Legal? Reasonable? v. Tenant-Landlord
 

Tenants are able to do laundry twice a week in the shared laundry room, we now want to lock the room and only open it within a certain time period during those days.

A little back story, our heat was not working so my mom decided to check out the furnace that is downstairs to make sure nothing was wrong with it. The furnace is in our shared laundry room. The tenant opened one of the doors and started angrily questioning her, asking her what she was doing among other things.

So now mom is spooked and is also afraid of the lack of security and privacy since the tenants can come in to our living room from downstairs.

Reasonable, unreasonable? Legal, illegal?

Have your mom take up hunting, eventually the tenants will see her in camo gear and know better:thumbsup:
http://accurateshooter.net/Blog/galhunt01.jpg

Depending on the definition of "shared", it should not have been illegal because that particular area is not rented out solely for the tenant.

What I don't get is... Why did your tenant yell at your mom for being in the laundry room? It's a SHARED location in the house.

And why decide to lock it now, but not before?

I would suggest just leaving it unlocked for now unless you guys are intimidated by the tenants, whereas I would consider evicting them, then while screening new potential tenants I would mention the time restrictions that they are allowed to enter the Laundry Room.

IMO shared = common space. you guys should set certain days for laundry so you're not stepping on each others toes. obviously, if an emergency laundry situation comes up, they should go knock on your door and ask or something similar.

I will make sure she watches more UFC from now on, just incase :thumbsup:


I dont get why they are so uppity but they are permitted to use the washer and dryer twice a week.
I have no idea what is up that guys ass.

We just moved in a month ago so we didnt really think about locking the laundry room as this is the first time we have ever became landlords.


Oh definitely agree, they can do whatever they want on sundays and wednesdays, I just want to know that we are reasonable in locking the room the rest of the days. Since the last thing I want to deal with coming home are asshole tenants.

How about a longer back story? It seems odd that someone would angrily question their landlord who is checking out why there is no heat - unless they were cold and upset that there was no heat.

Sure you do, yet you're not willing to tell. What specifically did the tenant question about?

Lock the door and you'll definitely come home to asshole tenants. Imagine the day you forget to unlock it and your tenants are pissed?

If you're concerned about them accessing the rest of the house from the laundry room, install a locked door between the laundry room and your part of the house.

Flip side is I've come home to find them in the middle of doing laundry on one of the days they were not supposed to be doing laundry.

It is odd, and if you read you will see that I have no idea why they are mad. And that is the back story, not much to tell since it being a month since moving in.

If you mean to say that we turned off their heat, you are wrong.

"What the hell are you doing?"
"Why are you looking at it, if you dont know anything about it?"
"Why are you moving my things" <--They have their laundry rack in front of the door that housed the furnace.


We do have a door that separates the laundry room to the living room. As do they, but they can, if they wanted, to open their door and open our door, giving them access to our section of the house.

You seem pretty hostile in your comments, are you my tenants by any chance? :D

Is thier Tenant agreement with you or the previous owners?
Is there even a contract?

You are not legally allowed to lock the room out from them, unless it was stated in the contract agreement.

As for them bitching about being near thier clothes, tell them that it's a shared space, and if they don't like it, they can get the fuck out. You have to give them a 2 month notice before kicking them out. Or just piss them off enough that they move out on thier own. It must be a valid reason though in case they complain. EG Renovations, living space for relatives, etc. You can't say that you don't like them and want them out.
Then put an ad in the paper and raise the rent. :)

Or, if they're really pissing you off. Give them a 3? Month notice that you'll be raising the rent. They'll move out very quickly. Or you make more money. Win Win.

Check here for any other questions.
http://www.rto.gov.bc.ca/default.aspx

Also, install a deadbolt if you're so afraid. Costs $20, and takes 15 minutes.

Those are all valid complaints. It may not be the nicest way of saying it, yet they are tenants, they are paying you for a service, they don't need to be nice.

I was going to ask if the furnace being off meant there was no heat to the rental unit. If so, this would explain unhappy tenants.

I've been a landlord and tenant. Tenants tend not to like landlords poking around.

Put a lock on your door. End of thread.

Incorrect. Rent increases are controlled and are currently < 2%.

Correct.

similar thing happened to us. in our tenancy agreement, we said they are able to access the laundry room, and that it's shared. we never stated they can access it 24/7 and at their will.

ur mom CAN lock that room. if the tenant has an issue with it, tell them to file a grievance claim or w/e the fck dispute they want to make up with the Residential Tenancy Branch.

if your mom gives reasonable operating times for the room, then they probably wont win the case. in your report, when and if asked, tell them about the security issue as well.

Fyi, if you have it in the agreement in writing that they are only allowed to do laundry on certain days, but they do laundry on other days AND YOU KNOW IT and do nothing about it, the RT Board can decide that you have waived that part of the agreement.

My dad has a tenant, and an agreement that says "any new pets must be approved by the landlord(s) before they are allowed to move in." They're not anti-pet, but loud yappers or troublemaing pets are a no-no. He got a girlfriend who would bring over her yapper every once in awhile. Then, after a few months of dating she moved in (unannounced, which my dad was a bit annoyed with), but my dad never said anything about the pet.

As a result, had he wanted to exercise that clause in the agreement, he wouldn't have been able to because he hadn't tried to enforce it before.


If you know they're violating it, you need to keep that shit under control or else you'll end up without the ability to enforce it.
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Unless you state the specific times your tenant is allowed into the laundry room in your agreement, it is assumed that your tenants can access the laundry room at will.

That's correct. If you notice something wrong or not set out in your contarct but you don't enforce it with a reasonable time, rtb will question why u didn't enforce it and therefore you basically willingly waived it. So you might wanna do something quick. Just hand them something you typed up regarding the use of the laundry. Make sure everything u do is documented and u can prove it, just in case if it goes to rtb

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