Standard Terms of a Tenancy Agreement.

All tenancy agreements in BC must have some specific terms. They include items like landlords and tenants names, address of the property, date the tenancy starts, what services and facilities are included in the tenancy. Services include utilities which would include heat and hydro.

During a tenancy it is prohibited for a landlord to terminate or restrict “services” if the service is essential to the tenants use of the rental property.  One of the most common mistakes landlords renting out their basement suite missunderstand about this is “restricting” a service is often done without understanding it is being done.

In BC it is a requirement that tenants have control of the heating system in their rental unit.  What this means is the tenant  needs to have the ability to control the heat without asking someone else living at the property to adjust the temperature. In many basement suites landlords have the heating controls in the upper level of the property which “restricts” the lower level’s ability to control the temperature in their unit. This is inadvertently “restricting” a tenant’s rights required if the tenancy agreement indicated heating is included. A simple adjustment of adding a different type of heating source to the lower level can provide the tenant the option to control their heating. 

We hear this often when renting to people who are trying to move into a condo from a basement suite. They indicate it is often cold and they don’t understand why they are not receiving the heat that the agreement indicated was included in the tenancy agreement. Another aspect of this which is misunderstood is if the upper and lower levels are rented to two different parties it is illegal to make the upper tenants pay the entire bill of the utilities and  ask them to collect a portion from the lower tenants. The two parties don’t have a contract between them and therefore the upper level tenants have no ability to collect from the other party. When the upper and lower levels are rented to different parties a landlord should keep the utilities in their name and charge each tenant a percentage of the utilities. This percentage needs to be outlined in the tenancy agreement to ensure both parties understand their responsibilities.

It is important for landlords to understand their obligations when renting their property. If their property is not meeting the requirements of the Residential Tenancy Act a tenant has the right to file a claim with the RTB to request the services be corrected or rent be reduced.

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