REVscene - Vancouver Automotive Forum

dinosaur · 08-20-2011, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lomac

If the agent messed up and not the actual owners (not sure about this since the agent may not have gotten the email until after the papers were signed), why not contact the agent's company itself and attempt to go after them instead? If the owners requested that the agency take the house off the market and the agent ignored it, it's no longer the owner's fault.

Unfortunately, the tenant is going to have to go after the owners as the agreement is between the OP and the owner. The owner will have to deal with the agent separately for his fuck up...

Sucks for the OP, but now it looks like the agent fucked the owners too.

sonick · 08-29-2011, 03:40 PM

Semi-Update. Not much progress except we are getting played and fucked over by the agents. They are not budging short of offering us units with poorer floorplans than the one we wanted plus one months free rent, which we are not accepting. The owner has stopped communication altogether. The dispute hearing is 20-something of September, which seems sooooo far away.

We are stuck sitting on our hands tied to the original lease, so we can't go signing another lease until this one is resolved in case we have to uphold the original lease.

Getting more and more impatient and annoyed by this each day.

dinosaur · 08-29-2011, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sonick

Semi-Update. Not much progress except we are getting played and fucked over by the agents. They are not budging short of offering us units with poorer floorplans than the one we wanted plus one months free rent, which we are not accepting. The owner has stopped communication altogether. The dispute hearing is 20-something of September, which seems sooooo far away.

We are stuck sitting on our hands tied to the original lease, so we can't go signing another lease until this one is resolved in case we have to uphold the original lease.

Getting more and more impatient and annoyed by this each day.

Ugh, that sucks.

On a positive note, you have a really good case.

REMEMBER: when you have your hearing (on the phone, which sucks), be professional, clear, and stick to the specifics. Before they will officially start the hearing, they will ask if you would like to resolve the issue. Attempt a dispute resolution prior to the offical hearing as it reflects positive on you. What will make you happy? 2 months compensation? 3 months? do you want to still live there? Try to negotiate. Should the landlord choose not to agree to any of your proposals, the official hearing will begin. The judge will ask you to give your statement...have some notes in front of you with dates, times, conversations, emails, etc...the the judge exactly what happened...the landlord will then give their statement. Once this is done, the arguments will be made...DO NOT interrupt! If you would like to comment on what the landlord (or agent) has said...say, "May I respond to that comment?". SHould the landlord interrupt or cut you off, simply stop talking and ask the judge if you may continue. Do not talk directly to the landlord during the conference. Do not become accusatory...simply state the facts and the impact it has had on you.

Stay calm, cool, and collected. During one of my arbitration cases, the tenant was a moron and it totally helped my case. Show that you are willing to come to a solution.

Good luck and give us an update!

sonick · 08-29-2011, 06:37 PM

Thanks Dinosaur, that is GREAT advice. I guess we will just have to be patient and stand ground.

Mr.HappySilp · 08-29-2011, 08:06 PM

I should try to get a sooner hearing date. Have reason like your currently lease is up and you need to find a place to rent ASAP.

I would say just straight up stick up the owner's Ass. If the agency fuck up it is is between the owner and the agecny. What you are after is compensation so it doesn't matter who's fault is it. Get what you want and don't care about the feelings of others.

sonick · 08-29-2011, 09:32 PM

My roommate is going by the RTB downtown tomorrow to get advice, I will get him to ask if it's possible to move the hearing date earlier.

Jesus christ, this agency is run by a bunch of amateurs... Just discovered they have already deposited the Security Deposit AND the move-in fee the day after we signed/the day before they told us the owners wanted to move into the unit themselves, knowing that the owners were planning on moving back in.

i.e. Monday owners informed agency they want to move in, also the day we signed lease.
Tuesday they deposit security deposit & move-in fee.
Wednesday agent informs us the owners want to move in and we cannot move in.

This mishandling of our deposit and move-in fee is ridiculous. Going to file a complaint with the Real Estate Council of BC http://www.recbc.ca/complaints/complaint.htm

drunkrussian · 08-29-2011, 10:08 PM

^are u sure u want to live in a place with such bad management? it may bite u in the long run, no? seems this may poasibly be an oppportunity to get out of the lease and get paid and possibly move on to another place altogether. i personally would take the 1 month rent and ask to get out of the lease. i personally would pay more for a slightly worse place if thr management is right. not that u need to settle for more expensive or worse place
Posted via RS Mobile

jeffh · 08-29-2011, 10:14 PM

sounds like at this point Sonic, is over the building in question, and is just negotiating for some compensation so he can move on

and it looks like hes gonna have to smash some heads to get his security deposit and move in fee

sonick · 08-29-2011, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drunkrussian

