Filthy or Damaged Unit: New Brunswick Landlord Steps

Your main tools in New Brunswick are a written notice about the problem, a request to a residential tenancies officer if the tenant does not fix it, and, for serious damage, a separate request for a notice to quit. This guide stays on the tenancy rules. No New Brunswick government page reviewed uses the word "hoarding" as a legal term, so the rules below speak of cleanliness and damage.

Under section 4 of the Residential Tenancies Act, the tenant is responsible for the ordinary cleanliness of the premises and of any chattels the landlord provided. The tenant must also repair, within a reasonable time, damage caused by their own wilful or negligent conduct or that of people they allow on the premises. Section 4 also bars disturbances and nuisance.

Your own duties run alongside. Section 3 requires you to keep the premises in good repair and fit for habitation and to comply with health, safety, housing and building standards. That applies whether the uncleanliness existed before the lease or arose afterward, so a landlord who starts a complaint should be ready to show the unit met those standards at move-in.

The Act on the laws.gnb.ca site was consolidated only to February 1, 2025, and Housing NB says a rewrite is targeted for fall 2026. Check the current version before you rely on a section number or a time limit.

The province's housing pages say reasonable wear and tear is not the tenant's responsibility to repair or maintain. A faded paint job or worn carpet after a long tenancy is not a claim. Dirt, stains, holes and broken fixtures that go beyond ordinary use are where a claim can start.

The province recommends an Accommodation Inspection Report at move-in and move-out, with two copies, as the record of the condition of the unit from the start of the lease to the end. If you did not complete one at move-in, you will have to prove the earlier condition some other way, such as dated photos or a prior inspection note. The condition reports guide explains how to complete one.

Whatever you plan to claim, document it before anything is cleaned or fixed. Take dated photos and video of each room, keep receipts, and write down every conversation with the tenant. Clear records make any later complaint easier to explain.

You cannot walk in just because you are worried about the condition of the unit. Section 16 of the Act says a landlord may not enter during the tenancy except as the Act allows. The rules most relevant here are:

• Inspection: at least 24 hours' written notice, on a day that is not a Sunday or a holiday, between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
• Normal repairs or redecorating: at least 7 days' notice.
• Repairs ordered by a person or authority with jurisdiction: at least 24 hours' notice, with a copy of the order attached.
• No notice needed: in an emergency, or when the tenant consents at the time.

Entering without notice or authority breaks the Act and is an offence. Plan the inspection as the first step in any complaint, and state the date, time and reason in the notice. If a tenant keeps refusing entry, see the refused entry guide and the province's landlord entry page.

Section 5 sets the usual route when a tenant does not meet their obligations. The steps in order are:

1. Serve a written notice stating the complaint. It must be in writing, name the tenant, state the address of the premises, show the time limit set by regulation, and be dated and signed by you or your agent. The province's solve-a-problem page offers a Notice of Complaint form you can use.
2. Give 7 days to comply. Under the General Regulation, a tenant has 7 days after receiving a notice that is not a conduct complaint. A complaint about conduct, such as a disturbance, must be complied with immediately.
3. Advise a residential tenancies officer in writing if the tenant does not comply. The notice must be dated and signed and include a copy of your breach notice. If the failure creates an emergency, you may inform the officer directly.
4. The officer may investigate and inspect the premises and require compliance within a time the officer sets.
5. If the tenant still refuses, the officer may, at your request, serve a notice to quit that sets the move-out time. That notice is Form 4.
6. An eviction order (Form 9) is issued by the officer and enforced by the sheriff. You do not enforce it yourself.

You cannot change the locks or remove the tenant on your own at any point. The eviction process guide covers the later steps.

Section 5.1 gives a faster path for serious cases. If serving a section 5(1) notice is inappropriate because the tenant has caused extensive damage to the premises or for another reason, a landlord may ask an officer to serve a notice to quit instead. The officer may investigate and may serve it, so the result is not automatic. The request is made in a form the officer provides, dated and signed, with a copy served on the tenant. The notice to quit that follows is Form 4.

The province's lease page describes the same idea for landlords: you may apply to end a lease early for extensive damage, a health or safety risk or illegal activity, by serving what it calls Form 3, "Application to Residential Tenancies Officer", on the tenant and a copy on the Tenant and Landlord Relations Office, with the reason and evidence. The Act itself says only that the form is one provided by the officer, and the sources reviewed did not confirm that the Form 3 heading in the Regulation is the same document. Ask the office which form to use.

Do not mix up the two documents. The Form 3 application is what you send to start the early-end request. The Form 4 notice to quit is what the officer serves afterward. The Act does not define extensive damage, so photos, repair estimates and the inspection report are the evidence an officer is likely to look at.

Section 8 lets a landlord apply the security deposit to the tenant's failure to keep the unit ordinarily clean or to repair damage under section 4(1)(a) or (b). The province's inspections page says a Security Deposit Claim form must be submitted to the Tenant and Landlord Relations Office within 7 days of the end of the lease. You and the tenant may instead agree on a split of the deposit using a Security Deposit Refund Agreement form. The landlord security deposit guide and the deposit Ask page give more detail.

The sources reviewed do not set a dollar cap or a formula for cleaning or damage charges, and they do not describe how to recover an amount above the deposit. If your costs are larger than the deposit, ask the office what options exist. The damages Ask page gives a general picture, but it is not specific to New Brunswick.

Separate from the Act, the province approved a model Residential Properties Maintenance and Occupancy Code for adoption by municipalities. It binds a unit only where the municipality has adopted it by by-law. Where it is adopted, it requires floors, walls, ceilings, furnishings and fixtures in a dwelling unit to be kept clean and sanitary, and a municipal officer appointed to administer the by-law may enter at reasonable times to inspect. The Code's definition of owner includes a tenant or occupant.

This is a municipal tool, not a provincial one. The sources reviewed did not check any named municipality's by-law, so you must ask your town or city whether it has adopted the Code. See the model text on the laws.gnb.ca regulation page.

Plan your approach this way: record the condition, give a proper inspection notice, serve the written complaint, and keep every date. If the damage is serious, ask the office about section 5.1. This guide explains the rules in general terms; for a specific case, ask the tribunal or a licensed legal professional.