Faxing a landlord or property manager
A repair request in writing protects you; a notice to end a tenancy has rules of its own.
Residential tenancies in Canada are governed provincially: Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board, British Columbia’s Residential Tenancy Branch and their counterparts elsewhere publish the forms and the rules for serving them. Fax is handy for sending a written repair request, proof of tenant insurance or a payment record to a property management company. Formal notices are different: each province lists the ways a notice may be served, and fax is accepted only in some of them, sometimes only when the other party has provided a fax number for that purpose. Check your province’s tenancy board before relying on it.
Why a landlord or property manager still takes faxes
Property management companies deal with contractors, insurers and hundreds of tenants, and many still list a fax number for written requests. For a tenant, it is a way to leave a dated written record without going to the office.
A written repair request matters: if the problem is not fixed and you later apply to your tenancy board, the date you first reported it in writing becomes part of your evidence.
Where to find the right number
- Your tenancy agreement, which should give the landlord’s or manager’s name and address for service.
- Notices posted in the building, or the property manager’s website and tenant portal.
- Rent receipts or recent letters from the management company, which usually show its full contact details.
What the cover page should say
- The landlord or management company, and the property manager if known.
- The full rental address, including the unit number.
- Your name, the start date of the tenancy and any tenant or account number.
- The subject (repair request, insurance certificate, payment record) and the total page count.
The record to keep
Keep the transmission report, the PDF and any dated photos. If you later file with your province’s tenancy board, a dated trail of written requests helps show when the landlord was told.
Other channels, sometimes better
Your province’s forms and service rules
For notices to end a tenancy or rent disputes, use the board’s official forms and a method of service it recognises.
The tenant portal or email
Convenient for routine requests and photos; ask for a written reply.
Your tenancy board
If a dispute cannot be settled, the provincial board or branch decides it; most offer an information line and online applications.
Other recipients
- For a lost card, call; for paperwork, a clearly referenced fax may still be welcome.
- Admissions offices sort thousands of files: your application number decides where the page lands.
- Court paperwork leaves no room for guesswork: the office’s own number, the case reference, a dated record.
- Diplomatic missions handle a flood of requests: a clearly labelled fax is far more likely to be dealt with quickly.
Faxing a public body
In this section
- Faxing an organisation
- Court paperwork leaves no room for guesswork: the office’s own number, the case reference, a dated record.
- Diplomatic missions handle a flood of requests: a clearly labelled fax is far more likely to be dealt with quickly.
- Fax speeds up gathering the paperwork; it never stands in for signing the deed.
Where to go next
Hand-picked pages to help you prepare, send or prove your fax.