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In June of this year I signed a 1 year lease agreement with the property management company of my building . A new management company has taken over the building. I have not signed a new lease with th...
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Yes. It works this way deant. You're an up and coming junior hockey player. The Canucks draft you because they need a center man of your size and skill. They sign you to a one year deal. You play 3rd...MORE...
Subject
ID #- 551
Q:
Hi, thank you for all of the great answers. My question is the opposite of most of your questions. My landlord is wanting to renovate my basement suite to add a dishwasher and new cuboards. However, I...
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Unusual to say the least; the landlord has a right to enter the rental premises with an Order allowing access, in an emergency, and where the tenant has abandoned the rental premises. The Act now say...MORE...
Subject
ID #- 552
Q:
My signed lease indicates the following:
The tenancy created by this agreement starts on June 1, 2005 and is for a fixed term ending on the 31st of May 2006.
At the end of this time the tenancy wi...
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If you entered into a fixed term tenancy (lease) then you have a contract, and you are obliged to fulfill the terms of that contract for the full period of the contract. The same holds true for the la...MORE...
can the tenant give notice for leaving at the middle of the month? ...
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The Act requires the tenant to give at least one full calendar month's written notice that he is ending the tenancy when he has a month-to-month tenancy agreement. If you leave in the middle of the m...MORE...
Do you know if persons with disabilities, living in low income housing have any rights with respect to keeping pets?
An aquaintance cares for a person with MS, who on the advice of their family doc...
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Landlords can impose restrictions when it comes to pets. The restriction(s) must be reasonable and applied equitably - i.e. the landlord can't prohibit the keeping of a small goldfish because it isn'...MORE...
Due to a change in my job position I need to relocate and break my lease 6 months early and it sounds like the landlord can legally hit me up for each remaining month. What are my chances of the land...
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While it is true that in a lease situation you have contractual obligations for the full period of the tenancy, should you break your end of the agreement the landlord has a duty to mitigate his loss...MORE...
Ihave sold my condominium that has been rented to the same tenant since 2001. The initial three year lease has expired, so it is now a month-to-month tenancy. The purchaser intends to occupy the condo...
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When a tenant receives a section 49 notice for landlord's use of the property, the landlord is obliged to pay the tenant the equivalent of one month's rent, unless the tenant decides to move right...MORE...
I am renting a basment suite from my landlord who lives upstairs, when I moved in, I was never informed or sad to say asked about guests. It seems my landlord has a problem with a guests staying overn...
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In renting property the homeowner gives over exclusive use of the rental premises to the tenant. In the process the landlord sacrifices control of who the tenant may invite on the property as a guest...MORE...
I have a one year lease and i am thinking about breaking it. I have a roommate and we split the rent. If the landlord doesn't actually look for another tenant am i still responsible for the rest of ...
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Let me see if I understand: you're asking if it is your landlord's responsibility to find his tenant a roommate if you skip out? No. You and your roommate almost certainly have a joint tenancy, which...MORE...
My husband and I are living in a townhouse with a roommate. Both my husbands name and our roommates name were signed on the lease 3 years ago. Unfortunately our roommate has since become a problem. ...
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You don't have a landlord-tenant problem - you have a roommate problem. The landlord can't be very helpful in this situation, and neither can the Residential Tenancy Act of BC.
You have a varia...MORE...
I have missplaced my lease agreement and I asked my lanlord for a copy and he refused. Is he allowed to to refuse me a copy of the agreement? If yes is there anything I can do?
Thanks...
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Absent evidence to the contrary, the default position is that you have an agreement consistent with section 13, which says when a tenancy agreement can't be found or produced, or wasn't recorded in t...MORE...
My tenant died leaving no living relatives in Canada. My tenant had friends both at the complex and elsewhere. One of the friends who lived elsewhere, announced they were my tenant's excutor and nam...
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In the situation you describe your responsibility as a landlord is first off to protect the tenants' possessions - the rent will come in due course. If no one with authority steps up you are responsi...MORE...
My family has recently moved in to an apartment building. I have two children ages 5 and 2. I leave for work with my children at 8:15am and do not arrive home until 2:30pm when my daughter then naps...
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Relax. Your landlord cannot end your tenancy without going through the hoops. If the landlord intends to try evicting you for one of the causes listed under section 47 of the Act you'll get official ...MORE...
This is a famous "roommates not getting along Q"!
I am living in a house with 4 other tenants. We each pay on a 1 year lease by personal monthly post- dated cheques. We signed the lease together as a...
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Here's another way to explain this: the Brady bunch all pitch in with the baby sitting money, the paper route money, and royalty money from the TV show. That's how they come up with the rent. One of t...MORE...
I am a landlady who recently purchased this set of units, the agreement that is signed by my tennant only has her name on it and apparently her boyfriend has moved in full time. This unit is underpri...
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Sorry, No. In a lease the rent is negotiated up front and is fixed for the length of the agreement. In a month to month tenancy the landlord can only increase the rent once a year, even if he is a ne...MORE...
