Many landlord’s find themselves in sticky situations when it comes to dealing with tenants. Often a tenant can take advantage of a landlord by not complying with their obligations as stated in the lease agreement or by deliberate damage to the rental property.

Many landlords will then consider underhanded tactics to rid themselves of the tenant or to force them to comply, many of these tactics leave landlords open to legal action against themselves.

Some of the things that landlords are not permitted to do are switching off the electricity supply to the rental property and having the property’s water turned off. Some landlords will even go so far as to remove the doors of the property or remove the tenants belongings without their permission.

A landlord may take possession of items the tenant brought onto the property but only after following the legal route with the sheriff’s office. If a landlord merely enters a tenants home and removes their furniture and other belongings this is considered theft and the landlord will be open to criminal prosecution.

While it is very tempting to deal with a bad tenant in this manner it will only be to your detriment and make you look like a bad landlord. Contact your local Rental Housing Tribunal, there should be one in every province, and have them advise you on how to proceed in the legal manner.

Another way to be a bad landlord is to neglect your property. If  you do not maintain the property you rent out to a good standard your investment will surely suffer. This really is like shooting yourself in the foot because you probably bought the property as an investment.

So always follow the legal route when dealing with a bad tenant and take care of your investment.