NWT tenants ending a lease after a rent increase

Rent increase election

A tenant can sometimes elect to end the tenancy on the day before the increase, but must tell the landlord in writing about that election.

Other notices

Weekly, monthly and fixed-term termination rules differ. Do not generalize a one-month notice to every agreement.

Section 54.1 also provides a separate application to a Rental Officer for early termination where family violence affects the tenant or a child in the tenant’s care. A qualifying protection order, peace bond or other specified court order must accompany the application and be in effect when the application is made. This is not an ordinary tenant notice and it should not be confused with Nunavut’s different legislation.

For a fixed-term tenancy, section 51(1) generally allows a tenant to end the agreement on its specified end date by giving notice no later than 30 days before that date. For periodic tenancies, section 52 has different requirements and the termination date must be tied to the relevant tenancy period. Section 53 separately addresses narrow early termination situations involving death or serious health and affordability circumstances, sometimes requiring a medical certificate.

Under the family-violence route in section 54.1, the landlord and the alleged person responsible for the violence are not parties to the tenant’s application (subsection (4)). Subsections (5)–(7) govern the Rental Officer’s order, service and effective date. Do not assume submitting an application itself ends rent liability.

Follow-through

Keep dated copies of all notices and arrange proper inspection, keys, deposit accounting and a forwarding address.