RTB or CRT? Clearing Up Common Misconceptions About Tenancy Disputes in British Columbia
- Arash Ehteshami
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
If you read local news with any regularity, you’ve probably seen headlines like:
And if you work in tenancy law, you’ve probably paused for a second. Because most residential tenancy disputes in British Columbia do not go to the Civil Resolution Tribunal, they go to the Residential Tenancy Branch.
So why does the Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT) keep showing up in housing-related headlines? And what’s the real difference between the two?
The Default Rule: Most Tenancy Disputes Go to the RTB
In British Columbia, the vast majority of landlord-tenant disputes are governed by the Residential Tenancy Act (RTA).
If you are dealing with:
unpaid rent
damage deposits
notices to end tenancy
repairs and maintenance
quiet enjoyment
compensation claims between landlords and tenants
—you are almost certainly within the jurisdiction of the Residential Tenancy Branch.
The RTB is the specialized tribunal created specifically to handle disputes under the Residential Tenancy Act. It has its own procedures, its own arbitrators, and its own body of policy guidelines and decisions. Importantly, RTB decisions are anonymized. The public does not see the parties’ names.
That detail will matter in a moment.
When the RTB Has No Jurisdiction
Here’s where things get interesting. The Residential Tenancy Act ("Act") does not apply to every living arrangement. Section 4 of the Act sets out what is excluded from its scope.
In plain English, the RTA does not apply to certain types of arrangements, including:
situations where a person shares a bathroom or kitchen with the owner of the property
certain educational housing
accommodation provided as part of employment
specific types of temporary or emergency housing
correctional or care facilities
some co-operative housing arrangements
When section 4 applies, the RTB cannot hear the dispute. It simply has no jurisdiction. And when the RTB cannot hear it, the parties must look elsewhere.
That is often where the Civil Resolution Tribunal comes in.
Why the CRT Appears in the News So Often
The CRT handles small claims matters (generally up to $5,000), strata disputes, co-op disputes and other civil claims. It is not the primary forum for landlord-tenant disputes under the Residential Tenancy Act.
However, when a living arrangement falls outside the Act — for example, a roommate situation where the occupant shares a kitchen with the owner — the dispute becomes a contractual matter rather than a statutory tenancy matter.
At that point, the CRT may have monetary jurisdiction.
There’s another practical reason the CRT appears in media reports: transparency.
CRT decisions are published online and name the parties. RTB decisions are anonymized. Small Claims Court decisions are often delivered orally and may not result in easily searchable written reasons.
From a journalist’s perspective, the CRT is accessible. Decisions are searchable. Parties are named. It’s easier to write about. So when you see a housing-related story citing the CRT, that usually tells you something important: the dispute likely did not fall under the Residential Tenancy Act in the first place.
The Roommate Problem
Many of the disputes that end up before the CRT are not true “landlord-tenant” disputes at all. They are roommate disputes. This distinction is critical and frequently misunderstood.
If you rent out a room in your home and share a kitchen or bathroom with the occupant, the Residential Tenancy Act generally does not apply. If you are a tenant who brings in a roommate, the relationship between you and that roommate is often outside the Act as well.
Legally speaking, that roommate arrangement may create contractual rights and obligations — but not statutory tenancy rights under the RTA. Yet in everyday language, people still call each other “landlord” and “tenant.” The terminology sticks. The legal consequences do not.
The Form Download Trap
There is another source of blending between the RTB and the CRT. It is surprisingly common for individuals renting out a room to download standard RTB tenancy agreement forms and use them for roommate situations.
On the surface, that seems logical. It’s a ready-made template. But contracts matter.
Using an RTB form does not automatically bring your arrangement under the Residential Tenancy Act. If the Act does not apply because of section 4, it still does not apply.
However, the language in the agreement may still be enforceable as a contract.
So what happens?
You end up with a dispute that is not governed by the RTA but contains RTA-style language. The matter may be decided by the CRT or Small Claims Court using contract law principles, rather than by an RTB arbitrator applying the Act.
The result is a hybrid situation. It looks like a tenancy dispute. It sounds like a tenancy dispute. But legally, it is something else. That nuance rarely makes it into a headline.
Jurisdiction Is Not a Technicality
There is a tendency to treat the question of “where do I file?” as a procedural afterthought. It is not. Jurisdiction determines:
which rules apply
which decision-maker hears the case
what remedies are available
how the decision is enforced
whether the decision is public and named
Filing in the wrong forum can waste time, money, and strategic leverage. Even small factual details — such as whether a kitchen is shared — can shift a dispute from the RTB to the CRT or to Small Claims Court.
The Takeaway for Landlords, Tenants, and Roommates
If you are in a standard landlord-tenant relationship under the Residential Tenancy Act, the Residential Tenancy Branch is usually the correct forum.
If you are renting out a room in your own home, sharing space with the occupant, or entering into a roommate arrangement, the situation may fall outside the Act entirely.
And if you are allowing your tenant to bring in a roommate, that can introduce an entirely separate contractual relationship that carries its own risks and consequences. The law in this area is not overly complicated, but it is precise. Labels do not determine jurisdiction. Facts do.
Before filing a claim — or assuming you know which tribunal applies — it is worth confirming where your dispute actually belongs.
Final Thoughts
The next time you read a news article citing the Civil Resolution Tribunal in what appears to be a tenancy dispute, pause. It likely means one of two things: either the Residential Tenancy Act did not apply, or the dispute was framed as a contractual matter outside the RTB’s jurisdiction.
If you are unsure whether your situation falls under the Residential Tenancy Act, involves a roommate arrangement, or belongs before the RTB, the CRT, or the courts, consider booking a legal advice session with us. A brief consultation at the outset can prevent costly jurisdictional mistakes later.
Housing disputes move quickly. Getting the forum right is the first step toward getting the result right.
