Syed and Marie Ahmad are on the hook.

They owe their former landlord Alan Merriman some money.

The Ahmads could have had a month’s rent for free, but they lost it.

So now they have to pay.

It’s because of how the Ahmads read the tenancy agreement they signed with Merriman.

More specifically, it’s about whether it's a fixed term tenancy and a periodic tenancy.

As a B.C. Court of Appeal ruling notes, the Ahmads got it wrong.

Judge Daphne Smith’s written reasons released Thursday (March 7) recall that the Ahmads entered into a 12-month tenancy agreement with Merriman.

The agreement started on December 1, 2016, with a “fixed term” that was to end on November 30, 2017.

On or around August 31, 2017, Merriman sent the Ahmads a notice to end the tenancy and vacate their unit by November 30, 2017, which is the end date of the tenancy agreement.

With this notice, the Ahmads were entitled to one month of free rent as compensation.

Smith’s written reasons recount that on October 1, 2017, the Ahmads advised Merriman that they are moving out early by the end of that month.

They also told the landlord that they would not be paying the rent for October.

“They interpreted the Tenancy Agreement as being a periodic tenancy because it did not contain an express term that required them to vacate the rental unit at the end of the fixed term,” according to the ruling.

The landlord did not agree. On October 4, 2017, Merriman served the Ahmads with a 10-day notice to end tenancy for unpaid rent.

The parties ended up before the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB), which in turn ruled in favour of Merriman.

An RTB arbitrator ruled that the Ahmads cannot end the tenancy early because they cannot satisfy the requirements of doing so under provisions set out by the law for fixed term tenancies.

According to the arbitrator, the tenancy did not become or continue as periodioc because the landlord had already terminated the agreement as of its end date.

The Ahmads filed for a judicial review, and were rebuffed by a B.C. Supreme Court.

Not wanting to give up, the Ahmads raised the issue before the B.C. Court of Appeal.

As in the Residential Tenancy Branch arbitration, the case turns on whether the agreement was fixed or periodic.

The tenancy agreement signed by the Ahmads stated that it was for a “fixed term” ending November 30, 2017.

The agreement also provided that at the end of the contract,  the “tenancy will continue on a month to month basis, or another fixed length of time, unless the tenant gives written notice to end the tenancy at least one clear month before the end of the term”.

Judge Smith notes that the Ahmads submit that they had a “periodic tenancy as the Tenancy Agreement did not expressly specify when the tenancy ended, but merely the end date of the fixed term”.

“Absent the Tenancy Agreement containing a vacate clause, they say the tenancy was a periodic tenancy for its entire duration,” according to Smith.

Smith writes that Merriman ended the fixed term tenancy with his notice three months before the end date of the fixed term.

“This notice, which the Ahmads did not dispute, required them to vacate the rental unit on the end date of the fixed term,” according to Smith. “Therefore, the fixed term tenancy ended on that date; it never was converted to a periodic tenancy.”

Judge’s Gregory James Fitch and G. Bruce Butler concurred.