Check the official conditions before requesting a joint hearing
The form requires that the applications have the same matter or matters in dispute with each tenant, are filed under the same statutory sections of the Residential Tenancy Act or Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act, concern the same landlord and building, residential property or manufactured home park, and have a filing fee paid or waiver granted for each file. The RTB considers whether joining would make the process fair, efficient and consistent. Merely sharing a landlord does not automatically qualify unrelated claims.
Fill in RTB-18's two pages
- Dispute address: Enter the complete building, park or rental-property address, including unit or site number where appropriate.
- Applicant and parent file: Identify the landlord or agent making the request, choose the parent file number, and provide the applicant's legal name, signature and date.
- Respondents and other files: List each affected tenant's legal name, unit or site number, and corresponding RTB file number in the respondent slots. Use the continuation spaces on page two if more files are involved.
- Both pages: Include the full, completed form with the associated application so the RTB can identify all proceedings the landlord wants heard together.
File the applications; then request joining
The Province instructs landlords to submit RTB-18 with the application. The fee or approved waiver requirement applies separately to each underlying dispute application; RTB-18 is not a substitute for filing those applications. The RTB decides whether to join them and may keep separate hearings if the issues, parties or fairness considerations differ. Preserve each file's original Notice of Dispute Resolution Proceeding and any decision about joining.
Joining is not a cross-application or a schedule of parties
When landlord and tenant file opposing claims against one another, those may be cross-applications, handled through a separate RTB process. When several co-landlords share one tenancy agreement, a single application with additional names on RTB-26 may be sufficient instead of separate applications and RTB-18. Tenants requesting to join their own separate applications use RTB-19.
Protect service, hearing and evidence deadlines
Unless and until the RTB explicitly confirms a joint hearing or changes a hearing date, each existing file's deadlines remain in effect. Serve each proceeding package and evidence on the proper respondents as directed; keep proof. Do not assume that including a tenant's name on RTB-18 is equivalent to properly serving that tenant with the original proceeding.
Common mistakes
Omitting a respondent's file number, forgetting the applicant's signature, requesting to join unrelated claims, failing to pay or obtain a waiver on each individual application, or assuming the hearing dates are automatically changed when RTB-18 is submitted.