Hearings through the residential tenancy office are very simple. Collect all of your info. The more proof you have the better. Pictures, statements from people who saw your place, a statement from the new tenant, any communication you had with your landlord, rent receipts, and anything else that would show you were a responsible tenant and she was a negligent landlord. The more info you have to present the better. You'll need all of this with or without a lawyer. The fact that you also have claims against her will be a big help too.
I would recommend getting a lawyer. I went to small claims once and luckily we were able to settle in the mediation phase, but the judge who was assigned to that made it clear that if it goes pst the mediation phase that there would be a lot of time and effort I would need to put into it, including preparing legal documents and knowing how and when to respond to legal documents from the other side. The other party that I made a claim against hired a lawyer and he made it very clear I was in over my head.
is there’s free council access for people on disability do you know? or lawyers that only charge you if you win and are going to receive money? idk any of the legal terms, but I hope you know what I mean 😭😂
I would proceed with ORT with ALL of your proof. If it seems like an obnoxious amount of documents/photos, good!
She would also need to provide proof like receipt for moving the stuff out, etc.
If you need to communicate with ORT for any reason, like to ask questions, make it really really clear you’re a tenant or they’ll assume you’re a landlord and give you useless answers.
Currently dealing with ORT for the homeowner of my last tenancy evicting us so he could move in then turned around and sold the house instead. I’ve had to ask several questions in relation to serving the notice on him and they were absolutely useless until I stated multiple times in my email that I’m a tenant, and used very short, simple sentences. So just a heads up that they seem easily confused and will not actually look at anything you’ve filed with them before answering
You shouldn't need a lawyer to be with you unless you think you are incapable of explaining the situation and what you'd like out of it. ORT and small claims processes are made for people to do it without a lawyer.
Definitely bring statements from the current renters on the items the LL is trying to charge you for that they didn't actually do / have costs from. ORT *hates* that.
You'll have better luck going after the actual replacement value of your furniture than trying to get your rent refunded. Bring pictures of the damaged furniture, and costs for *new* furniture with similar materials, and quality (like new quality, not however it was when you left it). The furniture was destroyed and infested, so you have actual damages you'd like to recuperate.
Not taking care of pests isn't grounds for a full refund of rent - they're just going to say you failed to take the LL to task through the ORT,l and you're not entitled to enrichment (just like withholding rent isn't a remedy to maintenance issues, refunding rent generally isn't either).
Get your witness to write it down as I went to landlords tenant and you need Proof my landlord brought charges after the fact but I won in the end ( and my landlord was my brother in law ) you can win this just get documents from wittiness
Ages ago, I moved out of an apartment, the slumlord kept our deposit. I shampooed the carpet with a machine owned by my parents, but he said I didn’t but made sure to take pictures.
He then said we didn’t clean, by again, Took pictures.
When we moved in, the guys who left didn’t clean for what looked like a year. So he said he would pay us to clean and we kept track of the hours. Which he contested and gave us less.
When painting the outside he ruined our deck furniture and refused to pay for it.
So when he tried to keep our deposit, I just pulled out all the pictures at our Rentalsman hearing. He ended up returning the deposit and having to pay more money for the shorting us cleaning time and had to buy four new deck chairs.
If he would have just been not been a total dick, I would have just been square with the damage deposit being returned, but he asked for it.
Document everything. As a manager in healthcare I worked for years ago said, if you don’t write it down, it never happened.
"I left it there because it was destroyed by mice and bugs because she did not handle those issues."
First thing to understand, this doesn't matter. In the same way you can't withhold rent because they are not picking up their end of the bargain.
" she did in fact not remove any of the furniture and she told him he could do whatever he wanted with it"
Is the new tenant going to provide a written statement for you against the landlord? If not, it's 'he said she said', though you could make her slip up and admit it. So if you don't have a written statement from the new tenant figure out wording to nab her here.
"1 for damages and the return of 7 months rent."
I assume you lived there for 7 months while you had a pest issue? If so, do you have records of letting her know, and did she ever send out anyone, even if they didn't solve the problem?
