Tenant Hoarding or Damaged Unit in PEI

The Residential Tenancy Act does not use the word "hoarding", and the official PEI pages reviewed for this guide do not address hoarding or excessive clutter by name. What the Act does cover is cleanliness, damage and safety. Those rules apply however the condition came about, so this guide stays on the tenancy side.

Under section 28, the tenant is responsible for ordinary cleanliness of the unit and of any areas the tenant uses exclusively, unless the agreement makes the landlord clean them. The tenant is also responsible for sorting and disposing of garbage, compost and recycling properly. The tenant must repair, in a good and professional manner, undue damage caused by the tenant or by a person the tenant permits on the property. Reasonable wear and tear is not the tenant's to repair.

Your own duty continues too. You must keep the property in a state of repair that meets the health, safety and housing standards required by law. A tenant's condition problem does not switch off your repair duty, so document what you offered and when.

The provincial Public Health Act Rental Accommodation Regulations repeat the idea. A tenant must keep the dwelling unit clean and sanitary and cooperate to keep shared areas clean. For a dwelling with three or more dwelling units, the owner is responsible for communal parts, and tenants are responsible for cleanliness within their own unit.

These regulations are provincial, not municipal, and they sit under the Public Health Act, not the Residential Tenancy Act. The version on the government site is marked as updated in 2016, which is before the current Act came into force, so use it for what it says about duties rather than for process.

You cannot walk in because you are worried. To inspect, the Act requires written notice at least 24 hours before entry. The purpose must be to check that the unit is in good repair, fit to live in, and meets health, safety, housing and maintenance standards, and it must be reasonable to inspect. Entry to do repairs or other work uses the same 24-hour written notice.

The Rental Office FAQ adds that entry must be between 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. and that emergency entry, or entry with the tenant's agreement, can be immediate. The Act itself states the 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. window only for showing the unit to a prospective tenant, so treat the Act as the source for the 24 hours and the Rental Office FAQ as the source for the time window. The Act also allows entry in a real emergency, where it is necessary to protect the health, safety or welfare of people or to avert or limit damage to property.

If a tenant will not let you in after proper notice, see our PEI guide on tenants who refuse entry and the tenant-side PEI landlord entry guide.

The Act has no separate power for you to order a tenant to clean. You can apply to the Director for an order, and a notice for cause is available on the grounds listed in section 61(1), which include not complying with an order (section 61(1)(l)).

1. Write to the tenant. Describe the condition, cite the tenant's duty under section 28, and give a reasonable deadline. A written warning also helps if you later rely on a breach-of-term ground.
2. Apply to the Director if it continues. The Director can order a tenant to comply with an obligation and to pay compensation for loss suffered or expense incurred. Form 2(B) option (h) is the "other" option, and the forms page lists the full set.
3. Serve a Form 4(A) notice for cause. The grounds that can fit damage or an unsafe condition are: seriously jeopardising the health or safety of the landlord or another occupant, putting the landlord's property at significant risk, unreasonable damage, not repairing damage within a reasonable time, and breaching a material term that is not corrected after written notice. The form's reasons include (e), (g), (h) and (i). The end date is no earlier than one month after receipt and the day before rent is due. The tenant has 10 days to apply to the Director to dispute.
4. Ask for an earlier end date where waiting is unfair. You can ask the Director for an earlier end date and an order of possession (Form 2(B) option (b)) if the Director is satisfied the tenant caused unreasonable damage, seriously jeopardised health or safety, or put your property at significant risk, and it would be unreasonable or unfair to wait for the one-month notice.

In an urgent matter involving safety or security, or where your property is at significant risk, the Director can make an order without a hearing and without notice to the tenant. Do not remove or block access to the tenant's belongings yourself. Self-help is not a route the Act provides. See also how to evict a tenant in PEI.

Provincial Environmental Health. Environmental Health, part of the provincial government, investigates health-related concerns in rentals under the Public Health Act regulations. It is complaint-driven, a landlord may request an inspection, and it does not deal with financial issues. Pest infestations and mould from water damage are on its list. See the Rental Accommodations program page and the inspection request service.

City of Charlottetown only. Charlottetown has a municipal bylaw, Dangerous, Hazardous and Unsightly Premises Bylaw #2018-09. It requires property to be kept free of conditions that may create fire, health, dangerous or accident hazards, and of litter. It defines "owner" to include a tenant or other person in possession, so a notice can reach the occupant. An inspector serves a written notice with a compliance date, and non-compliance is an offence. The bylaw deals with property standards generally. It was not shown to cover interior clutter specifically, and the sources reviewed do not say how an inspector treats interior conditions. If your property is in Charlottetown, read the bylaw on the city website. This is a municipal rule and applies only there. Municipal rules in other PEI communities were not reviewed.

Provincial Unsightly Property Act. It applies only to places in PEI without their own unsightly property by-laws and targets dilapidated buildings, derelict vehicles and litter visible to the public. See the government complaint page.

When the tenant leaves, the tenant must leave the unit reasonably clean and undamaged, except for reasonable wear and tear, and hand back all keys. You and the tenant inspect together, and you complete a condition inspection report in the approved form (Form 5), offering two reasonable opportunities. The Form 5 report is on the Rental Office site.

To claim against the deposit, you must apply to the Director within 15 days after the tenancy ends (Form 2(B) option (e)), unless the tenant agrees in writing or a prior Director order for an unpaid amount exists. Form 2(B) option (f) is for compensation above the deposit. The Director can order compensation for loss suffered or expense incurred from a contravention.

The sources reviewed set no statutory cap on cleaning charges other than your actual loss, decided through a Director order or agreed in writing by the tenant. Photos, dated notes and receipts matter. Read our PEI security deposit guide and what to do if a tenant damages property.

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