^are u sure u want to live in a place with such bad management? it may bite u in the long run, no? seems this may poasibly be an oppportunity to get out of the lease and get paid and possibly move on to another place altogether. i personally would take the 1 month rent and ask to get out of the lease. i personally would pay more for a slightly worse place if thr management is right. not that u need to settle for more expensive or worse place
Posted via RS Mobile

That's the point, they are NOT offering any compensation for us to break the lease. If they did we would be out already. If they don't, the RTB will enforce the lease at the hearing and we will take the unit and let the owners deal with their inept agent via the Real Estate Services Act of BC. If they give us shit during the tenancy, we'll just go to the RTB, but I highly doubt it will come to that, since the owners will have likely moved into the unit by the time the hearing comes.

As I said earlier, the 1 month rent offer is if we sign with another unit of theirs, not as cash compensation to break the lease.

drunkrussian · 08-29-2011, 10:28 PM

^damn :-(
Posted via RS Mobile

dinosaur · 08-29-2011, 11:28 PM

so wait, i'm confused, have they still not given you that money back? You, in a couple of days have no apartment to move into, and now out money as well?

The first thing I would do in this case is give the money back, saying we know this is going to arbitration, so you hold onto this, as depending on what happens, it may need to come back to us.

Never hold money on a wait and see system.

sonick · 08-30-2011, 12:05 AM

Yes, we weren't aware that they had actually gone ahead and deposited those cheques, we had assumed that they were merely holding onto them at this point, an oversight on our part.

Gridlock · 08-30-2011, 09:22 AM

I think dinosaur covered everything in terms of arbitration. She's a machine when it comes to going to the board.

I think the only thing I can add is to make sure that your documentation package is clear. Remember, the arbiter knows nothing of your case, and only learns about it through your documentation. Make sure its on time.

I spent about 6 hours once putting together a package for someone that I was trying to evict. His documentation package was a hand written sheet. I had a 4 page typed letter that described every minute detail of every interaction that we had with him. Then, I had evidence lettered A-K.

In the end, I went to him and handed him the package. I took a moment, and said, I just want to walk you through this. I start pulling stuff out of the envelope. The look on his face was priceless. I kept saying, "you'll have a chance to read through all of this, but the term you are looking for in this letter, signed by your neighbor, is "he is a disruptive component to the building." Here is another photo...blah blah blah.

As I was showing him, I kept spreading it further out on the table. After that, I showed him another letter that said, if you agree to the following terms, I won't submit this to the branch, and you can keep your house.

We got along great after that. He ended up moving on his own a month later. Ultimately, I couldn't actually go through with evicting him. After I put the package together, it was going to be like taking an AK47 to a knife fight...he was going to be slaughtered.

I can't wait to see the outcome of this. It's such pure stupidity, and the only answer for pure stupidity is to hand their ass to them.

Razor Ramon HG · 09-07-2011, 04:47 PM

I have a quick question.

So I have a friend that moved in yesterday to a shared apartment with some exchange students. She paid a deposit, but said she's 90% sure there's bedbugs.

She's wondering if she can get the deposit back and move out. She didn't sign any contracts, so I think that might bite her in the ass?

EDIT: I'm reading the tenancy act, but it only mentions deposits when they enter an agreement (I'm guessing written?)

Death2Theft · 09-07-2011, 06:03 PM

If you dont have clear documentation of what your paying the deposit for, your up shit creek.

Would you in her roomates shoes give the deposit back and risk not finding someone for a months portion of the rent and cough it up yourself?
Even if you did manage to weasel out of it and screw the roomates over what does that make you?
The money spent/lost on the deposit should be a valuable lesson to do your due diligence before putting money down for anything in the future.

For fuck sakes man the HG is getting too powerful. Your starting to think like a illogical dont give a shit about anyone but herself vag.
Will you have the balls to tell your "buddy" this HG? Or does that ruin the chances of you getting in her pants?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razor Ramon HG

I have a quick question.

So I have a friend that moved in yesterday to a shared apartment with some exchange students. She paid a deposit, but said she's 90% sure there's bedbugs.

She's wondering if she can get the deposit back and move out. She didn't sign any contracts, so I think that might bite her in the ass?

EDIT: I'm reading the tenancy act, but it only mentions deposits when they enter an agreement (I'm guessing written?)

dinosaur · 09-07-2011, 06:41 PM

Who did she pay her deposit to? Landlord or current residents (exchange students)?

No contract as in she did not sign a tenancy agreement? Did she pay rent yet? What was the verbal agreement?

