A Prince Edward Island landlord could not justify an expanded cleaning and repair award with invoices that mixed work from different rental units without clearly allocating the costs. In Marlee Clark v. Red Sands Properties Inc., 2026 PEIRAC 9, the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission reduced those costs to $1,014.80 while upholding the tenant’s obligation to pay the final month of her fixed-term tenancy.
The February 27 decision partly allowed Marlee Clark’s appeal. After applying her $1,500 security deposit to September rent and $52.91 in deposit interest to the remaining costs, the commission ordered her to pay $961.89 within 15 days.
Leaving before the fixed term ended
Clark’s tenancy ran from October 1, 2024, through September 30, 2025, at $1,500 a month. She gave notice on August 5 and moved out on August 31. The landlord claimed September rent as well as cleaning, maintenance and damage costs.
The landlord inspected the unit after she left, without her present, and later increased its claim at the Rental Office hearing. Clark did not attend that hearing because she forgot about it. She participated in the appeal and disputed the condition and cost evidence.
Clark described deficiencies at the start of the tenancy, challenged the paint quality and disputed responsibility for all the debris and repairs. The landlord maintained that the condition went beyond reasonable wear and tear. The commission considered those competing accounts rather than treating the landlord’s invoices as conclusive.
Under subsection 55(3) of the Residential Tenancy Act, a tenant’s notice ending a fixed-term tenancy cannot take effect before the agreed end date. It must also satisfy the statutory timing requirements, including being effective at least one month after receipt and on the day before rent is payable.
The commission found no agreement releasing Clark early or waiving September rent. Her belief that notice allowed her to leave at the end of August did not alter the contract. The landlord was therefore entitled to retain the $1,500 deposit against the September rent.
Invoices did not establish the expanded claim
The Act requires tenants to leave accommodation reasonably clean and undamaged, apart from reasonable wear and tear. The commission accepted that some cleaning and repairs were required here, but the landlord still had to establish the amounts claimed.
The difficulty was attribution. Some invoices covered multiple properties or units, and the landlord did not clearly explain how the amounts attributable to Clark’s unit had been separated. The commission would not fill that evidentiary gap by speculating in the landlord’s favour.
It reduced the cleaning and maintenance award to the amount originally claimed: $450.80 for cleaning, $506 for maintenance, $50 for disposal and $8 for keys. Those components totalled $1,014.80. The additional costs awarded at the first hearing were set aside.
The result did not erase the tenant’s responsibility for proven work, or establish that every claim involving a combined invoice must fail. It reflects the landlord’s burden to connect the amount sought to the particular tenancy rather than rely on an unexplained total.
Deposit and interest applied separately
The final order treated unpaid rent and repair costs separately. The security deposit covered September rent, while the $52.91 interest credit reduced the $1,014.80 cost award to $961.89.
The payment deadline ran from the February 27 order. The reasons do not establish subsequent payment or enforcement. The decision’s practical limit is that an early departure did not end this fixed-term rent obligation, but neither did that obligation relieve the landlord of proving its separate damage and cleaning claim.
