A New Process Is in Place for Handling Tenant and Landlord Disputes

A new set of civil reforms has been unveiled by Justice Minister Jonathan Denis and with it disputes between landlords and tenants will no longer be heard in the courts. These disputes will now be placed in front of a provincial tribunal instead, which is good news for both tenants and landlords that don't want to get involved in the sticky red tape of the court justice system.

New legislation will be in place later this fall that will give authority to the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service to handle these types of issues. As well, litigants will have the option of choosing a simplified process that involves a judge and a half hour hearing.

This will give the average person better access to landlord and tenant justice without the added costs or the long wait time that naturally go with a regular court case. The new system will be put in place in Edmonton and Calgary as a pilot project first before branching out to the rest of the province. This way, the new legal process can be fine-tuned.

At the same time, provincial civil claims in the province of Alberta are going to be seeing some changes. A new limit of $50,000 has been set for the small claims justice system. This new limit will be in effect beginning August 1, 2014.

In small claims court, litigants don't have to get a lawyer. With the higher limit, more claims can be run through small claims court, which will ease the pressure on the provincial court.