Canadian Laws for Owners of Mobile Homes in Mobile Home Parks

A mobile home owner who rents a lot from a Canadian landlord is not protected under the same landlord tenant laws that that tenants in other forms of residences are. Due to the nature of the arrangement between the Canadian mobile home park and the tenant, a special set of laws are added to most province's landlord tenant acts to cover this particular situation.

The Mobile Home Sites Tenancies Act, also known as MHSTA, is an Albertan act creating provisions for owners of mobile home units and landlords of mobile home lots. A mobile home lot rental under this act may be on a periodic or long-term basis, with rentals of less than one year considered month-to-month rentals. The landlord or tenant is required to provide advance notice before terminating the lease agreement. A month-to-month tenant must receive two month's notice, while a long-term tenant needs at least six months. If the landlord seeks to evict the mobile home tenant, he has to give a two-week notice before filing.

Unlike Alberta, Ontario's mobile home laws are contained within the residential tenant act. Part V of the Ontario Tenant Protection Act covers all situations regarding a mobile home owner and the owner of the mobile home park. The mobile home owner does not need the park owner's permission to put his mobile home up for sale, although the landlord does have the right of first refusal, where he may purchase the mobile home instead. The landlord can restrict the type of mobile homes on the lot with a defined set of standards.

The Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act covers mobile home tenancy in the province of British Columbia. This act specifies when and how much a landlord can increase lot rent, circumstances where he can terminate the tenancy, the notice periods required for termination and recourse on both the tenant and landlord in the event of disputes. This Act covers most standard situations that may occur over the course of a mobile home tenancy.

An Act Respecting the Regie du Logement is the landlord and tenant law that covers mobile home rentals in Quebec. The Quebec act provides for rental periods of both fixed and flexible length, prohibited security deposit collection, a requirement for a written notice to terminate auto-renewing leases and specified notice periods. If the mobile home tenant is living on the lot for less than one year, he gets at least one month's notice to move. If he is on the lot for more than a year, he gets three month's notice.

In Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, mobile home tenants are protected under each province's version of the Residential Tenancies Act. Prince Edward Island includes mobile home tenants under the general landlord and tenant act, the Rental of Residential Property Act. Saskatchewan covers mobile home tenants under the Residential Tenancies Regulations.