Rental Horror Stories

[Gridlock]

Word

[melloman]

Need MOAR STORIES!!!

[Valour]

Question for BC tenancy experts:

I took over a lease for a friend. She bailed 3 months in. I 've lived in apartment for 10 months. Landlord doesn't know that I live there now.

Landlord has issued a letter to inspect the place. Should I be there when they inspect? Can they go through my shit? boxes, drawers, mail and letters etc.?

Can they kick my ass out?

[Death2Theft]

Yes your name is not on the lease your a trespasser.

[Gridlock]

Originally Posted by Valour

Question for BC tenancy experts:

I took over a lease for a friend. She bailed 3 months in. I 've lived in apartment for 10 months. Landlord doesn't know that I live there now.

Landlord has issued a letter to inspect the place. Should I be there when they inspect? Can they go through my shit? boxes, drawers, mail and letters etc.?

Can they kick my ass out?

Well, lets see. Let me know if I get this right.

I can imagine that there is a reason that you would jump into a strained situation housing wise. You either wanted to help out your friend, which would be noble, or had an issue yourself that would prevent you from getting your own apartment.

I'm guessing the latter. That leaves shitty references, shitty credit or___.

This is a positive thread, so please remember I'm not giving you a hard time. That said, to help, I do need to know the true deal.

If the building is large enough, a landlord may not be able to know the day-to-day activities of an individual apartment...but he does now.

Any time we have an issue with someone, the first step is issue an inspection notice. Get in there and find out whats happening. We had an issue with some people that was actually documented back on page 3 or 4, and the inspection gave us everything we needed. Bedroom set up in the dining room for the undocumented room mate..cat litter for the cat that wasn't allowed in the building, a messy apartment and a chance to chat with the tenant, in their space(its wonderfully destabilizing).

No one is going to go through drawers and stuff in normal circumstances. I go in, I look around and leave. I'm looking for a messy place that is going to cause issues for the building, I'm looking for drug paraphernalia and other bigger issues that affect the building after you leave. Myself, I try to be as courteous to someone's home as I can. I certainly wouldn't want people poking through my shit, right? In fact, all my best finds were left right out in the open for me to see.

As for your situation, he knows what the deal is. That's why you got the letter. Yes, you paid rent, but you are still technically trespassing. I'm not entirely sure, but I don't think I need to even bother with the 30 day eviction in that case, but I'm not sure...I've never had to deal with that.

The only thing not being there is going to do is prolong the inevitable. The landlord will just start watching closer to your traffic patterns and stop you on your way in. It's not that hard. If you wanted to stay in the apartment, your best chance is to be a stellar tenant in the 10 months you've been there, present a decent, good looking home and play fucking stupid. Tell him you didn't know you needed permission.

I suspect that you'll be out. You've lied for 10 months, and he'll probably just want to be rid of the whole situation.

Keep in mind that if he accepts rent from you, you have in effect become a de facto tenant of the apartment, and therefore have a de facto tenancy agreement, and then qualify for the protections it offers. The 10 months isn't going to count for you though, because he actually has to KNOW you were living there.

[dinosaur]

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[Valour]

I'm a stellar tenant. I pay early up to a week often times. The landlord is a rental management company. I pay in cash at the rental office.

I live there because the original tenant wanted to bail out of the lease so I agreed to take over. Earlier on we had discussed with the rental office how to transfer the lease over but they said can't do it, she has to move out and I have to apply to be a tenant.

[SumAznGuy]

From the sounds of it, Dinosaur is right and it may just be a yearly check. Since growing pot in apartments was easy money for lots of people, one of the way to troll them is to do yearly inspections. Some use the guise of fire alarm testing.
Doesn't stop them from growing weed, but it does fuck with their schedule and makes it a big hassle when they are nearing harvest time but need to clean everything up and move everything out for the inspection.

I lived at my mom's apartment for a year when I had some financial problems and the management company didn't say squat that we had my mom, me, and my young brother all living in a one bed room apartment.

They shouldn't go through your drawers, but why are you so concerned? You have something to hide?

If not, it shouldn't be a big deal. Just 5 minutes of your time and they are off to the next unit.

[Valour]

I'm worried cuz all my clothes are guys stuff and the name on the lease is a girl. Lol should i go to wal mart and buy some cheap panties and tampons and sprinkle them across the apartment?

