Yukon Fixed-Term vs. Periodic Tenancy: How Each Ends

What Happens When a Fixed Term Expires

Under the Residential Tenancies Act 2025, a fixed-term tenancy ends on its specified date if the agreement requires the tenant to vacate. If the agreement does not require the tenant to vacate and no new agreement is signed, the tenancy renews by law as a monthly periodic tenancy on the same terms.

If the agreement does not require the tenant to vacate, you cannot force them out solely because the stated term ended or require them to sign a new fixed-term agreement. Any rent increase must follow the statutory rules.

How a Fixed-Term Tenancy Can End

The tenancy can end:

1. On the specified end date if the agreement requires the tenant to vacate.
2. By mutual written agreement between the landlord and tenant.
3. Under another ground allowed by the Act. A tenant may end a fixed term on qualifying statutory grounds, and a landlord may end it for cause. The landlord-use, purchaser-use, renovation, change-of-use, and demolition notices apply to non-mobile-home periodic tenancies.

Hoping the tenant leaves voluntarily when the term expires is not a strategy — and banking on it can leave you months behind on what should have been a planned process.

Periodic Tenancies

A periodic tenancy (month-to-month or, less commonly, week-to-week or year-to-year) continues indefinitely under the same terms until lawfully terminated. The same rules apply: you need a statutory ground and the correct notice. For non-mobile-home periodic tenancies, landlord or close-family occupancy and purchaser occupancy require three months' notice.

The key calculation difference is that notice periods for periodic tenancies count in full rental months. The notice must reach the tenant before the rent-due date that starts the count.

Month-to-Month After Conversion

Once a fixed-term tenancy converts to month-to-month, it is treated the same as any other monthly periodic tenancy. The notice periods, forms, and grounds are identical. The original lease terms carry over — rent amount, maintenance responsibilities, and any other provisions — subject to any statutory overrides in the RTA 2025.

Planning Ahead

If you know you will need the unit back when a fixed term is approaching, identify your ground early and work backward from the notice period. After a fixed term converts to a monthly periodic tenancy, personal occupation requires three months' notice, so factor in the service deeming rules and start the process well before the intended move-out date.

Our Ending a Tenancy in Yukon guide covers both tenancy types and includes a timeline planner for coordinating the notice with a fixed-term expiry.

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