The Residential Tenancy Act has rules about how tenants and landlords can give or “serve” certain documents to each other. For example, a tenant can mail their one-month notice to move out, but should never send it using text or social media messaging. The RTA also has rules about when a document is considered received, depending on how it was served. For example, if you post a notice on your landlord’s door, you should consider it received three days later – not on the day you posted it.
Here is a breakdown of the allowable methods of service according to the RTA, and how each method can impact when a served document is considered received.
| Method of Service | How to Serve the Document | How to Gather Proof of Service | When the Document is Considered Received |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-Person |
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| Post It |
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| Mailbox/ Mail Slot |
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| Fax |
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| Regular or Registered Mail |
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Special Rules
Most documents can be served using any of the methods listed above, but there are some exceptions. For tenants, there are two types of documents where special rules apply:
- an application for dispute resolution; and
- a notice that an arbitrator has accepted an application for review consideration.
These specific documents can only be served in a limited number of ways:
- by leaving a copy with the landlord;
- by leaving a copy with an agent of the landlord;
- by emailing a copy to an email address provided as an address for service by the landlord; or
- by sending a copy by registered mail to the address at which the landlord lives, or to the address at which the landlord carries out business as a landlord.
Exceptions
When calculating the date a document is considered received, there is always a “rebuttable presumption”. This means that, even though the RTA has rules about when documents are considered received, they may not apply when there is evidence of a document being received on a different date. For example, if you mail a document to your landlord and get email confirmation that they received it three days later, you may be able to argue that the document was received after three days rather than five days.
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