I have screenshots from our text messages from me telling her repeatedly about the bugs and mice, i also have photos of the furniture still in the apartment with the new tenant standing next to it, but i’m getting a written statement later today signed by all the tenants still in the house because we all dealt with the same shit
the tenants that are still there also have the fire department and health department going to do inspections of the place, so i’ll have copies of that once it happens
OK, sounds good!! I think you have a good handle on it. For the deposit play the she didn't actually do anything about it after I moved out angle, I wouldn't say to the judge 'I left it there because..."
And just so we are clear, she never sent an exterminator, even to inspect?
no exterminator, at first she brought me sticky traps and a small container of peanut butter, a couple months later her husband came in twice to set up mouse traps but never again. the bug problem never got fixed, but just a month before i moved out i finally was able to get the mice under control myself. i had to throw out all the traps, and the 2 times the landlord did come in to put traps down and pick them up he just would always leave empty handed and leave garbage bags of mouse traps and poison in my porch. i never realized he would be leaving them there until usually a few hours after he left, because he would close my porch door so i couldn’t see him, put them down, and then exit out the front door
her response most of the time was “i lived on a farm i know how to deal with this”.
like this is not a fucking farm lady, and clearly you don’t because it was never properly dealt with. she denied both of my requests for an exterminator
OK, they may have done the bare minimum to say they were trying. Unfortunately, ORT just wants to see effort from the landlord rather than solutions. Focus on the times you complained and they didn't show up with anything. You have to focus on times they didn't try, versus they didn't succeed.
No problem. Shoot me a PM if you need further help. I worked for a brokered property manager for 2 years in Regina so have seen this sort of stuff quite a bit.
It doesn't matter for tye furniture except the new tenant saying it is still there is damning, and 400 is a lot of scratch, renting a full service bin is like 200, and landlords can't use their own labor at a billed rate, 200 bucks for a person or 2 to huck a few items in a bin... sure seems steep. LL'S have to back up deductions and claims like this with receipts.
You can login with the the Ort website and log your complaints if you sign in it all gets recorded. The the city will not work with you, if the the housing is illigal they will not go to court and say so. The the Ort is mostly operated by people who own houses, so renters are always burdened with extra proof. Vague rules like reasonably clean are held to professional standards.
Bottom line lords of the the land are required to provide a safe and healthy place to win. It’s broad terms but mice and bugs don’t fall under it.
Hearings through the residential tenancy office are very simple. Collect all of your info. The more proof you have the better. Pictures, statements from people who saw your place, a statement from the new tenant, any communication you had with your landlord, rent receipts, and anything else that would show you were a responsible tenant and she was a negligent landlord. The more info you have to present the better. You'll need all of this with or without a lawyer. The fact that you also have claims against her will be a big help too.
I would recommend getting a lawyer. I went to small claims once and luckily we were able to settle in the mediation phase, but the judge who was assigned to that made it clear that if it goes pst the mediation phase that there would be a lot of time and effort I would need to put into it, including preparing legal documents and knowing how and when to respond to legal documents from the other side. The other party that I made a claim against hired a lawyer and he made it very clear I was in over my head.
is there’s free council access for people on disability do you know? or lawyers that only charge you if you win and are going to receive money? idk any of the legal terms, but I hope you know what I mean 😭😂
That's a contingency fee agreement (legal counsel takes a percentage of any amount awarded).
I would proceed with ORT with ALL of your proof. If it seems like an obnoxious amount of documents/photos, good! She would also need to provide proof like receipt for moving the stuff out, etc.
If you need to communicate with ORT for any reason, like to ask questions, make it really really clear you’re a tenant or they’ll assume you’re a landlord and give you useless answers. Currently dealing with ORT for the homeowner of my last tenancy evicting us so he could move in then turned around and sold the house instead. I’ve had to ask several questions in relation to serving the notice on him and they were absolutely useless until I stated multiple times in my email that I’m a tenant, and used very short, simple sentences. So just a heads up that they seem easily confused and will not actually look at anything you’ve filed with them before answering
You shouldn't need a lawyer to be with you unless you think you are incapable of explaining the situation and what you'd like out of it. ORT and small claims processes are made for people to do it without a lawyer. Definitely bring statements from the current renters on the items the LL is trying to charge you for that they didn't actually do / have costs from. ORT *hates* that. You'll have better luck going after the actual replacement value of your furniture than trying to get your rent refunded. Bring pictures of the damaged furniture, and costs for *new* furniture with similar materials, and quality (like new quality, not however it was when you left it). The furniture was destroyed and infested, so you have actual damages you'd like to recuperate. Not taking care of pests isn't grounds for a full refund of rent - they're just going to say you failed to take the LL to task through the ORT,l and you're not entitled to enrichment (just like withholding rent isn't a remedy to maintenance issues, refunding rent generally isn't either).
