tenant a signed copy within 21 days.
5. Give the tenant your landlord contact notice and a written deposit receipt.
6. Offer a move-in condition report on the prescribed form. You must do one if the tenant asks.
7. Keep copies of everything: the agreement, receipts, notices and reports.

Official forms and fact sheets are on the RTB website, including the renewal form (Form 4) and the abandoned-property forms (Form 12 for the inventory and Form 13 for the accounting of a sale). Our Ask page on how to become a landlord gives a short overview. This guide explains the rules in general terms; for a specific case, ask the tribunal or a licensed legal professional.