[CRS]

Originally Posted by Valour

I'm worried cuz all my clothes are guys stuff and the name on the lease is a girl. Lol should i go to wal mart and buy some cheap panties and tampons and sprinkle them across the apartment?

If you're going to go to this extent, you might as well just say that your parents really wanted a daughter after having X amount of sons so they named you a girl's name.

Either way, if you're caught, you're fucked. But this way, you won't be out even more money.

[dinosaur]

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[Valour]

I looooove the apartment! So if I tell them to switch it over they cannot refuse? PS there is nothing shady going on and my credit is excellent and I have a prosperous business that i own.

and no, I am not wearing girls panties

[Gridlock]

Originally Posted by SumAznGuy

From the sounds of it, Dinosaur is right and it may just be a yearly check. Since growing pot in apartments was easy money for lots of people, one of the way to troll them is to do yearly inspections. Some use the guise of fire alarm testing.

Well, its not a guise...for the buildings insurance, we need to prove that the fire systems are safe and functional.

It is seriously the most annoying day in this job. You go around to every apartment and hear the smoke detector ring in your ear, then the bells in the hallway go off. Guaranteed headache.

I actually don't need any excuse to inspect you, and can legally do so monthly without issue. I lived in one place that inspected monthly, and it was so annoying. I had moved there from a condo where I lived among owners to being treated like a high school student.

We don't do it ourselves, but do get pressure from the owners to institute it on the renovated apartments.

If there is a suspected problem, then we pound them with inspections to annoy them, but mostly do our work up front to screen out trashy people, and do our work on the backend to make sure that damage is more than covered.

[Gridlock]

Originally Posted by Valour

I looooove the apartment! So if I tell them to switch it over they cannot refuse? PS there is nothing shady going on and my credit is excellent and I have a prosperous business that i own.

and no, I am not wearing girls panties

Well, here's the issue.

They cannot refuse someone to take over a lease if they present good credit and references...IF they are going to hold your friend to the lease.

It sounds to me like they gave her an out. Move. Just because I have a lease with you, doesn't mean I have to enforce it.

Sidebar for educational purposes:

We have chosen to not enforce leases for a variety of reasons. One, we like the person. They have been a great person to deal with, and for whatever reason, they have to move. If they are in a renovated apartment that we aren't going to have a problem renting, and its going to show well(ie. They have nice stuff) then why bother keeping the people on the hook. I always like to reward a good tenant.

Two is I want to get rid of you. Maybe I'm not actively trying to evict you, but I may not shed any tears if you want to leave. We had a classic case of that with this girl that moved into a not so great apartment in our building. She started sending us huge letters under our door nit-picking problems with her apartment. The trim on the front door handle was loose. The handle on the toilet jiggled. I didn't paint the wall behind the stove(like hello! fuck off on that one)

I told her I can fix this, I can fix this item and I can't do anything about this this and this.

She actually said to me, "well what happens if the work isn't done to my satisfaction?"

"well, you aren't my client, so you suck it." I put that i a much more professional tone

Finally, I asked her straight up, what was she trying to accomplish, and she wanted to move. After a month. Dude, whatever. There's the door.

She was going to spend the year nit-picking every little thing she could find to get out of her lease. It was going to be too hot, or too cold. It was a nicely painted, but shitty apartment. There was stuff to find.

We cut her loose. I was not in the mood to have to deal with her self-imposed condemnation for a year.

But back to the immediate point. If they were willing to cut the lease, then they didn't want you. That is their right. They can't use the lease as a stick with her though. We as landlords can rent it for you, ditch the lease for you, or allow you to rent the unit.

We usually do 1 or 2, to avoid doing 3. We can't cut off options and then enforce the lease.

So where does all this leave you?

To them, they have a tenant effectively trespassing in the unit. You may be the stellar tenant of the year, but you are a trespasser, so thats a bit of a nick to your name.

You are going to have to talk to someone that makes decisions and go from there. If, IF you need to, and my god I would not open with this, but you paid in cash for the apartment to the rental office. You *may* have a point to having a de facto tenancy agreement for apartment by virtue that they have accepted your rent. They *could* have tried to determine who you were.

If the inspection is indeed for the fire alarms, then you may not have anything to worry about. They'll come in, test the alarm, test the heat detector and be on their way.

