Residential Tenancy

Residential Tenancies Acts establish landlord and tenant rights and obligations.

An example is British Columbia which, as at May, 2003, is introducing regulations which will address:

• Screening fees: The new law prohibits landlords from charging application or screening fees to prospective tenants, who faced paying several fees if they applied for more than one rental unit. The new law will also protect tenants from unscrupulous landlords who collect screening fees when they have no intention of renting out a unit.
  
• Security deposits: The new law maintains the current half a month’s rent as a damage deposit to ensure access and affordability and allows landlords to collect extra deposits for keys, access cards and garage door openers. This will reduce replacement costs and improve security by increasing the probability of these items being returned.
  
• Rent fairness: The new law will have a simpler formula to calculate rent increases. These will be set by regulation and will be limited to a small annual increase, initially in the range of three to four per cent, plus a consumer price index adjustment. This will limit how much rents can be raised and protect tenants from unrestricted increases. Changes also give landlords more flexibility in the timing of rent increases. The old system encouraged landlords to raise rents every year because increases could not be carried over. Permitting landlords to carry forward allowable rent increases will give them flexibility in dealing with tenants while supporting a healthy rental market.
  
• Inspections: Tenants and landlords often dispute the amount that should be returned from damage deposits, and tenants sometimes have difficulty getting their damage deposits back. To reduce disputes, the new law will require landlords and tenants to conduct joint inspections before tenants move in and out, and require a signed report that describes the condition of the rental unit.
  
• Illegal activity: Currently, landlords can only evict if a tenant’s illegal activity unreasonably affects other tenants, causes extraordinary damage or is a safety risk. Under the new law, landlords will be able to evict tenants for illegal activities, such as marijuana grow operations, that have caused or are likely to cause damage or affect the safety and well-being of the landlord or other tenants.
  
• Pets: Currently, there are no clear rules governing pets in rental units, and landlords are deterred from accepting them because it is difficult to recover damage done by pets when it exceeds the damage deposit. Under the new law, landlords will have the right to decide whether to allow pets and will be permitted to collect an added damage deposit to cover damage that might be caused by pets. This should encourage more landlords to accept pets, while protecting them against possible damage.
  

For access to regulations in other jurisdictions and more information from a landlord's perspective please refer to http://www.checkfirstonline.com/.

Collection Agencies

Collection efforts can be persistent but collectors cannot phone at unreasonable hours or jeopardize the debtor's job by interrupting him or her at work.

British Columbia has laws in effect which are typical of debt collection laws in other provinces and territories.

Debt collection practices in British Columbia are regulated by the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act. Forms of activities which would be considered excessive pressure are given here.

Credit Bureaus

1. The Act applies only to consumer transactions.
2. Reports may be given to a person seeking information only for the purpose of: extending credit or collecting a debt; a tenancy inquiry employment or insurance verification under authority granted by a government statute otherwise, as a direct business requirement.
3. Before a person may obtain a report, she or he must: have the consumer's consent in writing, or notify the consumer by mailing a notice postmarked at least three days before obtaining the report.
4. If a consumer is denied credit or has an increased cost as a result of information obtained in a credit report, the person must be notified promptly by the person denying credit.
5. The consumer has a right to place a 100 word statement (50 recommended) on the credit bureau file, to be given to anyone who obtains a future report.
6. A consumer has a right to see the file and has a right to receive a copy of any report.

Banking

Have a question or complaint?
Call 1-866-461-3222 or e-mail the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada If you believe that a financial institution has breached a consumer law.

You can also lodge a complaint through the Banking Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) is an independent organization that investigates customer complaints against financial services providers, including banks and other deposit-taking organizations, investment dealers, mutual fund dealers and mutual fund companies.

Requirements to Provide Bank Accounts
Banks must provide banking services to all individuals unless there is fraud or some other legal reason for not doing so. The law is set out in Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Bank Act, as at September 30, 2003.