Need more info....is this an apt? house? room rental?

A tenant can NOT break a tenancy agreement because of bed bugs per se. The tenant has to give the landlord/owner a reasonable amount of time to solve the problem. Having dealt with this issue in the past, usually 1-2 months of actively trying to resolve the issue.

Should the landlord/owner not do anything, give notice if you are on a month to month, or file for dispute resolution with the RTB if you are on a lease and would like to break it under "Health and Safety" violation by the landlord/owner.

If none of this applies and your friend just randomly gave cash to an existing tenant to "rent" a room, etc and has no contract....she can walk but good luck getting any money back. Having nothing in writing (ie. a contract) fucks them and her.

Also, tell her next time to do it right so she doesn't end up getting fucked in another situation.

Razor Ramon HG · 09-07-2011, 07:56 PM

Huh? Why so hostile? I am merely asking a question. Of course the logical answer is that she would probably lose the deposit, but I was wondering if there was anything in the tenancy act (that everyone is reading) concerning deposits and pests.

In any case, she paid the land-lady directly, and not with the other roommates. Apparently she is meeting with the land-lady tomorrow, so I guess I will see what happens. But I have a feeling she probably isn't getting a dime back, and I think she realizes it.

And no, ever heard of helping friends? Jesus christ. It must be that time of the month

Quote:

Originally Posted by Death2Theft

If you dont have clear documentation of what your paying the deposit for, your up shit creek.

Would you in her roomates shoes give the deposit back and risk not finding someone for a months portion of the rent and cough it up yourself?
Even if you did manage to weasel out of it and screw the roomates over what does that make you?
The money spent/lost on the deposit should be a valuable lesson to do your due diligence before putting money down for anything in the future.

For fuck sakes man the HG is getting too powerful. Your starting to think like a illogical dont give a shit about anyone but herself vag.
Will you have the balls to tell your "buddy" this HG? Or does that ruin the chances of you getting in her pants?

Thanks for the info, I will forward it to her.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dinosaur

Who did she pay her deposit to? Landlord or current residents (exchange students)?

No contract as in she did not sign a tenancy agreement? Did she pay rent yet? What was the verbal agreement?

Need more info....is this an apt? house? room rental?

A tenant can NOT break a tenancy agreement because of bed bugs per se. The tenant has to give the landlord/owner a reasonable amount of time to solve the problem. Having dealt with this issue in the past, usually 1-2 months of actively trying to resolve the issue.

Should the landlord/owner not do anything, give notice if you are on a month to month, or file for dispute resolution with the RTB if you are on a lease and would like to break it under "Health and Safety" violation by the landlord/owner.

If none of this applies and your friend just randomly gave cash to an existing tenant to "rent" a room, etc and has no contract....she can walk but good luck getting any money back. Having nothing in writing (ie. a contract) fucks them and her.

Also, tell her next time to do it right so she doesn't end up getting fucked in another situation.

TRDood · 09-07-2011, 08:19 PM

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I am having a situation with my parking space in a residental building in downtown, thinking that this thread would be a suitable place to post.

Through Craigslist, I have entered into a rental agreement, starting in May, written by hand, with my parking space landlord. With this agreement, I paid her cash for May, gave her post-dated cheques for June until and including September for monthly parking, and a $100 deposit for key fob and refundable upon return.

Fast forward to today to work, after my one week vacation, I learned that my fob no longer works.

I enquired with the building conceirge and security and they said my key fob is deactivated by my landlord.

I emailed and called my landlord asking why she has disabled my parking fob when my records showed that she has my post-dated cheques for September.

Landlord said she have not been able to contact me for the past month. She lost her email account and password, claims that her copy of the rental agreement does not say my name or my phone number, and have no way to communicate with me. Therefore, she had written a "letter", which actually is only a phone number that says "call me (604)xxx-xxxx" below a parking garage cleaning notice, without addressing my name. She also claim that she has never seen my car parking there, so she cannot place it on my dash. I work M-F 8-5, maybe we never catch each other.

Anyway, I requested her to reactivate my parking fob because I would like to continue to rent her parking space.

Here's the messed up part.

Since she cannot communicate with me in her ways, she assumes that I am no longer interested and rented the space out to a new person. She says that she will only return $80 back to me for my key fob because she has "purchased" another one for the new tenant.

While I can careless about the $20, the whole situation makes me angry.

1. My cheques clearly states my name and address, how would she not know my name? At least address me in her "letter", who would just call a random number without knowing that the sign is directed to a specific person??

