The Limitation Period Suspension Ends on March 25, 2021

February 22, 2021 - Brian Cheng

and Taahaa Patel, Articled Student

The provincial government has announced that suspended limitation periods, or deadlines by which a claimant must commence court proceedings, will resume running on March 25, 2021.

Background

After the provincial government declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it suspended the running of limitation periods, which require that a party take certain steps, such as filing a claim, before a particular deadline.

The Ministerial Orders

Initially, under the Emergency Program Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 111 (the “EPA”), the government issued two Ministerial Orders (the “Orders”):

On March 26, 2020, the government suspended…

Resolving Residential Tenancy Disputes during the COVID-19 Eviction Ban

May 06, 2020 - Brian Cheng

The Ban

British Columbia has banned almost all evictions from March 30, 2020 during the COVID-19 state of emergency.

Now, these reasons to evict tenants are no longer valid:

non-payment of rent; cause (repeated breach of rental agreement); end of employment (e.g., caretaker); landlord’s own use of the property; and tenant no longer qualifying for tenancy (e.g., subsidized rental unit).

Limited exceptions allow landlords to still apply to end tenancies, where the tenant has:

significantly interfered with landlord’s or other occupant’s use of the property; seriously jeopardized health or safety of the landlord or other occupant; or caused extraordinary damage…