Can we evict subtenants if they don�t take care of the apartment?

Who can do the evicting depends on your status as landlords and whether or not the primary landlord wants to do the evicting. Subtenants become tenants of the primary landlord as far as the Residential Tenancies Act is concerned. If the primary landlord thinks that the subtenants are in breach of the obligation to maintain the property, he can use the procedures under the Act to evict the subtenants.

If any of the original tenants who made the agreement with the subtenants have stayed in the apartment, then you will likely not be considered to be landlords under the Residential Tenancies Act. The Act does not cover rental situations where a landlord shares living quarters with a tenant. In that scenario, you would have to use principles of common law to evict the tenants.

If none of you are living there, you would be considered a landlord under the Act and could use the procedures to evict the subtenants.

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March 2006 More Renting a Place to Live FAQs:

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