REVscene - Vancouver Automotive Forum

TypeRNammer · 04-06-2009, 04:57 AM

Recently like a couple of weeks ago, couple of people came knocking on my door asking if my basement is available for rent. I'm scratching my head thinking that our basement is already rented out.

So the people went to the back to look for the tenant that lives in the basement. It turns out that the tenant downstairs is trying to rent out our basement to someone else with a higher rate.

I'm just wondering if this is legal at all. Because I'm trying to skim through the tenancy act but maybe I might of missed something on there.

My mom gave the guy a good deal for rent, but the fact that the deal is so good, he's trying to make money off of it by charging other people a higher rate.

Is there any action that we can take? This pisses me off so much that I just want to boot the guy out but my mom isn't doing anything.

CLIFF NOTES:

-we rented out basement to tenant
-tenant got good deal on rent
-tenant takes opportunity and tries to rent it out to someone else to make profit for himself.

________________________________

Any input from you guys would be great, thanks in advance!

-Jason

Inaii · 04-06-2009, 07:41 AM

I think unless there's a clause in your rental agreement stating that he can't sublet, then he's allowed to. I would check with the Rental Tenancy Board about it.

Graeme S · 04-06-2009, 10:09 AM

Yeah, it depends on whether or not your lease agreement says "subletting is not allowed." If it says that, then you can either boot him or prevent him from subletting; if not, you may be SOL.

Great68 · 04-06-2009, 10:21 AM

It's the other way around, unless it is stated in the tenancy agreement that subletting is allowed the tenant must get the landlord's permission to sublet.

Residential Tenancy Act Guidebook, Page 21:

Section: Subletting or Assigning a Tenancy

A tenant must have the landlord’s written consent before subletting or
assigning a rental unit to someone else. If a tenant assigns or sublets
without the landlord’s consent the landlord may serve the original tenant
a One-Month Notice to End Tenancy and the sub-tenant must vacate
when the original tenancy ends.
A landlord is entitled to ask for information to conduct a credit check or
reference check on a prospective tenant and may withhold consent if it
appears the prospective tenant will not be able to comply with the terms
of the tenancy agreement. The landlord cannot unreasonably withhold
consent where the tenancy is a fixed-term tenancy of six months or
more.
A landlord cannot receive any payment or other benefit, directly or indirectly,
for letting a tenant assign or sublet a tenancy.

Graeme S · 04-06-2009, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Great68

It's the other way around, unless it is stated in the tenancy agreement that subletting is allowed the tenant must get the landlord's permission to sublet.

Residential Tenancy Act Guidebook, Page 21:

Section: Subletting or Assigning a Tenancy

A tenant must have the landlord’s written consent before subletting or
assigning a rental unit to someone else. If a tenant assigns or sublets
without the landlord’s consent the landlord may serve the original tenant
a One-Month Notice to End Tenancy and the sub-tenant must vacate
when the original tenancy ends.
A landlord is entitled to ask for information to conduct a credit check or
reference check on a prospective tenant and may withhold consent if it
appears the prospective tenant will not be able to comply with the terms
of the tenancy agreement. The landlord cannot unreasonably withhold
consent where the tenancy is a fixed-term tenancy of six months or
more.
A landlord cannot receive any payment or other benefit, directly or indirectly,
for letting a tenant assign or sublet a tenancy.

The section I've bolded; would that be interpreted to be "If the tenant is moving out and wants to give someone out the space, they can't really reject them unless there is a valid reason" or is that "You basically have no choice unless the person fails credit/reference checks"?

Rich Sandor · 04-06-2009, 11:57 AM

I'm a part time rental manager as well, a tenant CANNOT sublet without the manager/owner's permission. If they do, you can give the new subletted tenant 1 month notice. You can also simultaneously give 1 month notice to the original tenant on the grounds that they broke the tenancy agreement. (Although the sublet section doesn't mention that, it's mentioned in another section of the tenancy act, it's a little trick to kill 2 evil birds with one stone.)

If the tenant has lived there for 6 months or more, and wants to go to scotland for X months and sublet in the meanwhile, they can do that as long as subletting was specifically allowed by the agreement they signed when moving in. The landlord can't deny it without sufficient reason. But this is irrelevent since 99.9999% of landlords DO NOT allow subletting.

TypeRNammer · 04-06-2009, 12:43 PM

Okay thanks for the input everyone, I'll look deeper into this situation and keep you guys updated.

johny · 04-06-2009, 06:41 PM

let the 2nd guy move in, then raise the rates to more then what the 2nd guy is paying, so the first guy loses money

Raid3n · 04-06-2009, 09:06 PM

there is a limit you can increase rent by per year.

6793026 · 04-07-2009, 09:16 AM

i'm sure you've already figured out that it's not ok. What people have NOT told you is that it's very hard to kick your tenant out. you can't confront him by saying hey, i think you'r subleasing, i want to kick you out. It does not work that easily in your favor.

There are only a few 100% fail proof way to kick them out. The most effective one is to serve him a notice that you're moving in to the unit. there are ways around it but yeah, let me know.