[civic_boi]

Hi,

I have a tenant who has been regularly late on payments, but has come through with payments at the end of the day. We mutually agreed to end the lease and he is expected to leave by January 31st.

He said he was going to be late with January's rent and promised to pay by the 9th as he needed more time. He dropped by on the 14th stating that he will pay January's rent on February 6.

The problem is he will be moving out on January 31st and I have no reason to believe he will pay.

He owes $1000 in rent and I have his security deposit of $500.

I don't know what to do at this point. Tenancy branch told me he will need to provide me with a forwarding address if I want to go after any damages. I feel that he will provide me with a fake address. Leave me with the security deposit and bail out on the unpaid rent and possible damages.

Does anyone have any advice?

Thank you

[SSM_DC5]

start with a paper trail stating he's late on rent.

"-Payment of rent is due on the 1st of the month…every month regardless of Sundays, weekends, holidays, bank holidays, or any other excuse a tenant will use. It rent is not paid by 12:01am on the 2nd, it is late. You can issue this notice that will give the tenant 5 days to pay: http://www.rto.gov.bc.ca/documents/RTB-30.pdf. If they have not paid or filed to fight the notice within those 5 day, they will be forced to move."

source: http://www.revscene.net/forums/689031-so-you-want-landlord.html

Another thing you may not know (which can be found if you read into the RTA) the tenant needs to sign off agreeing to let you keep the damage deposit, and the tenant needs to give you a forwarding address if they even want the damage deposit back. And in case you don't read the RTA in time, there's a deadline as to when damage deposits need to be returned......it's 10 business days or else they can ask for double the money back.

[6793026]

very honestly... say good bye.

I am very very honest with you, i have had 2 people and you can say good bye. it's what I call the cost of doing business.

1) even with the address and everything, you have to go to RTB and submit and get a hearing
2) you will win (even if the tenant is no show) BUTTTT that just means you won.
3) you can now keep the deposit (assuming you have done all paperwork properly)
4) THEN you have to garnish the other 500 dollars for the remaining.
a) this means you have to have ALL proper information and then serve it to the bank or in person (good luck to you on that)
b) you have to have all proper banking information
5) MOST of the time, there aren't even enough money for you to garnish.

[Mr.HappySilp]

keep your lose. Just be happy he is moving and isn't trashing your place. That's the risk of renting out.

[SoNaRWaVe]

or take a leap of faith. not to put your hopes high, but even though he was late on payments, he did come through at the end of the day.

maybe he will pay you in feb. i mean feb 6 is a pretty specific date and it just so falls on a friday. so maybe payday for him then.

if both of you ended the lease on mutual grounds, i don't think that he will trash your place just for the fun of it. so at least if you do keep his damage deposit, hopefully the place isn't trashed and you just cut your loss of $500.

that said, i hope you have done random inspections so you get an idea what the place might be like when he move out.

[BrRsn]

Of all the tenants I've dealt with over the years, most of them have been dicks when it came to terminating their tenancy.

Just be happy he's leaving, take the hit. For next time, download the tenancy act (it's pretty straight forward and easy to read) and follow it to the tee -- document late payments, and institute a late fee of $xx/day late.

[civic_boi]

Hi everyone, sorry about the late response.
start with a paper trail stating he's late on rent.

"-Payment of rent is due on the 1st of the month…every month regardless of Sundays, weekends, holidays, bank holidays, or any other excuse a tenant will use. It rent is not paid by 12:01am on the 2nd, it is late. You can issue this notice that will give the tenant 5 days to pay: http://www.rto.gov.bc.ca/documents/RTB-30.pdf. If they have not paid or filed to fight the notice within those 5 day, they will be forced to move."

source: http://www.revscene.net/forums/689031-so-you-want-landlord.html

Another thing you may not know (which can be found if you read into the RTA) the tenant needs to sign off agreeing to let you keep the damage deposit, and the tenant needs to give you a forwarding address if they even want the damage deposit back. And in case you don't read the RTA in time, there's a deadline as to when damage deposits need to be returned......it's 10 business days or else they can ask for double the money back.

Hey, I feel he will not want to go to arbitration at all. Will likely give me a fake forwarding address or will simply allow me to keep the deposit (which I will confirm in writing) and pay the remaining amount like he "promised".
very honestly... say good bye.

I am very very honest with you, i have had 2 people and you can say good bye. it's what I call the cost of doing business.

1) even with the address and everything, you have to go to RTB and submit and get a hearing
2) you will win (even if the tenant is no show) BUTTTT that just means you won.
3) you can now keep the deposit (assuming you have done all paperwork properly)
4) THEN you have to garnish the other 500 dollars for the remaining.
a) this means you have to have ALL proper information and then serve it to the bank or in person (good luck to you on that)
b) you have to have all proper banking information
5) MOST of the time, there aren't even enough money for you to garnish.
Yup, I agree. If someone has nothing to lose, it doesn't matter. The system is flawed here. I did a poor job right from the beginning. I should have done a credit check. Anyways, lesson learned.

In the end, I may end up winning. It will likely take forever to recover the money. In the end, he will end up with a bad credit rating, but I doubt he cares anyways.
keep your lose. Just be happy he is moving and isn't trashing your place. That's the risk of renting out.

Yup, it's sad but true.

or take a leap of faith. not to put your hopes high, but even though he was late on payments, he did come through at the end of the day.

maybe he will pay you in feb. i mean feb 6 is a pretty specific date and it just so falls on a friday. so maybe payday for him then.

if both of you ended the lease on mutual grounds, i don't think that he will trash your place just for the fun of it. so at least if you do keep his damage deposit, hopefully the place isn't trashed and you just cut your loss of $500.

that said, i hope you have done random inspections so you get an idea what the place might be like when he move out.

That's true, you never know, he may come through with the money. I saw the place last month, condition is fine, so I shouldn't need to worry.

Of all the tenants I've dealt with over the years, most of them have been dicks when it came to terminating their tenancy.

Just be happy he's leaving, take the hit. For next time, download the tenancy act (it's pretty straight forward and easy to read) and follow it to the tee -- document late payments, and institute a late fee of $xx/day late.

Believe me I have been following it. This guy knows what he is doing. He's been evicted several times according to court records (I did not know about the eservices website when I allowed him to stay).