We recently purchased a house that has 8 tenants living in it. The house is 2,400 square feet with 2 bathrooms. Because it is so difficult to get renovations done in any short time frame, we opted to...
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I am a large fan of and actively promote the proposition that people can secure their financial freedom by purchasing and renting out residential real estate properties. Other people pay your mortgag...MORE...
I rented my basement suite on a verbal agreement for one year. My tenants have decided to move after 4 months because maritial breakup. Niether of the parties wants to stay. I have to advertise and re...
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The security deposit belongs to the tenants. You can try holding it back if you like, but it is a contravention of the rules of the Residential Tenancy Act of BC. If the tenant knows the rules it wil...MORE...
I moved into my bachelor suite in January, 2003. It's a strata council situation. As soon as I got moved in, the old owner told me just going to sell the suite. I would have never moved in if I had ...
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The landlord can only increase the rent once a year, even if he is a new landlord. The landlord must give at least 3 months written notice of a rent increase, and must use RTO Form – 7. The annual al...MORE...
Hi,
I have a problem with my tenant. Initially they signed up for a 1 year lease agreement for $875.00/mo without laundry. After a week we decided to decrease the rent to $850.00/mo and then add ...
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Let me see; you agreed on $875 without laundry. Then you dropped it to $850, plus $25 for laundry. The tenants are obviously paying the rent, doing their laundry, and they think it is all part and par...MORE...
Subject
ID #- 569
Q:
Does a landlord have to give a receipt for rent if asked for one by
the tenant?...
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Section 26 (2) of the Act says: "A landlord must provide a tenant with a receipt for rent paid in cash." If you are paying your rent in some other fashion then you should have a way of recording it, ...MORE...
Dear Sir,
My fiance and I have been living in a basement suite since May. The suite has always been a good temperature until recently with the cold weather (it's now december). The suite often is 16 ...
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In a house divided, which I assume yours is, control of the heat is a common complaint. The landlord has control of the thermostat and he tries to save money by turning it up and down to suit himself...MORE...
I have a rental property that I leased out for a one year term, starting July 1 2005,the lease was signed by both my tenants, Nov.28 2005. I was informed by one of the leasees that she was moving out ...
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The tenants are jointly and severally responsible for the lease, which means you can pursue either or both of the parties to your agreement if the terms and the conditions of the agreement aren't met....MORE...
Hi,
I signed a contract for a 1 year lease on a brand-new downtown vancouver apartment. A the end of this lease period, my landlord and I decided to continue on a month to month basis, but we signed ...
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Brace yourself J, and get out your cheque book out 'cause you're going to want to send me a donation for improving your financial health.
Security deposits are simply monetary instruments held in...MORE...
18 months ago I moved into a basement suite and gave the landlord the first months rent and the damage deposit. Now that I haved moved out I went to collect the damage deposit and he will not give it ...
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It is always an amazement in this business to see people trying to take advantage of others, and for what really are small potatoes. If your landlord is asking you to show a receipt for a security de...MORE...
Subject
ID #- 578
Q:
I paid my landlord two rent cheques in June and July, and since then I have moved out and into a new place. My landlord has just cashed the cheques at the end of November and I no longer have the mone...
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I think you are referring to what banks call 'stale dating'. I understand that banks generally won't honor a cheque that is 6 months or older. It seems in your case that the landlord saved up your ch...MORE...
I am a manager of a small apt unit. I rented to a couple on dec 1st/05. I smelled pot in front of there door, I gave warning, but they are still doing it, can I evict them rite away? We are a crime fr...
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Welcome to the 21st century Dave - and get this - people are smoking dope inside their own apartments! You may have a zero tolerance for drugs but others aren't observing it. You might not like it bu...MORE...
My landlord of over five years, just recently gave me a letter, not an official government form for a rent increase of $200 on a monthly rent of $1200. I have over five years rent receipts, but in his...
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Short form? The landlord can't jack up the rent up whenever he feels like it, nor in an amount he pulls out of the air.
For the rent to be increased in month-to-month tenancies, the strict provisi...MORE...
hello, i have lived here for about a 1 in a half years and there was a leak in the upstairs bathroomand it leaked through to the other side witch is my bathroom ceiling i called my landlord and he sai...
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The reasonable and logical thing to do is write your landlord a detailed letter stating what you want done and when you want it done by. You might indicate that if the landlord hasn't sprung into act...MORE...
I have a neighbour who is extremely hostile when it comes to noise complaints. Since he's new to the complex, the first month or two that he created noise myself or my husband (or a neighbour who also...
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There is no minimum or maximum number of times that a written complaint can be served before eviction proceedings are initiated. In order to boot someone out of his or her home, the landlord must go ...MORE...
tenants signed a one year lease ending oct 31/05. after one month stating health issues ( headaches) and now moving out. what recourse do i have against any loss of income, i am currently advertising...
