What You Should Know As a Landlord in Saskatchewan

As a residential building landlord, you bear a distinct number of responsibilities. With the many ways individuals are using their personal residences, it’s important to know your rights and obligations.

Saskatchewan’s Residential Tenancies Act states that a landlord is responsible for providing and maintaining the residence and rental units in a good state of repair, suitable for habitation, and in compliance with provincial standards. The landlord is obligated to provide reasonable services as outlined in their tenant lease agreement, like providing appropriate attention to issues raised by tenants and respecting residents’ privacy.

Responsibilities to the building

If you were to classify your responsibilities to the building, they could fall under two headings: maintain and repair.

Maintain: The lobby, hallways, elevator, laundry room, garage, and common areas like the fitness center and pool all have to be kept in working order. It is your duty to ensure that these spaces are clean and meet the standards set out by the municipal and provincial bylaws.

Pest control is also your responsibility. You must ensure steps are taken to control any pests that might inhabit the building.

Here are some ways to ensure your building is well maintained:

• Create a calendar of scheduled maintenance and repair
• Maintain detailed records of any repair work
• Hire cleaning and grounds keeping crews
• Perform a routine inspection of common areas, roofs and walls to ensure standards are met
• Clearly post your contact information for tenants in case they encounter difficulties
• Create maintenance request forms for tenants to use
• Maintain your inventory of tools and common repair items (screws, light bulbs, nails, etc.)
• Perform regular smoke detector tests to ensure proper operation, as required by law
• Saskatchewan uses the National Building Code as the minimum standard for buildings throughout the province. This Code helps ensure the health and safety of all individuals. It’s worth taking the time to review the fire safety requirements for residential buildings. The National Building Code and The Uniform Building and Accessibility Standards can be found on Saskatchewan’s provincial website.

Repair: When you provide utilities to tenants, then you need to ensure they are kept in proper working order. This includes but is not limited to:

• Electrical and plumbing systems
• Building heating and cooling systems
• Public spaces like garages, hallways, and laundry rooms
• Windows, doors, locks, and lighting
• Appliances

Fact: If something breaks, wears out, or no longer works properly as a result of normal use, it’s your responsibility to repair or replace it. And it is not your responsibility to replace the item with a brand new or better model.

• Keep in mind, if heating is included in the lease agreement, the temperature should generally remain at around 20 degrees Celsius. Saskatoon, for example, requires the indoor temperature to be maintained at 22 degrees Celsius when the outdoor temperature is -35 degrees Celsius. It is important to consult your municipal by-laws to determine what regulations are in effect.

Responsibilities to the residents

An important responsibility is to provide a safe living environment for all tenants. When thinking about your duties as landlord, it’s best to treat others with the same respect that you expect for yourself.

For instance, you wouldn’t want someone to enter into your private residence without notice. Residents are entitled to be notified in writing at least 24 hours before entering their rental unit. The notice of entry must state the following:

• Why you need to enter the unit
• The date you will enter the unit
• The specific time of entry, between 8AM and 8PM

While it’s important that you be able to enter the unit to perform repairs or maintenance work, you need to respect the tenant’s right to privacy. By providing a 24-hour notice of entry, you are giving the tenant time to put their residence in order.

The residents of your building are also entitled to certain vital services. As landlord, you must ensure that these are not interfered with. Should anything occur to disrupt these services, you must take action to ensure that they are restored as quickly as possible.

Vital services include:

• Hot or cold water
• Electricity
• Gas
• Heat – A reasonable temperature must be maintained throughout the year in residential buildings. Generally, 22 degrees Celsius is an appropriate temperature.

FACT: In Saskatchewan, both the landlord and tenants are protected under the Human Rights Code. Everyone has an equal right to housing, free of discrimination and harassment.

Can I prohibit smoking in my building? What about pets?

Under the Tobacco Control Act, it is prohibited to smoke in common areas of multi-unit buildings. There is no law, however, prohibiting smoking in personal units of buildings. The choice as to whether or not you want to allow smoking in personal units is up to you. If you want to make your building 100% smoke free, it is your legal right to do so. You must, of course, notify all tenants of this policy, as well as clearly display no smoking signs.

The same rules apply for smoking cannabis.

If you want to prohibit pets from your building, you must clearly state this in the lease agreement.

Can I increase the rent?

The short answer is yes. For a fixed-term tenancy, you are only able to increase the rent at the beginning of a new term if the tenant chooses to continue their tenancy. In such an instance, the tenant must be provided with two-months notice. For a periodic tenancy, if you are a member of the Saskatchewan Landlord Association Inc. (SKLA) or the Network of Non-Profit Housing Providers of Saskatchewan Incorporated (NPHPS), you must provide your tenant with six-months notice of a rent increase. If not, you must provide him with one-year’s notice.

NOTE: There are specific forms to be used to notify tenants of rent increases. These can be obtained on Saskatchewan’s provincial website.

What about short-term rentals?

Different municipalities have different rules and regulations regarding short-term rentals. The city of Saskatoon, for example, is looking to amend its Short Term Rentals Regulations due to the rise in online hosting platforms. Similarly, Regina is looking to other cities across the country and to resident input as they look at options to regulate short-term rentals. Be sure to consult your municipal by-laws regarding policies and regulations. With the rapidly changing landscape surrounding these rentals, you will want to ensure you have the most up-to-date information available.

If it is your intention to allow short-term rentals within your unit, you should consult your insurance broker to see how this can affect your policy, and what steps you can take to help protect you against liability claims.

Can a small business be run out of an apartment? 

This depends on the type of business and the municipal bylaws. Chances are, it is permissible for a small business to be operated within a residence, but the business operator must be mindful and respectful of the building rules, and not interfere with other tenants. If there is excessive traffic in and out of the unit where the business is being run, and other tenants are complaining, then it is within your rights to prevent such behaviour from continuing.

What type of insurance do I need?

As a landlord, you are not responsible for insuring the contents of each rental unit in your building. You will, however, want to ensure that you have rental property coverage in place to protect your personal property and the building against damage from listed perils.

You might want to also consider getting rental income and liability insurance. In short, rental income insurance protects you from losing money when a unit is vacated due to an insured peril. Liability insurance protects you from lawsuits due to injury or property damage that occurs within your building. It’s well worth speaking with your insurance broker to review your policy and ensure there are no gaps in your coverage

As a landlord in Saskatchewan, you have a great deal of responsibilities and obligations. There are a lot of moving parts to your job, and it can sometimes be difficult to keep track of all the rules and regulations of the province and your municipality. By having the proper insurance policy in place, you can limit a great deal of potential problems, and ensure the safe and effective operation of your business.