RTB & Beyond: BC Tenancy Law Insights

If you've applied for dispute resolution at the Residential Tenancy Branch, your file may be scheduled for a facilitated settlement conference before it ever reaches a hearing. These can be a genuinely useful tool, but they're also where a lot of landlords and tenants quietly give away ground they didn't need to give. Here's what they are, what the person running them can and can't do, and the one thing you need to remember if you walk into one. What Is a Facilitated Settleme

Address for service is one of the most important elements of any tenancy, and one of the most consistently ignored. Most landlords and tenants never give it a second thought, because they don't know the rules exist. Then the relationship sours, a pleasant situation turns into an uncomfortable one, people assume they're protected and discover, at the worst possible moment, that they aren't. What "Address for Service" Actually Means Your address for service is the address you a

It's one of the most common questions we get after a hearing goes badly: can I challenge this? And the answer people most need to hear isn't really about whether you can — it's about whether you should, and whether you're about to miss the window to do it at all. Here's what actually matters. The Clock Is Already Running: 60 Days Start with the part most people don't realize until it's too late. You have 60 days from the date you receive the decision to file a petition for ju

In an earlier post, I wrote about people who file for the maximum amount possible just hoping something sticks. That same instinct shows up in a more expensive form: parties who file claims for hundreds of thousands of dollars in the BC Supreme Court, on the assumption that things are somehow easier in front of a judge. Let me put it kindly: they aren't. And the choice of forum is one of the most consequential, least understood decisions a landlord or tenant can make. Here's

One of the most common questions we receive after an adverse decision from the Residential Tenancy Branch is this: “Can we take this to judicial review?” For many people, judicial review sounds like a reset button — a second chance to reargue the case, introduce new evidence, or persuade a different decision-maker to see things differently. That is not what judicial review is. Understanding what a judicial review actually does — and more importantly, what it does not do — is

Practical answers based on real disputes we handle at Bright Law. This page covers evictions (landlord use, cause, unpaid rent),...