Some renters will be surprised to hear this but some landlords are lazy when it comes to paperwork.
I say surprised because most renters have to list all sorts of personal information to landlords just to be considered as a tenant.
I know I’ve personally had to fill out some really probing questionnaires given to me by property management companies.
Other landlords, however, don’t even come close to that.
Take, for example, the case of a Burnaby renter victimized by another tenant in the same house – a tenant who turns out to be a criminal that the landlord allowed in the house based on a fake name.
Yikes.
For one thing, this renter moved in not knowing that there was another tenant renting in the same house – the landlord didn’t bother to mention this little bit of information.
“When I first moved in to where I'm living now in September, I wasn't aware that there were other suites in the home,” wrote the renter. “An obviously illegal suite operation going on, but that seems to be pretty common in Burnaby and elsewhere so that's not really an issue for me. When I found out there was another suite here, I introduced myself to the woman. She seemed nice at first, but people can be very deceiving.”
Things clearly went downhill after this.
“Fast forward to a couple of months ago when police had to be called. As it turns out, this woman provided the landlord with a fake name. Upon learning her real name, I did some digging and it turns out she is quite a prolific criminal dating back to 1999 to as recent as 2020, with most recent charges being laid against this individual for mail theft, identity theft, forgery, possession of stolen property, and perhaps the most scary of all. They also had a previous charge of armed robbery.”
This renter is now stuck in a bad situation in which she has to live in fear of their neighbour, including worrying about if this person ever gets a hold of their mail.
This renter has a clear message for all landlords.
“Landlords need to do their due diligence when renting to people. It's hard to believe that anyone can be so stupid as to not ask for any kind of identification to confirm someone's true identity, especially in this day and age. I feel like my safety is now at significant risk, but moving isn't easy - so for now, I'm stuck here, living in fear.”
It’s shocking because you would think a landlord would want to protect their investment, but here we are.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
