Last year, both the US and Canadian administration took huge steps forward to the liberalization of the cannabis market. Since then, the cannabis industry in North America has been a legal minefield.
There has been a lot of confusion surrounding what’s legal and what’s not, and this is especially true in the real estate industry. Now that medicinal cannabis use is legal in many states, a lot of tenants are wondering whether or not they can get evicted for legally using cannabis.
We’ve put together this article to shed some light on that question. Before we get into it though, note that we’re not lawyers and you should definitely not consider this legal advice. With that in mind, let’s explore the issue.
It’s all about the contract
The reason many tenants are asking this question is because they think that the change in legal status of cannabis at the state and federal level will affect whether or not they can be evicted for using it in their rental accommodation.
Actually, this is a misconception. In reality, whether or not you can be evicted depends little on criminal statutes and much more on the contract you signed with your landlord.
This contract is the binding legal document that determines what you can be evicted for and when. There’s nothing that says your landlord can’t evict you for actions that are perfectly legal, as long as it says it right there in the contract.
In fact, it’s standard practice for landlords to include contractual clauses that state they can evict tenants for many different legal actions. For example, it’s legal to have pets, but if your contract says you can’t have them and you do, you can still be evicted.
Many landlords stipulate in their contracts that smoking is not allowed. If this is the case, and it’s stated generally, it will probably cover marijuana smoke too, which means smoking marijuana could lead to your eviction.
What can the landlord do if I smoke cannabis in the property?
If the landlord notices that you’ve smoked cannabis in your property, and had already stipulated in the contract that this was prohibited, they may send you an eviction notice for violating the terms of your lease.
If this happens, you can choose to argue your case in court, in which case the landlord may have to prove a breach of the lease terms in court. The court can also decide not to enforce the eviction if the contractual terms are deemed to be illegal, unintelligible, or unconscionable
If the cannabis use in question relates to medical marijuana, and you have a legitimate medical need to use medical marijuana (and an official recommendation from a doctor), it may be possible to argue that the terms of your contract were unconscionable. Again, though, we’re not doctors, so if you find yourself in this position, consult a legal professional.
We hoped that helped clear up any confusion you might have had about whether or not you can be evicted for legally using cannabis.
