New Brunswick Residential Tenancies Act 2023 and 2024 Amendments — What Changed for Landlords

Two Rounds of Reforms in Two Years

New Brunswick's Residential Tenancies Act went through its most significant overhaul in years with back-to-back amendments: Chapter 27 of 2023 and Chapter 29 of 2024 (the latter in force February 1, 2025). Together they reshaped how landlords end tenancies, handle abandoned property, pursue renovations, and deliver rent-related notices.

If you're relying on advice or forms from before 2023, some of it is now wrong. Here's what actually changed.

The 2023 Amendments (c. 27)

Repealed Form Variants

The 2023 amendments repealed the former regulatory Forms 3 and 6 and updated Form 4, the Notice to Quit, to refer to Sections 5(4) and 5.1(3). The current GNB forms page separately provides a Form 3 application for a landlord seeking early termination.

Section 5.1 Added

Section 5.1 added a separate route: if it is inappropriate to use the ordinary complaint process because the tenant caused extensive damage or for another reason, the landlord may request that an RTO serve a Notice to Quit. The Officer may investigate or inspect before serving it. For other tenant breaches, the Section 5 process remains: conduct complaints require immediate compliance; other complaints give the tenant 7 days under Regulation 82-218, Section 4. The landlord then notifies the RTO if the tenant does not comply; the Officer may investigate and set a further compliance time before serving Form 4 under Section 5(4) and Regulation 82-218, Section 4.1.

The $500 Chattel Abandonment Threshold

Before 2023, the rules around tenant belongings left after a tenancy ended were vague enough to cause problems in both directions — landlords discarding valuable items, or landlords stuck indefinitely with unwanted furniture.

The amendments established a $500 valuation threshold under Regulation 82-218, Section 12.1. In all cases, landlords must store the chattels securely, attempt to contact the tenant and keep a record, and apply to the RTO for a determination and directions. If the RTO determines the value is less than $500, the landlord may dispose of the chattels once at least 10 days have passed since the tenant left them. At $500 or more, the Officer may authorize disposal or sale, or store the chattels for a set period and later sell them by public auction or private sale.

Regulation 17.3 — The Five-Part Renovation Test

The most consequential change for no-fault terminations was the addition of Regulation 17.3 to the General Regulation. A landlord seeking vacant possession for major renovations must now obtain prior written approval from a Residential Tenancies Officer, demonstrating all five conditions:

1. All necessary permits and approvals required by law have been obtained
2. The landlord intends in good faith to perform the work
3. The renovations require vacant possession
4. The work is necessary to prolong or sustain the use of the building
5. Termination is the only reasonable way to achieve the required vacancy

The Act prohibits serving a renovation notice without prior written RTO approval. This effectively closed a pathway that some landlords had used to terminate tenancies under the pretext of renovations.

The 2024 Amendments (c. 29, in Force February 1, 2025)

Standalone Rent Increase Notices

The separate-document requirement for rent-increase notices already applied. The 2024 amendments clarified that an RTO reviewing a notice must ask the landlord to establish that it is separate from other notices or receipts, and must set it aside if the landlord cannot establish that separation.

RTO Review of Rent-Increase Notices

The amendments require an RTO reviewing a rent-increase notice to ask the landlord to establish that it is separate from other notices or receipts. The Officer must set the notice aside if the landlord cannot establish that separation.

What This Means in Practice

Both sets of amendments push in the same direction: tighter procedural requirements, less room for informal workarounds, and stronger administrative oversight. A landlord who treated the notice-and-termination process casually before 2023 can no longer get away with it.

The practical consequences:

• Forms matter more. Use the current prescribed forms from Service New Brunswick, not templates from a legal document site that may carry pre-2023 language.
• Renovation terminations require pre-approval. You cannot serve the notice first and get approval later.
• Abandoned property has a defined process. Guessing is out; the $500 threshold and the RTO application requirement are now statutory.
• Rent-increase notices must stand alone. Bundling one with another notice or receipt invalidates it.

The Ending a Tenancy in New Brunswick guide integrates both the 2023 and 2024 amendments into every relevant section — notice periods, prescribed forms, renovation pre-approval, abandoned chattels, and the formal Tribunal process — so the workflow reflects the law as it stands now.

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