Residential Tenancies Branch

Section 1

General Issues

Sub-Section 1.2

Collection Agent

Legislation

s. 152(1), 154(1), 195(1), The Residential Tenancies Act

Definitions

Agent: for the purpose of this subsection, an agent is a person or company that has the authority to act for another.

Collection agent: a person or company that a landlord or tenant hire to collect money owing.

Policy

A landlord or tenant can hire a collection agent to collect money owing.

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A landlord or tenant must give a collection agent written permission to file a claim on their behalf. Once this is done, the Branch will deal with the collection agent as the landlord’s or tenant’s agent. Information, decisions and Orders are sent to the collection agent. The Branch doesn’t send the decision or Order to the person who hired the collection agent unless the Branch receives specific instructions to do so.

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Either a landlord or tenant can again become personally involved in their claim, instead of having the collection agent act on their behalf. In these cases, the Branch must get specific instructions from either the tenant or landlord on where the decision is to be sent.

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A landlord or tenant contacted by a collection agent has the right to dispute the claim to the Branch. The person contacted by the collection agent should also write a letter to the agent to say that they have asked the Branch to resolve the claim. The Branch has exclusive authority to investigate, mediate and make decisions on claims relating to residential tenancies.

A collection agent can’t restrict or try to restrict a landlord or tenant’s right to participate in Branch proceedings. If a collection agent interferes, they may be guilty of an offence under the Act. The Branch may consider prosecution.

Procedure

Overview

This policy is included as information for tenants, landlords and officers. If landlords and tenants aren’t able to solve a problem that involves a collection agent on their own, they can ask the Branch for help.

Steps ▼

1.The officer receives a call or written complaint.

2.The officer finds out how the landlord and tenant have tried to solve the problem.

3.The officer contacts the tenant and landlord, and any other person who may have information about the dispute.

4.The officer encourages the landlord and tenant to share information, and to discuss the problem, to try to come to an agreement.

5.The officer follows the procedures for:

• mediation
• hearings

  
  

Forms & Form Letters

X-Referencing

None

Policy Developed

September, 1992

Last Revision

May, 2015

Other Resources

None

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