Any Tenancy Experts In The....House?

Following on from my thread about sheds and futons…..we had it in writing (on email) that we could move in on the 25th May and we given two sets of keys. We moved around 90% of our stuff in and then things got a bit weird re. deposit amounts (they asked for too much legally). This got settled and we asked for a tenancy agreement, to which they agreed (we should have done this first!). My wife ended up being ill so couldn't make it to Squamish so I went alone to deal with the TA side of things. Things seemed to go well and I took the docs home for my wife to sign and we arranged to meet a couple of days later. That evening I got a cold email stating that we have to remove our belongings from the 'shed' citing my wife not turning up as being a 'red flag' as well as a couple of other weird reasons that we thought had already been agreed.

Soooo…no money had exchanged hands (I had offered them the damage deposit when I met them), and no TA signed. But on the other hand, they had given us permission to move in and had given us the keys. Did they have the right to kick us out with two days notice? We'd have potentially been homeless if our current space had been rented but thankfully the landlord raised the rent by $1000(!) and no-one bit….not surprisingly. I've written to the tenancy board but it'll take them a while to get back to us.

Thanks.

The Aquilini family took me to arbitration and we shredded those lying POS crooks. We beat them so bad we not only didn't have to pay them. They had to pay me. So I fancy myself a bit of an expert. :lol: Everything needs to be in writing and keep copies. Take pictures. Document everything. Sounds like you have an illegal suite on your hands or someone who is trying to dodge the CRA. Show up with a tenancy agreement that you printed out yourself from the Landlord Tenant board. If they won't sign it then make sure you've got another place to move to. Then as long as you have everything else in writing and can prove it take the these lying sacks of sh*t to arbitration and saddle them with the added expenses you incurred by having to find a different place on short notice. I'm sure that they will sign it though when you show them that you have the number for reporting illegal suites in Squamish, and the CRA fraud tip line in your speed dial.

So if you only get one thing out this post…

KEEP DOCUMENTATION OF EVERYTHING !!!

The Aquilini family took me to arbitration and we shredded those lying POS crooks. We beat them so bad we not only didn't have to pay them. They had to pay me. So I fancy myself a bit of an expert. :lol: Everything needs to be in writing and keep copies. Take pictures. Document everything. Sounds like you have an illegal suite on your hands or someone who is trying to dodge the CRA. Show up with a tenancy agreement that you printed out yourself from the Landlord Tenant board. If they won't sign it then make sure you've got another place to move to. Then as long as you have everything else in writing and can prove it take the these lying sacks of sh*t to arbitration and saddle them with the added expenses you incurred by having to find a different place on short notice. I'm sure that they will sign it though when you show them that you have the number for reporting illegal suites in Squamish, and the CRA fraud tip line in your speed dial.

So if you only get one thing out this post…

KEEP DOCUMENTATION OF EVERYTHING !!!

If the landlord is acting sketchy I would just forget about it and try to find a new place.

What are your options really:
A) force this guy to rent the place to you… but do you really want to live in a place owned by a sketchy landlord?
B) Sue for some sort of 'damages' - but realistically, how much $$ will you really get from him and how much effort will it take to get that $$? Like maybe you would get $2,000 but if you have to make a huge effort to build your case, go to arbitration, etc. is it really worth the hassle?

It's super annoying to be in your situation but there's probably no point in pushing the issue since you'll likely get little benefit in the end. I would just get out of there and move on.

Thanks. We ended up moving our stuff out of there as lost all trust. Hence no TA signed. Just confirmation in writing that we could move in and were handed the keys. I've already reported th douchebag to the CRA though. Gotta get some just justice out of this.

It could also be a scammer renting out something he isnt entitled to?

If the landlord is acting sketchy I would just forget about it and try to find a new place.

What are your options really:
A) force this guy to rent the place to you… but do you really want to live in a place owned by a sketchy landlord?
B) Sue for some sort of 'damages' - but realistically, how much $$ will you really get from him and how much effort will it take to get that $$? Like maybe you would get $2,000 but if you have to make a huge effort to build your case, go to arbitration, etc. is it really worth the hassle?

It's super annoying to be in your situation but there's probably no point in pushing the issue since you'll likely get little benefit in the end. I would just get out of there and move on.

Arbitration isn't as bad as it sounds and it's not that time consuming. You have to carefully read their instructions and you have to send in your documentation in advance with registered mail but the actual arbitration ends up being a 1 hour 3 way phone call. (bonus: If one of the parties doesn't show up to the phone call they forfeit their case and automatically lose.) The arbitrators do it all day long so they have a highly developed sense of bullsh*t. My arbitrator already had a bone to pick with the Aquilini's so we just sat there quiet on the phone while the guy scolded the representatives from the Aquilini's for one hour. I felt sorry for the guy we were up against because I know it's not his fault his bosses are criminals. In the end I made $3000 for what ended up being about 3 hours of my time. (2 hours of research and paperwork and 1 hour of arbitration done from my kitchen table). Very profitable.

Even if it's just for a couple of thousand dollars it's worth it. People can't go through life thinking they can walk on their tenants because the market is crazy and they can get away with it. They need to know that there really is repercussions in real life for acting like ass hats. I hope everything works out for you in the end.

We'd have potentially been homeless if our current space had been rented but thankfully the landlord raised the rent by $1000(!) and no-one bit….not surprisingly.

Is your current home in Squamish? I think this is happening to my landlord as well because they have only managed to show it to 2 couples so far and scaled back the time they needed to for showings. They made me decide whether I was going to pay more and accept another lease 2-1/2 months in advance though so it gives them time to drop their price and keep looking.

It sounds like you dodged a bullet and these landlords would have been a pain in the ass.

It's pretty simple you have no tenancy agreement so you got nothing

They shouldn't have let you move anything in till they had it signed and a damage deposit

It's pretty simple you have no tenancy agreement so you got nothing

They shouldn't have let you move anything in till they had it signed and a damage deposit

This.

You don't need to write to the residential tenancy branch.. you can call them.