NWT Advance Rent Prohibited: Sections 13, 14.2, and 35 Explained

Tight vacancy rates in Yellowknife and Hay River sometimes tempt landlords to ask prospective tenants for extra money upfront — a few months' rent in advance, an application fee, a key deposit. In the Northwest Territories, every one of those requests breaks the law.

What Sections 13 and 14.2 Prohibit

Section 13 of the NWT Residential Tenancies Act addresses accelerated rent. A tenancy agreement cannot make all or part of the remaining rent, or a specific sum, due because the tenant breaches the agreement or the Act. Section 14.2 separately prohibits requiring or receiving any amount from a tenant or prospective tenant as a condition of entering a tenancy agreement, other than a security deposit and, if applicable, a pet security deposit.

That condition-payment ban covers rent for a future rental period, application and screening fees, key deposits, holding deposits, and other payments demanded as a condition of signing. Demanding first and last month's rent — common in Ontario — is not permitted in the NWT. The only additional upfront payments Section 14.2 allows are:

• Security deposit: capped at one month's rent, payable in two instalments (50% at the start, 50% within three months)
• Pet damage deposit: capped at 50% of one month's rent if pets are allowed, regardless of how many pets the tenant has

A lease cannot override those restrictions: the Act applies despite any agreement or waiver to the contrary (Section 6(1)).

What Section 35 Prohibits

Section 35 bars landlords from seizing a tenant's personal property for unpaid rent. If a tenant falls behind, you cannot enter the unit and take belongings as security. Section 25 also prohibits changing the unit's locks during occupancy without mutual consent, and Section 25(2) bars changing the complex's locks in a way that unreasonably interferes with access.

The usual route to seek an order for unpaid rent is through the NWT Rental Office: file an application ($100 landlord fee), present evidence at a hearing, and, after the appeal period expires without an appeal, file the Rental Officer's order with the Clerk of the Supreme Court under Section 86. The filed order can then be enforced in the same manner as a Supreme Court judgment.

How These Rules Interact with Rent Increases

The advance rent and seizure prohibitions don't directly affect your ability to raise the rent — the increase rules under Section 47 (once every 12 months, three months' written notice, no cap) operate independently. But they constrain what you can do around the edges.

You cannot, for example, require the tenant to prepay the increased rent for several months to "lock in" the new rate. You cannot withhold maintenance or reduce services to pressure a tenant into paying more. And you cannot demand a higher security deposit after a rent increase — the deposit cap is set at one month's rent at the time it was collected, and the Act does not require or allow a top-up when rent rises.

If the tenant stops paying after receiving a rent increase notice, the remedy is a Rental Office application for unpaid rent or, separately, a notice to terminate the tenancy for non-payment — not seizure of belongings.

The Practical Takeaway

The NWT gives landlords broad pricing freedom (no cap, vacancy decontrol) but draws hard lines on upfront charges and self-help enforcement. Stay on the right side of Sections 13, 14.2, and 35, and the actual rent increase process — covered step by step in the NWT Rent Increase Compliance Guide — runs without these complications.

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