Rent Arrears Notice for Newfoundland Landlords: Section 19 Rules and Timelines

The Two-Stage Clock for Rent Arrears

Under Section 19 of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2018, a landlord in NL cannot serve a termination notice the moment rent is late. Two waiting periods apply before the notice is even valid.

Stage 1 — The overdue threshold. For month-to-month and fixed-term tenancies, rent must be overdue for at least five full days. If rent is due on the 1st, the earliest you can serve the notice is the 6th. For week-to-week tenancies, the threshold is three days.

Stage 2 — The notice period. The termination notice itself must give the tenant at least 10 clear days to vacate (monthly/fixed-term) or 3 days (weekly). "Clear days" means the day of service and the move-out day are both excluded from the count.

Walking Through the Math

Rent is due on December 1 for a month-to-month tenancy. The tenant doesn't pay.

• December 1–5: Waiting period. Rent is overdue but the 5-day threshold hasn't elapsed.
• December 6: Earliest date you can serve Form RT-2018-00040 (Landlord's Notice to Terminate Early — Cause) citing Section 19.
• If served personally on December 6, the 10-clear-day count starts December 7 and the earliest move-out date is December 17.

If you serve by registered mail instead, add five days for deemed delivery. Mail posted December 6 is deemed served December 11. The ten clear days are December 12–21, so the earliest move-out date is December 22.

The Tenant Can Void the Notice by Paying

Here's the catch that surprises many landlords: under Section 19(2), if the tenant pays the full amount of outstanding rent plus any valid late fees before the move-out date on the notice, the termination notice becomes null and void. The tenancy continues as though the notice was never served.

The exception is the repeat-offender rule. If you have served two or more Section 19 rent arrears notices to the same tenant within a rolling 12-month period, the third time the tenant pays before the move-out date does not cancel the notice. You can proceed with a tribunal application for vacant possession.

Late Fees in NL

Section 15 caps late fees at $5 for the first day late plus $2 per additional day, to a maximum of $75. You can include valid late fees in the arrears demand, and the tenant must pay them along with the overdue rent to void the notice.

If the Tenant Doesn't Pay or Leave

File an Application for Dispute Resolution (Form RT-2018-00053, $20 fee) with the Residential Tenancies Office. Bring your rent ledger, bank records, the termination notice, and your Affidavit of Service to the hearing. The adjudicator can grant an Order of Possession, recoverable filing fees, and an order for unpaid rent.

The Ending a Tenancy in Newfoundland and Labrador guide includes a rent arrears timeline calculator and the full Section 19 workflow, so you know exactly when to serve, what to include, and how to handle the pay-to-void scenario.

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