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Quiet Enjoyment

A landlord's obligation to provide the tenant with reasonable privacy and freedom from any interference with the tenant's exclusive use and enjoyment of the rented premises.

An implied term in a lease whereupon the landlord is held to provide the tenant with quiet enjoyment of the rented premises.

In Owen, the Court wrote:

"It has become well established by the authorities that no act of a lessor will constitute an actionable breach of covenant for quiet enjoyment unless it involves some physical or direct interference with the enjoyment of the (rented) premises."

In 581834 Alberta, Justice Langston adopted this wording to show the comprehensive scope of the landlord's implied obligation:

"... a covenant for quiet enjoyment (is) an assurance against the consequences of a defective title including any disturbance found thereon, and against any substantial interference, by the covenantor or those claiming under him, with the enjoyment of the premises for all usual purposes.

"... while covenants for quiet enjoyment are implied from the mere contract of leasing, an express covenant will displace any implied covenant."

Quiet enjoyment is not a guarantee of noise-free premises. Quiet enjoymentIn Jenkins v Jackson, Justice Kekewich wrote that quiet enjoyment in the context of a residential lease:

"...  does not mean undisturbed by noise.... though the word quiet is frequently used with reference to noise. (Quiet enjoyment) means without interference - without interruption of possession."

Residential tenancy statutes often provide quiet enjoyment as a tenant's entitlement, such as this example at §28 of the British Columbia statute (which is virtually identical to the Saskatchewan statute at §44):

"A tenant is entitled to quiet enjoyment including, but not limited to, rights to ... reasonable privacy, freedom from unreasonable disturbance, exclusive possession of the rental unit subject only to the landlord's right to enter the rental unit ... (and) use of common areas for reasonable and lawful purposes, free from significant interference."

French: jouissance paisible.

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Unless otherwise noted, this article was written by Lloyd Duhaime, Barrister, Solicitor, Attorney and Lawyer (and Notary Public!). It is not intended to be legal advice and you would be foolhardy to rely on it in respect to any specific situation you or an acquaintance may be facing. In addition, the law changes rapidly and sometimes with little notice so from time to time, an article may not be up to date. Therefore, this is merely legal information designed to educate the reader. If you have a real situation, this information will serve as a good springboard to get legal advice from a lawyer.

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