2. Why should I foot the $20 when she assumed that I am no longer interested? I gave her post-dated cheques until September, so my rent intentions are clearly for at least September. All previous payments are good cheques.

3. She offered me her other parking space for $150, or free while I make other arrangements. I said no, thank you because the space is too tight and I don't want door dings.

4. I am demanding either she: a) give me my full $100 deposit back or b) cash my September cheque, so I can park there until the end of this month.

What can I do in this situation? Clearly she is not very smart, I have all the evidence of my post-dated cheques and my copy of the signed rental agreement.

I really like her parking space as it is designed for a super wide handicapped space, but not painted that way.

Am I covered until any BC Laws?

dinosaur · 09-07-2011, 09:15 PM

Just to be clear...you ONLY rented a parking spot from her correct?

If so, unfortunately from my recollection, the RTA does not include only renting a parking spot.

However, using the RTA as a guide IF you have a specific agreement to rent the spot from her until the end of Sept, you have the right to that spot until that time.

Why did she need to contact you if you had an agreement until the end of Sept? It is not your fault that she did not know your name/number but if she was smart, she would have had that information for emergency purposes.

My guess is that someone offered to pay her more money for the spot and no longer wanted you there. Clearly, that is wrong.

Has she deposited the cheque for September yet? If so, that just adds more to your case.

It may be worth it for you just to call the Tenancy branch and ask them if this falls under their jurisdiction.

Also, if SHE deactivated the key fob with no cause (ie. you broke the agreement), she is not allowed to keep the deposit. The point of a deposit is that you return when you are done without damage. You have no control over what she does and therefore, it should not effect you.

Basic rental agreement: you pay for a specified time. you break the agreement-you owe, they break the agreement-they owe. Sounds like she broke it to make more money.

Gridlock · 09-26-2011, 09:33 PM

Any update on this?

drunkrussian · 09-26-2011, 10:05 PM

op and roommate found an apartment which imo is better with non-douchebag landlords and lived happily ever after :-)
Posted via RS Mobile

sonick · 09-28-2011, 01:06 PM

Um, actually no.

We had the hearing last Thursday, the arbitrator was all over the place and didn't go through the steps that Dinosaur had mentioned, just simply asked us a bunch of questions which we responded. We weren't able to go through our timeline and hit all the points we wanted to bring up.

However, the arbitrator did say that we were wronged, and may be entitled to something called 'nominal compensation' in addition to the filing fees, etc. but not actual compensation sought, since we did not have a real monetary loss.

Didn't go as well as we'd hoped, but not terrible either.

The arbitrator's decision will be sent via mail. Once we get it we're gonna be filing a complaint with the real estate council of BC as well.

dinosaur · 09-28-2011, 05:18 PM

Ummm, wow. That's actually a little shocking that the hearing was all over the place. That fucking sucks...

At least there was acknowledgement that you should be entitled to nominal compensation...lets hope he picks a reasonable number.

They are usually pretty fast with the verdict....usually only about a week even though they give 30 days. Remember though, if you are not happy with it, you can always appeal.

What did the other side have to say during the hearing?

Sorry it didn't go as planned but maybe the arbiter could see it was a cut and dry case and did not need detailed testimony? Let's hope...

Gridlock · 09-29-2011, 12:40 PM

As I said, I really have no idea what a fair number is, and I'm sure they struggle too.

You were dicked around by the agent, and the owner, and that needs to come into play. You also never physically took possession or moved, so your 'damages' are contained to a level of frustration of not knowing where you are going, or when.

I still see you getting a month's value of rent plus filing costs. To me that reads as fair. Whether you moved or not, you were caught up in this place for a month.

I tend not to have as much faith in the RTA system as dinosaur myself. I don't like being in a position where its up to them to decide. I'm assisting a client/friend of mine and she had tenants back out after signing the lease. Her PM says, "well, we'll get rental revenue through arbitration" which is true, and they would have to find in her favour. My issue is, they can say whatever they want, but you still need to collect cash from these people at some point.

I just see a lot of opportunities for that not to happen to "rely" on it so to speak. We've always worked hard to avoid arbitration in favor of a solution now. In my mind, its worthwhile to come to a compromise with cash in hand, then wait for the unknown possibility of more from the branch.

If it ever comes to an appeal, please use the killer line of "what would happen to me, if I decided not to move in after signing the lease?"

sonick · 09-29-2011, 01:04 PM

Got the decision in the mail last night. Let's just say the compensation was much, much less than one months' rent. More like 2 and a half days' rent after factoring out the filing fee.

I should've used that line, Gridlock, but don't think we're gonna bother appealing the decision... Going to file a Real Estate Council complaint and move on.