How big is the building?

[dinosaur]

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[SumAznGuy]

Originally Posted by Gridlock

Well, its not a guise...for the buildings insurance, we need to prove that the fire systems are safe and functional.

While it may be for building insurance reasons, it was never done in my last condo that I owned until part way through my time as owner. I don't mind it as I understand the need for it.
I also like the idea of trolling the people who tries to grow pot in their unit.

Oh wait. A thought just came to me. A few pages back I wrote about the grow op in the building adjacent to us and how the owner complained that the strata should be looking after his unit for him and it was our fault someone grew pot in his unit that he rented out. We only had our yearly smoke detector inspection 2 months ago and I don't remember there being one last year since we have been on the strata for almost 2 years now. An old strata member moved out hence why we joined.

Oh well. That's not important now.

[dinosaur]

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[Valour]

Thank you experts for the input and responses!

[Graeme S]

So what actually happened?
Posted via RS Mobile

[Gridlock]

Originally Posted by Graeme S

So what actually happened?
Posted via RS Mobile

Maybe he had to pack the computer already

[dinosaur]

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[Valour]

Everything went better than expected Lol, actually, you never know until a month goes by, I may receive a letter...

[davidw1234]

One of my friend's (tenant) horror story...probably not as funny as the other stories posted here.

Condo rental for half a year, landlord charged a full month's rent for deposit (violation #1). No inspection report was ever done by landlord. (violation #2)

Rental was extended for the next 3 years I believe, every month the landlord would bug the shit out of the tenant asking for payment (non-stop calling), even if it wasn't late or anything. Tenant paid up every-time.

No payments missed, no issues (like sewage problems or whatever) happened during the rental.

Now here's when it gets funny:

Tenant moves out cause he's moving to another province. This was mid-July. Landlord suddenly goes MIA for the next 2 weeks. Not picking up calls or anything. BUT, there is evidence the landlord accessed the unit during the remainder of 2 weeks.

2 weeks later, landlord shows up. Again, no inspection report, nothing (violation #3). She brings a "gangster-wannabe" too, giving out threats and dipshit. Then claims that she's refusing to give back the full months deposit because she has to spend it all on "advertising fees" and repairs for normal wear and tear. (you're looking at a completely white wall except with a few marks from shoes or whatever). Holycow man 3 year tenancy you expect the unit to be brand new when you first purchased it?

Huge argument starts, that "gangster-wannabe" had the intention to beat my friend up, (walked close up to my friends face, yell, roll up sleeves blahblah), luckily that didn't happen.

I recommended him to go to the Residential Tenancy Branch, which he did, filed a report. Got a hearing date, landlord rejected all associated documents mailed by registered mail (they were returned undeliverable). Of course, the landlord didn't even participate in the hearing. The monthly rent was $1400 per month, which got doubled by the RTB agent because of how bullshit this landlord is. Owing: $2800 + $50 application fee.

Friend calls the landlord to let him know, landlord goes bullshit and yells Chinese through the phone and tells him to FUCK OFF, GO FUCK YOURSELF, YOU PIECE OF SHIT.

Well, payback time. Friend did a title search and found out the property was under mortgage of the same bank the landlord deposited the monthly rental cheques to. New owing amount: ~$3000 due to court costs added on.

Garnished bank account, landlord missed 2 months of mortgage. (garnished on the day before mortgage was automatically deducted from account). The debt was also registered against the property as a secured debt.

Total Cost: ~$3000 + mortgage penalties + interest from bank
vs
Original Cost: $1400

Win.

Know your rights! When inspection reports are not done, landlords automatically lose the right to claim any security deposit. Security deposits can accrue interest over time and can only be claimed if major damages were done to the unit (not normal wear-and-tear). Any disputes can be forwarded to RTB for resolution, and results can be enforced at the BC Provincial Court (Small Claims). Pretty effective, but expect a longgggggggggggggggggggg time to get your money back.

TLDR: Landlord charges full month security deposit of $1400 and refuses to return at end of tenancy because she needs to pay for "advertising costs" and normal "wear and tear". Tenant got RTB to double the amount to $3000 and also made the landlord miss 2 months of mortgage payments with penalties and interest. He also registered his name under the landlords property.

[dinosaur]

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[Gridlock]

nada.