Service of any kind by email, text message, or other electronic means is not valid.
Service
‘Service’ is the act of delivering legal documents. When serving any of the Act’s forms, landlords and tenants must follow certain rules. These rules are set out in Section 33. of the Act. These rules apply in the following situations:
- A landlord serving a tenant a Notice of Eviction, Form 4;
- A tenant serving a landlord a Notice by Tenant to Vacate, Form 3;
- A landlord serving a tenant a Notice to Keep Security Deposit, Form 8;
- A tenant serving a landlord a copy of Application by Tenant to Dispute Eviction, Form 6.
The best way to serve notice is to hand deliver the document to the other party. Service may also be completed by mail, either regular or registered. When serving documents by regular mail, the document is considered to have been served on the third day after the date of mailing. For example, if a landlord mails a Notice of Eviction to a tenant on December 2nd by regular mail, service of the Notice of Eviction is deemed to have occurred on December 5th.
Substituted Service
“Substituted service” on a tenant is permitted only in the event that service on the tenant, in person or by mail, is impossible. Three types of substituted service are permitted in the Act:
- Posting the document on an entryway door or another obvious place at the entrance of the rental unit. This is the most common type of substituted service. An example: a landlord attempts to serve a Notice of Eviction on a tenant in person at the rental unit. The tenant is not home, so the landlord posts the Notice of Eviction to the entryway door of the rental unit and takes a picture of the posted notice;
- Serving the document on any adult person who resides with the tenant in the rental unit;
- Mailing the document, by regular, certified or registered mail, to the tenant at the address where they live if they have left the rental unit and are living elsewhere.
