A B.C. Residential Tenancy Branch decision has outlined a “dysfunctional” rental arrangement in Burnaby in which the landlord overstepped with multiple “unjustified” rules – and then evicted the tenant violating some of them.
The decision highlights, to me, how some landlords abuse their power and how the RTB is too lenient in punishing them.
The RTB dispute resolution details how a Burnaby tenant sought $5,000 in compensation, including several months’ worth of rent because she said she couldn’t occupy the suite for a long period due to several instances of “bullying.”
The landlord handed the tenant a notice of eviction and the tenant countered by seeking compensation from the RTB.
Things got off to a rocky start when the tenant moved in, only to discover the place was filthy and still filled with items left behind by the previous tenant, who said she has obsessive-compulsive disorder and so she cleaned it herself.
Things got even worse after that.
Just days after moving in, the landlord contacted her and demanded to know if she had taken a bath the night before.
“When she confirmed that she had taken a bath, the landlord told her she was only allowed to use the shower,” reads the RTB decision. “The tenant said she needed the bath for her sore back, but was forced to comply.”
Nothing was listed in the rental agreement about baths being banned.
Then there were multiple unannounced visits. The tenant said the landlords would use dubious reasons for entering the suite and then conduct inspections just weeks after she moved in.
Then the landlord complained about noise after some child relatives visited her suite, which was located below where the landlords live.
“(The landlord) said that the children could not do crafts and laugh so much,” read the decision.
A few days later, the landlord then banned any kids from coming into the suite, the decision heard.
“The landlord told her that if she wished to visit her granddaughter, to do it in a park but not under any circumstances in her suite,” the ruling said.
The tenant also said the landlord told her to not have visitors every single day.
One day, the tenant was cooking something and the smoke from a dirty oven caused the smoke alarm to go off. The landlords then entered the suite without permission and the landlord’s wife accused the tenant of doing “illegal stuff,” the ruling said.
These incidents caused the tenant to move out for weeks at a time to get away from the landlords, the ruling said. The tenant also provided proof that the suite was illegal and not registered with the city.
Two months after she moved in, the landlord handed her an eviction notice. At the hearing, the landlord said she was being evicted for violating the no smoking policy, although he admitted that she only smoked outside. The landlord also said the tenant had violated the laundry policy by washing other people’s clothing.
In the RTB ruling, the arbitrator said that the landlord did “interfere” in the tenant’s right to quiet in enjoyment over rules like no baths and no children.
“I do not find that the landlord’s conduct was so outrageous that it would justify the tenant’s claim for a refund of all rent paid from the outset of the tenancy,” the ruling says.
That seems unfair. I get maybe not all of the rent, but some of these examples are pretty egregious and even the arbitrator said that landlords must “accept some inconvenience.”
In the end, the tenant only won $408 to cover half a month’s rent and some cleaning costs.
The landlord basically harassed her into moving out and that’s all she got back.
Feels unfair.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
