How much of the fee can be recovered by the landlord
A landlord who has paid the Rent Board fee in full may be able to collect 50% of the Rent Board fee (excluding any late penalties that have been added to the fee) from the tenant(s) residing in the unit.
Which tenants can be asked to pay the fee
The landlord may only bill the tenant for the Rent Board fee if the tenant was residing in the unit on or before November 1 in the year before the fee became due. [Example: For the Rent Board fee due on March 1, 2023, the tenant must have moved into the unit on or before November 1, 2022 to be responsible for 50% of the fee. If the tenant moved in after November 1, 2022, the Rent Board fee cannot be billed to the tenant.]
How to recover the fee
You may recover part of your Rent Board fee by either:
- Deducting it from the tenant's security deposit interest due to the tenant each year
- Billing the tenant directly (Only if there is no (or insufficient) security deposit held by the landlord, or if the landlord already pays the tenant's security deposit interest annually).
The billing statement must state the Rent Board fee amount owed by the tenant for each year and the amount, if any, of security deposit interest owed to the tenant.
The bill should also state:
- That the purpose of the fee is to fund the Rent Board
- That the fee is due and payable within 30 days of the date of the bill
Banking
Landlords may “bank” the Rent Board fee and collect it in a later year. This means that a landlord does not have to collect the fee in the year that it was due, but is entitled to collect the Rent Board fee in later years if they so desire.
Banking only applies to fees assessed from November 1999 on. See a list of prior Rent Board fees since 1999.
Legal issues
A tenant’s failure to pay the Rent Board fee is not a just cause for eviction. The landlord must go to Small Claims Court in order to collect an unpaid fee.