Tenant Not Paying Rent in New Brunswick

When a tenant does not pay rent in New Brunswick, your tool is the Notice to Vacate. You serve it on the TLRO form. The vacate date in the notice must be at least 15 days after the day you serve it. The tenant can cancel the notice and keep the tenancy by paying all of the rent due within seven days after being served.

Only after that route fails do you ask for an eviction. A Residential Tenancies Officer at the Tenant and Landlord Relations Office (TLRO) decides, and a sheriff enforces the order. You cannot remove the tenant, change the locks or cut services yourself. The rules are in the Residential Tenancies Act, and the province lays out the process on its evictions page.

Rent is due on the dates set out in the Standard Form of Lease, which landlords must use. The Act requires the lease, not a handshake, to be the base document, and a tenancy without a signed form is treated as if the standard form had been signed. Keep a clear record of what was due, what was paid and when.

1. Confirm the amount owing. Any payment the tenant makes is applied first to arrears of rent, so tally what is owed against what was paid.
2. Serve a Notice to Vacate. Set the vacate date at least 15 days after the day of service. Mailed documents are treated as served on the third day after mailing, so count from that day if you mail it.
3. Give the tenant the seven days. Paying all of the rent due within seven days after service cancels the notice and continues the tenancy. A partial payment does not do that.
4. If the tenant has not paid, apply to the TLRO. Complete a Landlord Application for Assistance and attach a copy of the notice. The TLRO confirms receipt within one business day with a case number, and urgent cases are handled first.
5. An officer investigates and decides. A team member contacts the tenant, who can give evidence. If the officer issues an Eviction Order (Form 9), a sheriff carries it out.

No government page we reviewed publishes a hearing date or a decision time for these applications, and none states a filing fee for a landlord, so check the TLRO's current instructions. For the full eviction route, see how to evict a tenant in New Brunswick. Tenants see the same process in our eviction process guide.

If you have already served a Notice to Vacate on this tenant and they paid in time to cancel it, you have a different option the next time. A later notice can tell the tenant that paying rent will no longer continue the tenancy. The province calls this a Final Notice to Vacate, and it says the notice no longer offers the possibility of paying rent within seven days.

The Act sets two conditions: you must have previously served a notice to vacate, and the new notice must say that payment will not have the effect of continuing the tenancy. If the second condition is missing, the ordinary seven-day cancellation rule applies. The notice is then effective on the day specified in it, in line with the 15-day minimum, even if the tenant pays before that day.

Use this option only when the history supports it, and keep copies of every notice and proof of service. If a tenant challenges your application, the officer will look at what you served and when.

Late fees. A late fee is allowed only if the lease says so, and the regulation sets only one amount: when a rent cheque bounced, the fee is the NSF charges your financial institution actually charged you, proved by a receipt or statement. The Standard Form of Lease offers a late fee only for a dishonoured cheque. A flat or daily late fee is not provided for. Our answer on late fees explains more. Any lease term that makes all the remaining rent due on default is void.

The security deposit. You do not hold the deposit in New Brunswick. You must send it to a Residential Tenancies Officer within 15 days, and the officer holds it. To use any of it for unpaid rent, you must make a claim to the officer within seven days after the tenancy ends. When the tenancy ended by a notice to vacate for rent, you have until seven days after the end of the week (weekly tenancy) or the end of the month (any other tenancy) in which it ended. The landlord security deposit guide covers the claim step by step.

Rent beyond the deposit. If the arrears are more than the deposit, the claim goes to court. You must notify the officer within seven days after the tenancy ends so the deposit stays on hold, and start the court proceeding within 14 days after it ends. The Small Claims Act limit is $20,000. Read our answer on whether a landlord can sue for unpaid rent. We did not find an official page on enforcing a court judgment, so ask the court office about that step.

• Cut off heat, water or power. The Act allows this only in an emergency or for repairs. There is no exception for unpaid rent. Breaking the rule is a category F offence, with a fine of $240 to $10,200.
• Seize the tenant's belongings. Distress is abolished, and the Standard Form of Lease says a landlord may not seize a tenant's personal belongings for default in payment of rent.
• Change the locks. Not without the tenant's consent or an officer's written authorization during a tenancy, and during an eviction only with written permission from an officer or with a sheriff present.
• Demand last month's rent or an oversized payment. You cannot require a prepayment of the last month's rent, a single payment larger than the other regular payments, or a security deposit above the maximum.
• Serve a notice as payback for a complaint. A termination notice served within a year after the tenant complained can be contested.

Accepting rent after the tenancy has ended can start a new tenancy. If the tenancy has expired or ended and no new lease is signed, taking rent or compensation for use and occupation, other than for past use and occupation, creates a new tenancy under section 23. A landlord is entitled to compensation for use and occupation after termination, so ask the TLRO how to take payment safely.

Some tenants fall behind because of a short crisis. The province runs a rent bank grant for renters in a temporary and unplanned crisis. The grant is paid directly to the landlord or utility, is limited to two months' rent to a maximum of $2,750, and has income limits. The rent bank page says people facing eviction may be eligible. Amounts are as shown on that page in October 2026. Tenants in public housing or Rent Supplement units cannot use it for arrears.

You are not required to suggest it, but telling a tenant about it within the seven-day window can resolve a rent problem without an application. Do not agree verbally to ignore the notice. Put any payment plan in writing, and remember that only paying all rent due within the seven days cancels the notice.

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