3. (1) Subject to subsection (2), subsection 448.1(1) of the Act does not apply in the following circumstances:

(a) if the member bank has reasonable grounds to believe that the retail deposit account will be used for illegal or fraudulent purposes;

(b) if the individual has a history of illegal or fraudulent activity in relation to providers of financial services and if the most recent instance of such activity occurred less than seven years before the day on which the request to open a retail deposit account is made;

(c) if the member bank has reasonable grounds to believe that the individual, for the purpose of opening the retail deposit account, knowingly made a material misrepresentation in the information provided to the member bank;

(d) if the member bank has reasonable grounds to believe that it is necessary to refuse to open the retail deposit account in order to protect the customers or employees of the member bank from physical harm, harassment or other abuse; or

(e) if the request is made at a branch or point of service of a member bank at which the only retail deposit accounts offered are those that are linked to an account at another financial institution.

Bankruptcy (2) For greater certainty and for the purpose of paragraph (1)(a), the fact that the individual is or has been a bankrupt does not, by itself without any evidence of fraud or any other illegal activity in relation to the bankruptcy, constitute reasonable grounds for a member bank to believe that an account for the individual will be used for illegal or fraudulent purposes.

4. (1) Subject to subsection (2) and for the purpose of subsection 448.1(1) of the Act, the conditions to be met by an individual who is requesting that a member bank open a retail deposit account for the individual are as follows:

(a) the individual shall present to the member bank

(i) two pieces of identification from among those set out in Part A or B of the schedule at least one of which is from among those set out in Part A of the schedule, or

(ii) one piece of identification from among those set out in Part A of the schedule, if the identity of the individual is also confirmed by a client in good standing with the member bank or by an individual of good standing in the community where the member bank is situated;

(b) the individual shall disclose, orally or in writing, the information listed in Part C of the schedule if the information is not available on the pieces of identification presented by the individual; and

(c) if the member bank requests, the individual shall consent to the member bank's verifying whether any of the circumstances set out in paragraphs 3(1)(a) to (d) apply to the individual, and to the member bank's verifying the pieces of identification presented by the individual.

5. If the member bank refuses to open a retail deposit account owing to the existence of any of the circumstances set out in paragraphs 3(1)(a) to (e) or owing to the individual's not meeting the conditions prescribed under these Regulations, the member bank shall provide to the individual, in writing,

(a) notice of its refusal to open the account; and

(b) a statement indicating that the individual may contact the Agency if they have a complaint and how the individual can contact the Agency.

PART A

1. A drivers' licence issued in Canada, as permitted to be used for identification purposes under provincial law

2. A Canadian passport

3. A Certificate of Canadian Citizenship or a Certification of Naturalization, in the form of a paper document or card but not a commemorative issue

4. A Permanent Resident card or Citizenship and Immigration Canada Form IMM 1000 or IMM 1442

5. A birth certificate issued in Canada

6. A Social Insurance Number card issued by the Government of Canada

7. An Old Age Security card issued by the Government of Canada

8. A Certificate of Indian Status issued by the Government of Canada

9. A provincial health insurance card, as permitted to be used for identification purposes under provincial law

10. A document or card, bearing the individual's photograph and signature, issued by any of the following authorities or their successors:

(a) Insurance Corporation of British Columbia

(b) Alberta Registries

(c) Saskatchewan Government Insurance

(d) Department of Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations

(e) Department of Transportation and Public Works of the Province of Prince Edward Island

(f) Service New Brunswick

(g) Department of Government Services and Lands of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador

(h) Department of Transportation of the Northwest Territories

(i) Department of Community Government and Transportation of the Territory of Nunavut

PART B

1. An employee identity card, issued by an employer that is well known in the community, bearing the individual's photograph

2. A bank or automated banking machine or client card, issued by a member of the Canadian Payments Association in the name of, or bearing the name of, the individual and bearing the individual's signature

3. A credit card, issued by a member of the Canadian Payments Association in the name of, or bearing the name of, the individual and bearing the individual's signature

4. A Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) client card bearing the individual's photograph and signature

5. A foreign passport

PART C

1. The individual's name

2. The individual's date of birth

3. The individual's address, if any

4. The individual's occupation, if any

Requirements to Cash Government Cheques
You don't need to open a personal bank account to cash a Government of Canada cheque. Any bank branch that dispenses cash through a teller must cash a Government of Canada cheque and do so for free.

Low-cost Accounts
Eight banks have signed memoranda of understanding with the Government, in which they have agreed to offer low-cost accounts to their customers. The features of these accounts are outlined in the table below and reflect the views of consumer groups on the desired attributes of low-cost accounts.