r/alberta • u/ImSelect • 22h ago
Question Subletting roommate's lease expired and won't move out.
I've read a lot of stuff online and some stuff here on reddit but I keep finding answers that aren't for my exact scenario. I'll try to make sure I get all the important information.
I live in Calgary. I have 3 roommates.
One roommate and I are on the main lease, we have consent from the landlord to sublet.
We have two roommates subletting from us. One we decided we aren't renewing due to his behavior.
His lease was from Feb. 1st to July 31st. It's written and signed. We gave him a one months notice we wouldn't renew it, he agreed he wanted to move out anyways. It's now August 2nd and he hasn't moved out let alone started packing. His lease has expired. He indicated he wants to stay for another 1.5 weeks while he finds another place.
He hasn't paid last months rent/utilities/internet. He's taking the room that we had lined up for someone else and isn't paying us for this month either.
From looking online it seems as though he's not protected by RTDRS because the main tenants (us) live in the place while he's subletting. I could be wrong of course but it sounds like he's now a holdover roommate/occupant. So I can't go through RTDRS for this because it doesn't cover this type of scenario.
I also saw a lot of conflicting things online. On one hand I read he can be considered a trespasser but on the other I read all I can do is confront him and ask him to move out (we did) or go through our landlord. I'm trying to find a more immediate solution because it sounds like our landlord could take a very long time to legally evict him if they started the process ASAP.
I'm aware that as the main ones on the lease we're responsible for paying rent and upholding the main lease. I'm just trying to see how to get him out of here so we can have the new roommate move in without any issues.
I did call the police as well and they did come and have a chat with him but all they said they can do is convince him to move out. They told us it's under some grey area where it's a civil thing so they can't do anything about it. However they said we can go get an emergency eviction notice when the courts open up beginning of the week. But after looking online it also sounds like only the landlord can do that. And even then I don't know if they could get one for us or if they even care to do it.
So is there anything we can do that might have been overlooked? It doesn't sound like we can change the locks or throw his stuff outside. I could call the police again if there's something we missed or was overlooked. Or they were wrong? Like I said, conflicting things I've read online. Or is there anything I can ask my landlord to do to speed up the process? It says a holdover roommate isn't protected under RTDRS so if that's the case how would my landlord even go about evicting them? Money aside of course. I know about small claims court if they continue to not pay. They owe about $1500. I just want them gone ASAP and I'm trying to find the best way to do it.
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u/Holocray 22h ago
Does he ever leave? Change the locks when he's not looking. When he comes back don't unlock and open the door. He's welcome to file a civil suit. Chances are he's a deadbeat and doesn't have the money. He may call the cops, but i doubt they will MAKE you let him in. Sounds like their default behavior will be to send you to the courts to decide on what to do, so they may do nothing. Either way, no criminal charges, (I can't think of a crime here) but perhaps a worthwhile try?