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I am not sure if this applies to all of Canada, but in Ontario, when a tenant rents an apartment, the landlord is entitled to ask for a deposit up to the rent of one month.

From the website of the Landlord and Tenant Board:

Does a landlord have to pay interest if a rent deposit is collected?

Yes, the landlord must pay the tenant interest on the rent deposit every 12 months. The amount of interest that a landlord must pay is the same as the rent increase guideline that is in effect when the interest payment is due.

I have a 12 month tenancy agreement from June 2013 to May 2014. In January 2014, an interest cheque was slipped under my door for the period June 2013 to December 2013.

Rent for May 2014 is the deposit that was paid at the start of the tenure. Therefore, I should be paid interest for January 2014 to April 2014.

However, if interest is paid out only every 12 months, I won't be around to collect interest at the end of the calendar year and my current landlord hasn't asked about my future mailing address.

How is such a situation handled?

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    I'm pretty sure, but cannot find a citation, that the interest must be paid out at the end of your tenancy.
    – ChrisInEdmonton
    May 30, 2014 at 14:04
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    This seems like a perfectly reasonable question to ask your landlord. You could volunteer a forwarding address. I suppose it's also possible, though perhaps unlikely, that your landlord prepaid the full amount of interest (for bookkeeping purposes, it may be easier to make all such payments at the same time of year).
    – NL7
    May 30, 2014 at 15:26

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This situation would highly depend on the landlord (YMMW), how they are organized, whether it's a single person who rents out the apartment or a corporation, etc.

In any case the best option would be to check with the landlord and:

  1. Find out what their process is for situations like this. They probably have established processes, and yours is not the 1st case. The best is to speak with someone who knows what they are talking about, have and feel responsibility. If you don't feel like you are getting a confident response, find out who else (up the chain) you can speak with instead. Also, if they send out the cheques at year end (or more likely Jan/Feb following year) you better remember the name of the person and make yourself remembered well (if it's your superintendent).
  2. Once you find out the process, act accordingly. You should expect to follow up with them. It's your money after all and they may simply "forget" sending you the cheque.
  3. (Optional) You might want to evaluate if the cheque amount is worth the effort. 5% interest/year on $1500 will be $75/year or $25 for 4 months. Depends on how they make the calculation of course, so in step 1 it's probably a good idea to clarify the expected refund amount as well.

Even if you provide a forwarding address, it will be up to the superintendant to forward, and some will, but most will not, especially after several months you've moved out. If you speak directly with the rental company (the right department by calling the main office), they may take a note, but still forget.

I had credit owing from my last rental which was supposed to be mailed to the address I gave when signing off from the apartment, but still had to call and "remind" them to send me the cheque.

At the end of the day, expect to act proactively at each step to get your money back.

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