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Serial bad tenants leave B.C. landlords in the lurch - British Columbia - CBC News


All this could have been avoided by a reference check?


B.C. landlords are calling for a bad tenant registry after several became unwilling targets of a pair of apparent serially-delinquent renters.

Kim Gouws said she hasn't seen a penny of the $5,000 she's owed from the couple who lived in her Maple Ridge rental unit since the end of January.

The pair pushed to move in early, on January 26th. Gouws only later learned that was likely because they'd just been served with an eviction notice five days earlier.

"We did a lot to allow them to come in when they wanted to," she said. "And then the original rent cheque and the deposit cheque bounced."

Just over two months later, the pair are now gone, but Gouws isn't the first landlord who lost rent money and pushed to evict the pair.

"She's been doing this all in a row." Gouws said. "She just been going from one to the other to the other and I don't know if those people get paid anything."

A CBC News investigation found that the couple, Susan and Chris Perret, have lived nearly rent-free in at least five homes over the past two years. CBC News found records going back to August 2012, when the pair were evicted from one Maple Ridge home.

Then, in late 2012 and early 2013, the couple lived in Suman Parasad's rental property in Maple Ridge. Parasad said for four months they ignored her eviction order.

"They refused, and the last time I went and asked, she said 'I'll go when I want to.' That really made me angry, and so I called the court bailiffs and said, 'evict them right now,'" Parasad said.

Suman Parasad is getting paid back the $7,900 she is owed in monthly instalments of $450.

Parasad says she is out $7,900 from the ordeal.

"It hurt me really badly, financially." Parasad said. "I am not going to let them go. I want my money, simple as that. I work very hard for it and I want my money."

After winning at the residential tenancy hearing, Parasad took her complaint to small claims court. After several hearings, the Perrets have begun to slowly pay her back at the rate of $450 per month.

Records show that the Perrets were then evicted from another Maple Ridge home in October 2013, and then moved into Noel Beaulieu's property in Mission in November.

One month's rent cleared, but the other cheques were returned, marked "not sufficient funds." Beaulieu says he is out $1,500.

Beaulieu was able to get an eviction notice in late January, and videotaped the whole thing. He said the Perrets seemed to know it was coming.

"They knew more about the Residential Tenancy Act than we did. They knew all the steps and they were anticipating each step as we took it," he said.

From there, the Perrets moved into Gouws's property.

CBC's Natalie Clancy reached Susan Perret by telephone, and asked why she wasn't paying rent for months at the properties on record.

"Well, there's a whole bunch of issues for everybody, right?" Perret said.

On Monday, Perret promised her lawyer would tell her side of the story, but that hasn't happened yet.

Knowing they are the fifth landlord to lose out on rent from the Perrets, Gouws says it's time the Residential Tenancy Branch make available a list of bad tenants.

"The Residential Tenancy Act should have had their names on there so we could call in and say, 'I would like to rent to these people' and what they could say to me would be 'I would not recommend that,'" Gouws said.

As it stands, she says it's too easy for repeat non-payers to keep living rent-free.

"The system doesn't really work for the landlords. I think it works much more for the tenants," Gouws said

Always always do background check and credit check. If the no reference check from previous landlord and they refuse the sign the form that allow us to check their credit history their application goes to the garbage. Need at least 2 Reference from previous landlord.

I have had some horrible experience with renting out my apartments before. This time around I am not even sure if I should rent my apartment out or maybe just let a rental agency rent it out for me.

Since you just mentioned it MrHappySlip I don't think i'll be derailing too much; how much do rental agencies charge? Obviously it varies upon the value of the property etc. But just a ballpark figure.

Not too sure but for my sister townhome I think they charge her 20 to 25% of the rent every month. She current rents it out at $1900.

Kind of off topic but they also do one time rent out fee too usually the full payment of the first month.
Posted via RS Mobile

Scumbags.

I might be dealing with one right now.

This is, and has been for years, the problem. Also the primary reason I don't look into properties where people can "help" me pay the mortgage. People renting their personal property shouldn't be at risk like they are today. The owner should have peace of mind that their best interests are kept when helping those who can't afford their own property to have a roof over their heads imo.

Just my 2 cents fwiw.

What??? Your sister is getting ripped off big time, If they are charging 25%.

I thought 10% was the standard?!

again, EVEN if the professional companies does it for you, you still get raped if the client bailed.

do a reference check
a) call previous rental landlords (yes they might be fake but that's why you ASK them specific questions that a regular friend wouldn't be able to answer) eg// how long have they lived there, OH btw, what LOCATION or suite number was it. were you the landlord. how often did they pay rent (cash or rent check). these questions will 100% bust the other end if it was a regular friend on the phone.

take these questions and coordinate back with what you have to see if it was legit.

2) always do a 30, 60 and 90 day inspection (in case they grow weed).

I've always had a property management do the work for me. It's only $75-$100~ a month and they handle all the rent money and issues with the tenant. In my opinion, it's better to have somebody do the work for you when it comes to dealing with a business transaction. I know there's a stigma with tenants and how they're hard to deal with, but really.....they aren't bad at all.

Everytime a tenant leaves or what not (for a bigger place or they can't afford the rent $ anymore), my property manager sends me a full profile (employment, how their credit score is etc etc) and they give me the say in what I want. If I don't like that application, they will look for another tenant for me. If for some reason the tenant is being late with their payments or assholes (which I've been fortunate enough to not have to deal with except one time), my PM takes care of the problem.

Seriously, not worth the headache!