How to Complete a Paper Application for Dispute Resolution

Check the box at the top of the application that corresponds to the legislation related to your dispute:

Rental unit: If your dispute is about a rental unit or property (e.g. a house, condo or apartment), the application is being made under the Residential Tenancy Act (External Link).

Manufactured home park: If your dispute is about a manufactured home site (e.g. a mobile home park), the application is being made under the Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act (External Link).

When entering the applicant and respondent information, be sure to provide FULL legal names and mailing address (including postal codes).

Include an email address for the primary applicant and phone numbers you know of – home, cell or business.

If you need to provide information for:

A business: Enter the full legal business name in the ‘last name’ field on the form.

More than one applicant or respondent: Enter each name separately (e.g., John Smith and Mary Smith, rather than John and Mary Smith). If there are more than two applicants or more than two respondents, file a Schedule of Parties (PDF) with your application.

Enter the address of the rental unit or manufactured home site in question.

Tenancy status:  On the second page of the application, identify if the dispute relates to a current or past tenancy.  If it relates to a current tenancy, enter the date the tenancy ended.

Cross-application:  If your Application for Dispute Resolution is being made to respond to an existing application that has been filed against you, enter the 6 or 8 digit number located on the top of your Notice of Dispute Resolution Proceeding. The Residential Tenancy Branch may schedule both the hearings to be heard at the same time, with the same arbitrator. If the issues are not related or there is not enough time to meet service rules, this application may need to be heard at a separate time.

Issues:  On pages two and three of the application, check the items that relate to your claim. Use the “Other” category to identify a claim that isn’t listed and describe your claim on a separate page.

Details of the dispute: In these sections of the application, write a few sentences to describe the problem. Include any dates, times, people or other information that describes how the problem came up. Attach a separate sheet if you need more space – remember to sign and number any additional pages.

Here are a few scenarios to give you an idea of how to complete this part of the application:

• A landlord who wants to evict a tenant for non-payment of rent would check the box: “Obtain an Order of Possession of the rental unit or site”. In the “Details of the Dispute” section, they would enter the reason for ending the tenancy and when the Notice to End Tenancy was served.
• A tenant who wants to stop a landlord’s eviction for unpaid rent, would check the box “Unpaid rent or utilities” under the “Cancel a Notice to End Tenancy” heading. In the “Details of the Dispute” section, they would enter the reason they’re disputing the notice and when they received the Notice to End Tenancy.

Recover filing fee: If you want the respondent to reimburse your application fee, check the box: “Recover filing fee from the tenant / landlord for the cost of this application.”

Monetary orders: Applications that include monetary items like unpaid rent or claims for damages need to include a list of individual items being claimed, their associated dollar amounts and a total for all items. Do this in the “Details of the Dispute” section of the application or use the Monetary Order Worksheet (PDF, 1.5MB).

For example:

Primary applicant: For applications with multiple applicants only, check the box to select the primary applicant and check the box to confirm your authority.

Make sure the application is signed and dated – don’t forget to print your name as well.

You may submit your application in person at any Service BC Office or any Residential Tenancy Branch Office. 

The filing fee for an Application for Dispute Resolution is $100.  Be ready to pay!

• Learn more about fees and fee waivers