PEI Residential Tenancy Act 2023: What Changed for Landlords

On April 8, 2023, Prince Edward Island's Residential Tenancy Act came into force and repealed the old Rental of Residential Property Act. If you are still operating from memory of the old rules — or using forms downloaded before 2023 — you are likely serving invalid notices without knowing it.

What the Old Act Was

The Rental of Residential Property Act (RRPA), R.S.P.E.I. 1988, Cap. R-13.1, governed PEI rental relationships for decades. It used a single Form 4 for landlord termination notices and did not require mandatory compensation for no-fault terminations. Rent increases were regulated under the former Act; the current Act adds a statutory maximum of 3% for the annual allowable increase. Many landlords who have rented property in PEI for years learned their obligations under this framework.

The Residential Tenancy Act generally applies to tenancy agreements entered into before, on, or after April 8, 2023. Under Section 112, hearings or proceedings started under the former Act continue under that Act until concluded; a pre-commencement contravention not yet in a proceeding may also be handled under the former Act.

The Major Changes

Two Eviction Forms Instead of One

The single Form 4 is gone. The new Act splits landlord termination notices into two distinct forms with different tenant dispute windows:

• Form 4A — for non-payment of rent, cause grounds such as repeated late payment or disturbance, and specified employer-provided housing terminations. The tenant has 10 days to dispute.
• Form 4B — for no-fault grounds: landlord or family personal use, purchaser personal use, demolition, conversion, substantial renovation, loss of housing subsidy. The tenant has one month to dispute.

Serving a cause notice on Form 4B or a personal-use notice on Form 4A is invalid. The forms are not interchangeable, and the old single Form 4 is not the approved notice form under the current Act.

Mandatory Compensation for No-Fault Terminations

Under the old Act, landlords ending a tenancy for personal use or sale owed nothing beyond the notice itself. The 2023 Act changed this significantly. For qualifying notices, Sections 70-72 require the following compensation:

• One month's rent plus reasonable moving expenses, or an acceptable alternative unit for landlord or purchaser personal use (Section 72) and demolition or conversion (Section 71)
• For substantial renovations (Section 70, with prior Director approval): one month's rent plus reasonable moving expenses, or an acceptable alternative unit, if the tenant does not exercise the right of first refusal; if the tenant exercises it, rent for the lesser of one month or the repair period, plus reasonable moving expenses

Compensation required under Sections 70-72 must be paid no later than the termination date in the notice (Section 73). A tenant may apply to the Rental Office if the landlord does not pay it.

Provincial Rent Control

PEI now enforces a statutory ceiling on annual rent increases. The Director of Residential Tenancy sets the annual allowable increase based on CPI data. The 2026 allowable increase is 2.0%; the announced 2027 increase is 2.1%. An additional increase requires a Form 9 application with Form 10 financial disclosure and may not exceed an additional 3.0% per year; the Director must approve it.

The former Act also regulated allowable rent increases; the current Act sets a statutory maximum of 3% for the annual allowable increase.

Consequences of a Bad-Faith Termination

Under Section 65, a former tenant may apply if a landlord gave a notice under Section 62, 63, or 64 in bad faith. If bad faith is found, the Director may order:

• Compensation for increased rent the former tenant incurred or will incur for one year after vacating, plus reasonable moving, storage, and similar expenses
• A rent abatement or an administrative monetary penalty of up to $10,000

Separately, an offence under the Act may carry a summary-conviction fine of up to $25,000 under Section 106.

The old Act had no equivalent enforcement mechanism for bad-faith terminations.

Renoviction Safeguards

Ending a tenancy for substantial renovations now requires a two-step process. The landlord must first file a Form 6 application with the Director and obtain an approval order confirming the unit must be vacant for the work. Only after receiving that order can the landlord serve Form 4B with a six-month notice period.

The tenant also gains a statutory right of first refusal under Section 68 — the right to occupy the renovated unit again as a tenant after work is completed. Any rent increase remains subject to the Act's rent-increase rules.

Automatic Conversion of Fixed-Term Leases

Section 52 provides that when a fixed-term lease expires without a new agreement or lawful termination, the tenancy automatically renews as a monthly tenancy under the same rights and obligations, subject to any lawful rent increase. A landlord cannot end a tenancy simply because the initial lease term has elapsed.

Transitional Rules

The Act came into force on April 8, 2023. It applies generally to tenancy agreements made before, on, or after that date, with the specific exceptions for proceedings and pre-commencement contraventions in Section 112.

In practice, by late 2026, nearly all active tenancy matters fall under the current Act. The transitional window is effectively closed for new terminations.

What This Means for Your Next Notice

If you have not ended a tenancy since 2023, the process you remember is likely wrong in at least three ways: the form, the compensation, and the penalty structure. The distinction between Form 4A and Form 4B alone is enough to invalidate a notice if you pick the wrong one.

The Ending a Tenancy in PEI guide is built around the current Act framework — the ground-to-form matrix, notice-period calculations, compensation tracker, and bad-faith safeguards reflect the Act as published by the Government of PEI, whose consolidation is current to May 16, 2025.

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