A Vancouver landlord was awarded thousands of dollars after their tenant left the rental unit in poor condition and caused a fire in the kitchen.
While local renters fork out a great deal of money each month for rent - try an average of a whopping $2,341 for a one-bedroom, unfurnished unit if you're looking to land a rental these days - they have the responsibility to uphold the cleanliness of their units.
According to Section 32 of the Residential Tenancy Act (RTA), landlords are responsible for providing and maintaining their residential properties in a state that complies with the health, safety, and housing standards required by law.
But renters must also keep their dwellings reasonably clean and repair damages caused by people and pets.
This tenancy dispute involved three hearings, with the first in July 2022 and the final in August 2023.
The Residential Tenancy Board (RTB) acknowledged that the tenancy was "fraught with challenges" from the beginning. Only two days after they moved in, the tenant left a pot on a burning stove while they went to run errands, resulting in smoke and other damages.
The tenants were seeking over $5,200 for the "loss of quiet enjoyment" over their two-and-a-half-month tenancy. They provided some documentation of medical appointments one of the tenants, known by the initials AT in the hearing, attended due to stress caused by alleged issues with the landlord, including panic attacks and anxiety. A couple of prescriptions were provided.
The renters alleged the landlord "pressured them to sign the move-in inspection report a week after the tenancy started" and then visited them four times in one week. They claimed she also showed up at their door "in hysteria," demanding copies of keys and "threatening eviction."
The tenants provided a recording of the "landlord taking issue with the locks being changed," where she said it was "grounds for eviction" that they hadn't provided her with the new keys.
On July 28, 2021, the tenants sent their landlord a letter asking for the harassment to stop; they provided a copy to the RTB. They also asked for monetary compensation.
Residential Tenancy Branch awards landlord thousands
The landlord believed the tenant who sought medical care for stress already had anxiety and that it was "not her fault the tenant had a negative reaction." Further, since the tenants started the fire, they were responsible for some of the damages it caused and they didn't explain that to the doctor. Further, the landlord denied "harassing" the tenants and said she only visited their unit four or five times over the entire tenancy, rather than in one week, as they claimed.
The landlord said the videos provided by the tenants "do not show any harassment, only her asking for certain things to be done," such as providing a key to the lock that they changed.
The RTB found it "unreasonable" for the tenants to ask for 100 per cent of their rent money back since they lived in the unit during the period in question.
Many of the issues that surfaced through the tenancy were found to be caused by the renters themselves, including when they left a pot on a lit stove while they left to run errands. The board felt that many of the issues throughout the rest of the tenancy were "fuelled and exacerbated" by the incident, including the landlord's subsequent concern for the welfare of the unit. However, the board did not find substantial evidence that she had "harrassed" the tenants.
The landlord filed for thousands of dollars for repairs caused by the fire and other damages the unit incurred during the tenancy. The RTB did not dispute that these damages occurred but did not award full damages. The largest claim was $1,874.15 to re-paint a large portion of the unit after repairs were done. Based on the Residential Policy Guideline #40 -- the useful life of building elements -- $937.13 was awarded for the painting. The useful life expectancy of interior walls is four years, which reduced the claim by 50 per cent.
The landlord also filed another significant claim: $1,695.75 for a door replacement. The door incurred a large crack after firefighters used force to enter the unit during the fire and the RTB awarded the claim in full.
While the landlord's claim of upwards of $1,000 for a fridge replacement was dismissed, several smaller claims were awarded, including one for a clogged toilet for $120. The RTB said that the landlord's claim that they left feces was "unclear" but it was clogged and poorly maintained. There was also $300 awarded for cleaning due to "significant dirt and debris" left in the unit after the tenants vacated the property.
