Landlord Registration and Licensing in New Brunswick

If you are wondering whether you must register or hold a licence to rent out a home in New Brunswick, the answer from the provincial law is no. The Residential Tenancies Act and General Regulation 82-218 create no landlord registry and no landlord licence.

That answer has limits. It covers provincial law only. The research did not check city licensing, and no government page reviewed mentioned any. So a rule from your own municipality may exist that this guide cannot confirm. Check with your city or town before you rent, and treat any municipal rule as applying only in that place.

In September 2026 the government released a report on its review of the Act, and that release did not mention a registry. Rules could change, so check the official pages for the current position. In practice, most of your dealings with the government as a landlord run through the Tenant and Landlord Relations Office, which handles deposits, notices and complaints.

Two items can be mistaken for a registry, and neither is one.

The residential tenancy administration fee

Section 8.2 of the Act requires an owner of premises who is not entitled to a credit under the Residential Property Tax Relief Act to pay a residential tenancy administration fee each year to the Minister of Finance and Treasury Board. The rate in the Regulation is 0.0486 percent for 2011 and every year after. The rate is the one the Regulation gave for 2011 onward, so check the official page for the current figure.

The e-Landlord account

The government describes e-Landlord as an optional online program that gives landlords access to additional online submissions, around the clock. You do not need it to rent, but it may save time. Details are on the landlords page at gnb.ca.

Many questions about licensing are really questions about whether the Act applies at all. It covers houses, apartments, mobile homes, mobile home sites and rooms in a boarding or lodging house. It does not cover some arrangements, including:

• living space where the tenant shares a bathroom or kitchen with a landlord who lives in the building;
• tourist establishments, for stays of fewer than 90 consecutive days;
• vacation homes used for a seasonal or temporary period;
• student housing provided by an educational institution;
• co-operative housing occupied by members, and certain government-administered housing under the National Housing Act (Canada).

Short stays in a tourist establishment fall outside the Act, which means tenancy rules and short-term rental rules are different matters. The research did not look at what tourism or other rules apply to a short-term rental business.

Without a registry, the landlord duties start when the tenancy does. These are the main ones:

1. Use the government's Standard Form of Lease. It is mandatory, and both parties sign two duplicate originals. See New Brunswick lease agreements.
2. Deliver any security deposit to a residential tenancies officer within 15 days of receiving it. You do not hold it yourself, and the office mails a Certificate of Deposit to both you and the tenant.
3. Follow the rent rules: six months' written notice and a 3% cap, with no increase in the first 12 months of a tenancy unless both agree in writing.
4. End a tenancy only for a reason and by a method the Act allows.

The Act applies despite any agreement or waiver to the contrary, so a lease cannot cancel these duties.

• Confirm your rental is covered by the Act using the list above.
• Ask your municipality whether any local rental or business rule applies to you.
• Check the official pages about the administration fee if you do not receive the residential property tax credit.
• Consider an e-Landlord account for online submissions.
• Prepare the Standard Form of Lease and a plan for sending the deposit to the officer.

New to renting? Read how to become a landlord in New Brunswick and how to become a landlord.

This guide explains the rules in general terms; for a specific case, ask the tribunal or a licensed legal professional.