New Brunswick Rent Arrears Notice — How Landlords Handle Unpaid Rent Under the RTA

When Rent Doesn't Arrive

Rent is due on the date specified in your Standard Form of Lease. When a tenant misses that date, the Residential Tenancies Act gives you a specific tool: the Notice to Vacate under Section 19(1). But the process has mandatory steps, a cure window the tenant can use, and rules about repeat defaults that many landlords don't know about until they're already mid-process.

The Notice to Vacate: First Default

When a tenant fails to pay rent on the due date, you may serve a Notice to Vacate. This isn't a Notice to Quit (Form 4) — that's issued by a Residential Tenancies Officer, not the landlord. The Notice to Vacate is a landlord-issued document specific to rent arrears.

The notice triggers a 7-day statutory cure window. If the tenant pays all rent due within those 7 days, an ordinary Notice to Vacate is cancelled and the tenancy continues. You cannot refuse to accept the payment during the cure period, and you cannot proceed with enforcement if the tenant pays in full.

You'll need to maintain a rent accounting ledger — a running record of rent due, rent received, and the outstanding balance. The Tribunal will want this documentation if the matter escalates.

Repeat Nonpayment: The Use-and-Occupation Exception

Here's where Section 19(6) changes the picture. If you've previously served a Notice to Vacate under Section 19(1) on this tenant, you may use a new notice that remains effective despite payment, provided it says that payment will not continue the tenancy. The Act also preserves this rule for a Notice to Quit served by an RTO before Section 19(6) came into force.

In a repeat scenario, the new Notice to Vacate may state that payment of rent will not have the effect of continuing the tenancy. This means the tenant can pay and still be required to vacate — the payment does not cancel the notice the way it does on an ordinary first notice.

The key procedural requirement: you must be able to show the prior notice. Keep copies of every Notice to Vacate you've ever served on that tenant, with proof of service for each.

What You Cannot Do

Sections 3.1 and 18 of the Act restrict self-help remedies, regardless of how far behind the tenant is on rent:

• No changing locks during occupancy except by mutual consent or with the RTO's written authorization; during an eviction, locks may be changed in the Sheriff's presence
• No deliberately interfering with heat, water or electricity except in an emergency or when necessary for maintenance or repairs
• No seizing the tenant's personal belongings — distress for rent is abolished under Section 14
• No entering the unit outside the permitted entry rules

Violations of Sections 3.1, 14 or 18 are offences under Section 28(3). Unpaid rent is handled through the notice-and-tribunal process, not through self-help.

The Escalation Path

If the tenant doesn't pay within the 7-day cure window and doesn't vacate, you file a Landlord Application for Assistance with the Residential Tenancies Tribunal. Attach the signed lease, the Notice to Vacate with proof of service, and a complete rent accounting ledger.

The Tenant and Landlord Relations Office contacts the tenant, allows them to provide evidence, and attempts mediation. If no solution is reached, the Residential Tenancies Officer investigates and decides whether eviction will proceed. All cases are prioritized; the most urgent are handled first. If the Officer issues a Form 9 Eviction Order and the tenant still refuses to leave, a non-refundable $75 Sheriff-services payment is required to carry out the order; the payment can be made through Service New Brunswick after the office approves it.

Protecting Your Position

The two most common reasons landlords lose nonpayment cases at the Tribunal are incomplete rent records and defective service. If you can't prove when the notice was delivered, or your ledger has gaps, the Officer may decline to issue an order.

The Ending a Tenancy in New Brunswick guide covers the nonpayment process end to end — from serving the Notice to Vacate through the repeat-default rules and the formal Tribunal application — with a service proof log and rent ledger template built into the workflow.

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