canada rental-property residential-lease british-columbia
Does the property manager sign the lease (and any addendums) with the tenants or must the real landlord?
<p>When a landlord uses a property management company to take care of a rental (including things such as collecting rent and doing repairs) does the property manager sign the lease with the tenants or does the home owner?</p>

<p>I tried finding the answer in the <a href="http://www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/02078_01" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Residential Tenancy Act</a> but was unable to. Here is how they define landlord, but I'm left wondering, what is a "landlord agent" is that a property manager?</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>"landlord", in relation to a rental unit, includes any of the
  following:</p>
  
  <p>(a) the owner of the rental unit, the owner's agent or another person
  who, on behalf of the landlord,</p>
  
  <p>(i) permits occupation of the rental unit under a tenancy agreement,
  or</p>
  
  <p>(ii) exercises powers and performs duties under this Act, the tenancy
  agreement or a service agreement;</p>
  
  <p>(b) the heirs, assigns, personal representatives and successors in
  title to a person referred to in paragraph (a);</p>
  
  <p>(c) a person, other than a tenant occupying the rental unit, who</p>
  
  <p>(i) is entitled to possession of the rental unit, and</p>
  
  <p>(ii) exercises any of the rights of a landlord under a tenancy
  agreement or this Act in relation to the rental unit;</p>
  
  <p>(d) a former landlord, when the context requires this;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>On the stand forms it uses the word "landlord" so I'm wondering, would it be invalid if the property manager signed it as he's technically not the landlord? </p>

<p>What matters here is whether the person signing the lease on behalf of the landlord was authorised by the landlord to do so; the Residential Tenancy Act definition of 'landlord' is irrelevant.</p>

<p>When you have an agent, that person 'stands in your shoes' as far as the law is concerned. There are some exceptions (e.g. if you have a firearm permit you cannot hand the firearm to an 'agent' to use without their own permit) but when it comes to leases the law does not mind whether the landlord signs a lease personally or gets a property manager to do it for them.</p>

<p>To further illustrate: suppose the landlord's name is Larry, the property manager's name is Alice, and lease form says 'Landlord sign here: ....' Alice could get a pen and write 'Larry' there, and that would be a valid lease executed by the landlord as far as the law is concerned. </p>

<p>The passage you quote clearly states that the property manager is considered the landlord when they act on the owners landlord's behalf.</p>

<p>As part of that representation, a duty of the landlord, the agent will sign the lease.</p>