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I suspect you meant to say signed a one year lease 'on' October 31, 2005, which would indicate that the tenants committed to renting your premises for a one year period at x amount of rent. In a situa...MORE...
My problem is quite complex:
On December 2003 my wife & I signed an agreement to rent a suite for 3 years. After 21 months of renting the suite, we purchased a home and gave the landlord our notice t...
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I don't see where there is a question here for me to answer. You obviously have a handle on how the process works; you know of the double the deposit bit back when conditions aren't met; and you are o...MORE...
I have rented my two bedroom basement out to a women and her son.
The women stays home all the time does not work. She is on income asst.
She uses up all the hot water and smokes drugs in and on my ...
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Classic - you get into the landholding business, you don't do 'due diligence', you make a huge mistake, and now you ask for expert advice. My advice? Ask the expert before you get into business, befo...MORE...
We have been renting a Richmond house since 1994, origonally under a one year lease that is now month to month. The landlord has advised that he is listing the house for sale. In 1996 at the conclusi...
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No rent increase for 9 years? What happens if a new landlord takes over? The new landlord would take over the rental agreement you have in place, which is deemed to be month-to-month. The landlord ca...MORE...
I live in a floor concrete mixed use building, where the whole building is owned and managed by one company. I've noticed the common areas such as internal hallways between suites have been much col...
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Section 32 of the Act sets out that the landlord must provide and maintain residential property that complies with the health, safety and housing standards required by law, and having regard to the a...MORE...
I made a mistake accepting a tenant for Sept 1st of this year on a 2 year lease. 1st she moved in early (2 weeks) with no monetary compensation to us, and then she bounced both Oct and Nov rent paymen...
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You are in the system, and it grinds slowly. The notice to end the tenancy has a time limit for the tenant to pay up and make the notice void, or to challenge it and duke it out in arbitration. If the...MORE...
Hello,
I have signed a one year lease agreement with my landlord on Sept 15 2005, I have asked him several times for a copy as well as receipts for rent paid, does he have to provide me with these do...
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Section 13(3) of the Act states: "(3) Within 21 days after a landlord and tenant enter into a tenancy agreement, the landlord must give the tenant a copy of the agreement." My advice is to show the l...MORE...
We are looking for suitable tenants to rent our home. If we get multiple offers of interest, can we select the most proper tenant according to their source of income, reference, or job? We are a lit...
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You are wise to get answers to your questions before you jump in the deep end. Renting out the most valuable asset you likely have isn't for the feint of heart, and it can quickly bring grief, stress...MORE...
I live in a rented apartment, on the lower floor of a 3-storey building. I have had a small upright piano for a few months, which I discreetly play from time to time. I am a musician and also graduate...
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A noise complaint is what you are really dealing with. You want to use the piano about once a week, for about one and a half hours in the afternoon, which seems reasonable to me. I suggest you take t...MORE...
My wife and I recently purchased a home with a rental suite, our new tenants have signed a 1 year lease agreement. There initial security deposit check bounced, we gave them the benifit of a doubt and...
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You didn't do the due diligence required of a conscientious landlord and now it is costing you money. Surprised? You shouldn't be. Neither should you be surprised to learn that this is going to cost ...MORE...
Hello, we have recently noticed that we have silverfish through our apartment. We contacted our landlord aprox 3 weeks ago about this and they told us the whole building had them....and they didn't do...
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Bugs in apartment complexes are common. With silverfish, if you have them so does your neighbour. Unlike tenants, bugs don't respect individual rental agreements nor boundaries. They travel from one ...MORE...
I am a landlord, and I have a suite that I have been renting out for over 2.5 years. At the start of the tenancy the rent was 1025.00 but after about 6mths-1yr the couple in the suite were having prob...
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From your information, the tenant's rental rate is established at $900 a month. Why you dropped it isn't determinative of the issue. End of story. While you may want to get back to what you were char...MORE...
We have been renting a unit in a 4-plex for a year now. Part of our original agreement was to pay 80% of the hydro and terasen monthly bill. Our units electricity and gas is shared by one of the other...
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It gets a little bit complicated; if you can establish that the landlord moved off the 80% of utilities and went to 75%, and put everything in his name, then what you have would probably be recognize...MORE...
I have been renting a house since July on a year's lease. I am of course responsible to pay for all utilities. However, my landlord won't allow the utilities I am expected to pay to be put in my name....
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You'll have to go back to the lease document and check how it deals with the utilities. If the document fails to identify whose name the utilities are to be in then it is the name is on the gas bill...MORE...
I am renting a room in a shared house. 4 people, including the landlord, reside upstairs, and another 4 including myself downstairs. The 4 of us downstairs share a kitchen and a bathroom, and there is...
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If you are sharing a kitchen and a bath with the landlord it could be interpreted that you don't have any protection, rights or responsibilities by virtue of section 4 of the Residential Tenancy Act o...MORE...
