Writing a residential lease in Alberta without an official form

Alberta has no standard lease form. You write your own, and the Residential Tenancies Act decides which parts of it count. A good Alberta lease names the parties, the home, the term, the rent and the deposit, and it follows the province’s rules on deposits, inspections and rent increases, which no lease can change.

If you’re used to Ontario or British Columbia, where the government hands you a form, that can come as a surprise. The freedom is handy, since one template can cover basement suites and whole buildings. It also means nobody has checked that template but you. Here’s how to build one that holds up, in the order you’ll need it.

What a complete Alberta lease covers

There’s no required layout. A lease that holds up well in a dispute names:

• The landlord, with an address in Alberta where the tenant can serve notices, and every adult tenant
• The full address and unit, with any parking stall or storage locker that comes with it
• Whether it’s periodic (usually month to month) or a fixed term, and the dates
• The rent, the day it’s due, how it’s paid and what it includes
• The security deposit amount
• Which utilities the tenant pays and which are included
• Reasonable rules for the home, such as pets, smoking, noise and shared spaces
• The date, and every landlord’s and tenant’s signature

Anything that takes away a right the Act gives a tenant has no effect, even with a signature next to it. Keep that in mind when you copy a clause from a lease template found online, especially one written for another province.

Since you write the lease yourself, build one solid template and reuse it rather than starting fresh each time. Leasing tools such as Nodus by Tuze can prepare the lease for an Alberta home from your answers and collect every tenant’s signature online.

Security deposits

The first rule your template has to get right is the deposit. Alberta caps the security deposit at one month’s rent, based on the rent at the start of the tenancy. You can’t top it up later when the rent goes up.

Within two banking days of collecting it, the deposit has to be in an interest bearing trust account at a bank, treasury branch, credit union or trust company in Alberta. Interest is owed to the tenant at the rate the province sets each year.

When the tenancy ends, you have 10 days after the tenant moves out to either return the full deposit with interest, or return what’s left with a written statement of what you’ve deducted and why.

Inspection reports

Once you’ve taken a deposit, inspections decide whether you can ever use it. If you collect a security deposit, you have to inspect the unit with the tenant within one week before or after they move in, and again within one week before or after they move out. Each inspection needs a written report, signed and with a copy for the tenant.

Skip the move-in report and you lose the right to deduct for damage from the deposit, however clear the damage is at move-out. A report with dated photos of each room is your best protection.

Rent increases

A year in, the next question is usually rent. Alberta has no limit on how much rent can go up. It limits how often and how much notice you give.

• Once every 12 months, counted from the start of the tenancy or the last increase.
• For a monthly periodic tenancy, at least three full tenancy months of written notice.
• For a weekly periodic tenancy, at least 12 full tenancy weeks.

For a fixed term lease, plan the new rent for the renewal, and put it in the new agreement.

Ending a fixed term

Finally, if your template uses fixed terms, decide now what happens at the end. A fixed term lease in Alberta ends on its end date without either side giving notice, unless the lease says it carries on. If you want it to roll into a month to month tenancy, say so in the lease. If you want to renew, start the conversation well before the end date so nobody is left guessing.

Building on your template

Once your Alberta template covers the parties, the deposit, inspections, rent increases and how a fixed term ends, every new tenancy starts from something you’ve already checked. When the Act changes, update the template once and every lease after it follows.