Tenant's Belongings Left Behind in New Brunswick

When a tenant leaves things behind, the first rule is simple: do not throw them out on your own. The government tells landlords not to dispose of a tenant's belongings and says you may put them in a safe and secure place while you wait for the office to tell you what to do with them.

The rule is in section 15 of the Residential Tenancies Act. It applies when a tenant leaves belongings after abandoning the unit in breach of the tenancy agreement, or after losing possession because the tenancy ended or expired. Unless you and the tenant agreed otherwise in writing, you may remove the belongings. You must then do three things:

• store them in a safe and secure place until the Act lets you deal with them;
• try to contact the tenant about them and keep a record of the attempt;
• apply to a residential tenancies officer (RTO) at the Tenant and Landlord Relations Office for a decision and directions, with an itemized list.

The Act does allow disposal in set cases, so it is wrong to say you can never dispose of anything. But the permission comes from the officer's findings, not from your own judgment about what looks like junk.

The Act and General Regulation 82-218 do not define when a unit counts as abandoned. That makes your evidence important. An empty fridge or a quiet unit is not the same as a tenant who has given up the home.

If the tenant has abandoned the unit, section 16(2) lets you enter at any time without notice, and section 20 lets you take back possession. Even so, you must still try to limit your own losses from the abandonment, as a party to a contract generally has to (section 11(4)). If the tenant simply is not answering and has not moved out, treat it as an ordinary tenancy problem and read what to do when a tenant will not leave after notice.

The research did not find any rule that sets a waiting period before you can call a unit abandoned. Write down what you saw and when, and keep your messages to the tenant.

1. Confirm the tenancy has ended or the tenant has abandoned the unit. Keep your notices, photos and messages.
2. Move the belongings to a safe and secure place. Do not leave them where weather or other people can damage them.
3. Try to reach the tenant by every contact method you have, and keep a written record of each attempt.
4. Make an itemized list of what you removed.
5. Apply to a residential tenancies officer for a determination and directions, and attach the list.
6. Wait for the officer's findings and directions before you sell, give away or dispose of anything.

The Tenant and Landlord Relations Office is part of the government's housing pages at gnb.ca. Start there for the current application route.

The officer sorts the belongings. The values below come from the Act and section 12.1 of the Regulation, which sets the dollar figure at $500.

What the officer finds	What you may do
Unsanitary or dangerous items	The officer may authorize disposal without delay, whatever the value.
Worth less than $500	You may dispose of them once at least ten days have passed since the tenant left them.
Worth $500 or more, and no more than the tenant owes you	The officer may authorize sale or disposal.
Worth more than the tenant owes	The officer arranges storage and notifies the tenant, and may sell them at the end of the storage period.

A sale must be commercially reasonable, and you and the tenant get at least ten days' notice of it (Regulation section 14). Sale money goes first to the costs and then to the tenant's debt. A balance that nobody claims within one year is handled like unclaimed deposit interest under the Act.

Disposing of belongings in any way the Act does not allow, or blocking the tenant from getting them before disposal is allowed, is a category E offence (section 15(6.1) and (6.2), section 28(2)). A judge must set a fine between $240 and $5,200 under the Provincial Offences Procedure Act.

• Do not keep belongings as leverage. The government tells tenants that a landlord must release their belongings even if money is owing. Pursue the debt through the officer instead.
• Do not seize goods for unpaid rent. The Act abolished distress (section 14).
• Do not change the locks during a tenancy except by mutual consent or with an officer's written authorization (section 18).

The tenant can also ask the officer for compensation for losses caused by a wrongful disposal. The tenant has three months from the date the belongings were left (section 15(6.3)). If an officer orders you to pay and you do not comply, that is also a category E offence (section 28(2.1)).

Left-behind belongings are a separate matter from the security deposit. The officer holds the deposit, not you. To keep any part of it, you make a Security Deposit Claim to the officer within the deadline in the Act, which is generally seven days after the tenancy ends. See the landlord's security deposit guide for New Brunswick for the details.

If the tenant has died, the research found no provision in the Act on the death of a tenant and no rule on who may remove the belongings. Contact the Tenant and Landlord Relations Office before you touch anything in that case.

For related situations, see what to do if a tenant has abandoned property and my tenant has disappeared.

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