Our tenant refuses to move out of our vacation home, now we can’t use it

We own a seaside vacation home in a development that we rent for nine months each year and use ourselves for the other three. The arrangement has worked well with different tenants over the years with no problems, and we settled there in late summer. We were eager to move there as usual this year, but our tenant, who has been there since last fall, refused to move, saying he couldn’t find another place to stay due to the Covid crisis. We made it clear at the beginning of the lease that it would only be a nine month lease. What can we do?

This is a difficult situation and it has arisen quite a bit due to Covid-19. I will assume for the purposes of my answer that the tenant is still on site and by making it “clear” you mean that they had a fixed-term lease.

As you may know, when Covid-19 first emerged, the Government approved the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Law of 2020. This became law on March 27, 2020, and one of its provisions it was that no one could be forced to leave their accommodation during the emergency period. This ceased to apply as of August 2, 2020. However, the Residential Leasing and Valuation Act of 2020, which was enacted on August 1, 2020, modified existing leasing legislation.

These dates are important to understand your rights, obligations, and possible next steps. While a fixed-term lease has a specific length of time as set out in their lease or lease agreement, many landlords mistakenly assume that a fixed-term lease automatically gives them the right to terminate the lease upon expiration.

However, a “part 4” lease also runs alongside a fixed-term lease. This means that the tenant, after a period of six months, will be entitled to the provision of a “part 4” lease. A part 4 lease means that tenants can stay in the property for an additional 5½ years or 3½ years if the lease started before December 24, 2016, subject to certain termination exceptions.

However, legislation passed in March effectively “froze” all leases and associated terms. As a result, your tenant may not yet have obtained the protections afforded by a Part 4 lease.

The first thing you need to clarify is exactly when the lease started, and by removing the March 27-August 2 period from the calendar, set when your tenants hit / hit the six-month threshold.

Under normal circumstances, if a Part 4 lease has not become effective, you must still provide a valid notice of termination in writing, with a minimum notice period of 28 days. Typically, a fixed-term lease cannot be terminated early unless the tenant fails to meet their obligations. However, for the reasons I described above, this year you may be able to terminate the lease at the expiration of the “fixed term.”