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dinosaur · 11-21-2012, 03:33 PM

There isn't really anything she can do in regards to recouping money under the residential tenancy laws. Also, taking someone to small claims for a couch is ridiculous, a waste of time, and a waste of tax payers' money. At most, she would get $100 for it....and that is a stretch.

Going forward, if she chooses to do this again, she can protect herself by having the roommate sign a tenancy agreement with her. Essentially, she would be the "landlord" and the roommate would be the "tenant". This works great for these types of situations (renting a room, etc). She takes a security deposit from the tenant/roommate (including a pet deposit in required) which will protect her belonging and any damage to the apartment that was not caused by her.

This 'tenancy agreement' would also allow her to evict a bad roommate for any clause of the tenancy act that he/she breaks. She will, however, need to talk to her landlord to make sure it is okay, because it could turn into a sub-lease issue should she ever leave and some agreements do not allow a property to be sub-lease or have different rules and regulations pertaining to them.

Personally, I do not like having my tenants rent a room to someone else as all potential renters need to be properly vetted. Credit, reference, etc all need to be checked and I can not guarantee that this has been done to any standard. Normally when one of my tenants has another person move in we will amend the tenancy agreement to include all people living there...this allows all occupants to be treated equally and avoids problems when one of them moves out.

As an aside, your gf is VERY lucky that she is not being evicted as well. Yes, I understand that she may have not cause damage, mess, etc to begin with, but she is essentially responsible for the rental property. She also needs to know that any damage created by this roommate is her problem...she will have to clean and repair anything problems and if not, will have to pay for them. I would sincerely thank her landlords for not going after her for all of this...

11-21-2012, 03:33 PM	#20
dinosaur Banned By Establishment Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: bedroom Posts: 3,112 Thanked 3,492 Times in 1,176 Posts Failed 441 Times in 145 Posts	There isn't really anything she can do in regards to recouping money under the residential tenancy laws. Also, taking someone to small claims for a couch is ridiculous, a waste of time, and a waste of tax payers' money. At most, she would get $100 for it....and that is a stretch. Going forward, if she chooses to do this again, she can protect herself by having the roommate sign a tenancy agreement with her. Essentially, she would be the "landlord" and the roommate would be the "tenant". This works great for these types of situations (renting a room, etc). She takes a security deposit from the tenant/roommate (including a pet deposit in required) which will protect her belonging and any damage to the apartment that was not caused by her. This 'tenancy agreement' would also allow her to evict a bad roommate for any clause of the tenancy act that he/she breaks. She will, however, need to talk to her landlord to make sure it is okay, because it could turn into a sub-lease issue should she ever leave and some agreements do not allow a property to be sub-lease or have different rules and regulations pertaining to them. Personally, I do not like having my tenants rent a room to someone else as all potential renters need to be properly vetted. Credit, reference, etc all need to be checked and I can not guarantee that this has been done to any standard. Normally when one of my tenants has another person move in we will amend the tenancy agreement to include all people living there...this allows all occupants to be treated equally and avoids problems when one of them moves out. As an aside, your gf is VERY lucky that she is not being evicted as well. Yes, I understand that she may have not cause damage, mess, etc to begin with, but she is essentially responsible for the rental property. She also needs to know that any damage created by this roommate is her problem...she will have to clean and repair anything problems and if not, will have to pay for them. I would sincerely thank her landlords for not going after her for all of this...