For renters: entry, a sale, and a renovation, in plain words

01Your landlord can only enter two ways

Section 25 of the Residential Tenancies Act says a landlord may enter only in accordance with section 26 or section 27. There is no third door.

Section 26 is entry without written notice, and it is narrow. In an emergency. If you consent at the time. To clean, if the lease requires the landlord to clean at regular intervals. And, once either of you has given notice to end the tenancy, to show the unit to prospective tenants between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. after making a reasonable effort to tell you first.

Section 27 is entry with 24 hours written notice: repairs or work in the unit, a viewing by a possible mortgage lender or insurer, an inspection required under the Condominium Act, an inspection to check the unit is in a good state of repair, and any other reasonable reason written into your lease.

Anything else is not on the list. A landlord who lets themselves in to check on things has entered illegally, whatever the intention was.

02What a 24 hour notice has to say

Subsection 27(3) is the one sentence worth memorising. The notice must specify the reason for entry, the day of entry, and a time of entry between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Three things. Reason, day, time. Sometime Tuesday is not a time. Between 9 and 5 is a shift, not a time of entry. Maintenance is a category, not a reason; to replace the kitchen tap is what the section is asking for.

The 24 hours run before the time of entry, not before the day. A notice slid under the door at 7 p.m. on Monday does not support entry at 9 a.m. on Tuesday.

You do not have to be home, and your landlord cannot change the locks without giving you replacement keys.

03When the place is for sale

A sale, on its own, changes nothing. The new owner steps into the old owner's shoes and the tenancy continues.

During the sale, the landlord, or an agent the landlord has authorised in writing, can show the unit to a possible buyer with 24 hours written notice under subsection 27(2). The same three requirements apply.

Your tenancy only ends if the buyer wants to live there and the landlord serves an N12 on their behalf. Section 49 allows that in a building with no more than three residential units, or for a condominium unit, and only for the purchaser, their spouse, a child or parent of either, or a caregiver for one of them.

That notice needs at least 60 days, has to end on the last day of a rental period, and carries one month's rent in compensation, or another unit you find acceptable, no later than the termination date. Section 49.1 keeps that obligation on the landlord who served the notice, not on the buyer.

04The N12: someone is moving in

Section 48 lets a landlord end a tenancy where they in good faith require the unit for at least a year for themselves, their spouse, a child or parent of either, or a caregiver for one of them.

Two limits are worth knowing. The unit has to be owned at least in part by an individual, and the landlord has to be an individual. A corporate landlord cannot use section 48.

The notice needs at least 60 days, must end on the last day of a rental period or a fixed term, and carries one month's rent in compensation, or another acceptable unit, no later than the termination date.

From September 21, 2026 there is a second route. A notice given on or after that day that allows at least 120 days, ending at the end of a rental period, carries no compensation. So a notice served after that date either pays you a month or gives you two extra months of warning.

Either way, you can end the tenancy earlier than the date on the notice by giving at least 10 days written notice, and you keep the compensation.

05The N13: the unit is being renovated

Section 50 covers demolition, conversion to a non-residential use, and repairs so extensive that they require a building permit and vacant possession. That last part is the test: a refresh that needs neither a permit nor an empty unit is not an N13.

The notice needs at least 120 days and must end at the end of a rental period or a fixed term.

Compensation is three months' rent in a complex of at least five residential units, and one month's rent in a smaller one. If you claim the right to return, it becomes the rent for the shorter of that period and the time the unit is actually under repair.

The right to return is the part people lose by silence. Section 53 gives you a right of first refusal, but only if you tell the landlord in writing before you move out. Do it in the same message where you acknowledge the notice. You then come back at the rent the landlord could lawfully have charged with no interruption, not at the new market rent.

From September 21, 2026 the landlord also has to tell you in writing when the unit is expected to be ready, update you if that changes, tell you when it is ready, and give you at least 60 days from that point to take it.

06If the reason was not real

Section 57 exists because some notices are given to get a tenant out and the rent up. If you left because of an N12 and nobody named in it moved in within a reasonable time, you can apply to the Board. The same applies to a purchaser's N12, and to an N13 where the work was never done.

The deadline is one year after you moved out. Write that date down the day you hand back the keys.

The Board can order the rent difference for a year, general compensation of up to twelve months of your last rent, your moving and storage costs, an abatement, and an administrative fine.

The law also helps you prove it. If the landlord advertised the unit for rent or for sale, rented it to somebody else, demolished it or began converting it, at any point from the day the notice was given until a year after you left, bad faith is presumed unless they show otherwise. From September 21, 2026 a further presumption is added where nobody named in the notice moves in within a period set by regulation. Check that period with the Board.

07What to do if you get a notice

How TenantBay helps: the tenant portal is free on every plan, so your lease, your payment record and the notices you have been given stay in one place you can open at a hearing.

• Read the date and count the days. A notice that gives less time than the Act requires is not valid, and you can say so at a hearing.
• Check the ground matches the form. An N12 is for someone moving in. An N13 is for work that needs a permit and an empty unit.
• Keep the notice, the envelope and any message that came with it. If it is an N13 and you want the unit back afterwards, say so in writing before you move out.
• Do not stop paying rent because you received a notice. Arrears create their own process on top of this one.
• Write down the date you moved out, then get advice from duty counsel or a community legal clinic. Both are free.