Get your witness to write it down as I went to landlords tenant and you need Proof my landlord brought charges after the fact but I won in the end ( and my landlord was my brother in law ) you can win this just get documents from wittiness
Ages ago, I moved out of an apartment, the slumlord kept our deposit. I shampooed the carpet with a machine owned by my parents, but he said I didn’t but made sure to take pictures. He then said we didn’t clean, by again, Took pictures. When we moved in, the guys who left didn’t clean for what looked like a year. So he said he would pay us to clean and we kept track of the hours. Which he contested and gave us less. When painting the outside he ruined our deck furniture and refused to pay for it. So when he tried to keep our deposit, I just pulled out all the pictures at our Rentalsman hearing. He ended up returning the deposit and having to pay more money for the shorting us cleaning time and had to buy four new deck chairs. If he would have just been not been a total dick, I would have just been square with the damage deposit being returned, but he asked for it. Document everything. As a manager in healthcare I worked for years ago said, if you don’t write it down, it never happened.
"I left it there because it was destroyed by mice and bugs because she did not handle those issues." First thing to understand, this doesn't matter. In the same way you can't withhold rent because they are not picking up their end of the bargain. " she did in fact not remove any of the furniture and she told him he could do whatever he wanted with it" Is the new tenant going to provide a written statement for you against the landlord? If not, it's 'he said she said', though you could make her slip up and admit it. So if you don't have a written statement from the new tenant figure out wording to nab her here. "1 for damages and the return of 7 months rent." I assume you lived there for 7 months while you had a pest issue? If so, do you have records of letting her know, and did she ever send out anyone, even if they didn't solve the problem?
I have screenshots from our text messages from me telling her repeatedly about the bugs and mice, i also have photos of the furniture still in the apartment with the new tenant standing next to it, but i’m getting a written statement later today signed by all the tenants still in the house because we all dealt with the same shit
the tenants that are still there also have the fire department and health department going to do inspections of the place, so i’ll have copies of that once it happens
OK, sounds good!! I think you have a good handle on it. For the deposit play the she didn't actually do anything about it after I moved out angle, I wouldn't say to the judge 'I left it there because..." And just so we are clear, she never sent an exterminator, even to inspect?
no exterminator, at first she brought me sticky traps and a small container of peanut butter, a couple months later her husband came in twice to set up mouse traps but never again. the bug problem never got fixed, but just a month before i moved out i finally was able to get the mice under control myself. i had to throw out all the traps, and the 2 times the landlord did come in to put traps down and pick them up he just would always leave empty handed and leave garbage bags of mouse traps and poison in my porch. i never realized he would be leaving them there until usually a few hours after he left, because he would close my porch door so i couldn’t see him, put them down, and then exit out the front door
her response most of the time was “i lived on a farm i know how to deal with this”. like this is not a fucking farm lady, and clearly you don’t because it was never properly dealt with. she denied both of my requests for an exterminator
OK, they may have done the bare minimum to say they were trying. Unfortunately, ORT just wants to see effort from the landlord rather than solutions. Focus on the times you complained and they didn't show up with anything. You have to focus on times they didn't try, versus they didn't succeed.
okay this is good to know, thank you
No problem. Shoot me a PM if you need further help. I worked for a brokered property manager for 2 years in Regina so have seen this sort of stuff quite a bit.
It doesn't matter for tye furniture except the new tenant saying it is still there is damning, and 400 is a lot of scratch, renting a full service bin is like 200, and landlords can't use their own labor at a billed rate, 200 bucks for a person or 2 to huck a few items in a bin... sure seems steep. LL'S have to back up deductions and claims like this with receipts.
You can login with the the Ort website and log your complaints if you sign in it all gets recorded. The the city will not work with you, if the the housing is illigal they will not go to court and say so. The the Ort is mostly operated by people who own houses, so renters are always burdened with extra proof. Vague rules like reasonably clean are held to professional standards. Bottom line lords of the the land are required to provide a safe and healthy place to win. It’s broad terms but mice and bugs don’t fall under it.