Tenants may terminate a rental agreement as long as a written and signed notice has been given to their landlord within the appropriate notice period, as outlined in the Residential Tenancies Act (2018).

What is the appropriate notice period to terminate a rental agreement?

The notice period required for a termination notice depends on the type of rental agreement you have.

• Week-to-week rental agreement – A tenant must provide a minimum of 7 days ' notice before the end of the rental period. The end of your rental period is the day before your rent is due for the next week.
• Month-to-month rental agreement – A tenant must provide at least one month’s notice before the end of the rental period. The end of your rental period is the day before your rent is due for the next month.
• Fixed-term rental agreement (6-12 months) – A tenant must provide a minimum of two months’ notice before the end of the fixed term specified in the rental agreement. To leave before the end of the fixed term specified in the rental agreement, the tenant must come to an agreement with the landlord. You should get this agreement in writing.

Termination notices can be served in any of the following ways:

1. Send electronically via the landlord's email in the rental agreement.
2. Give to the Landlord/ Property Manager personally.
3. Give to someone 16 years or older who lives with the landlord.
4. Post in an obvious place at the landlord’s residence.
5. Put it in the landlord’s mailbox or under their door.
6. Send to the landlord via regular mail.
7. Send to the landlord via courier service.
8. When the landlord is a company like us at Just Rent, you may:

• Give it to a director, manager, or officer at the company.
• Leave it at or send it to the registered office of that company.

Why should you properly serve a termination notice?

A landlord can keep your security deposit if proper notice is not served. In a fixed-term rental agreement, a client can be liable to continue to pay rent for the remainder of the rental term or until another tenant is found.

Failure to provide proper notice to your landlord could limit your ability to find future housing and damage your reputation as a tenant. Landlords in the same community talk to each other, and if there is a pattern of tenants leaving rentals without providing the proper notice, they may be discouraged from renting to you.

All this information can be found at https://www.gov.nl.ca/dgsnl/landlord-tenant/

For clients of ANC (Association for New Canadians):

If you are considering leaving your rental property, you should contact the housing officer for the satellite offices at cjones@ancnl.ca.