A Burnaby resident who rents says his landlords are too noisy.
But they’re also apparently vindictive.
R. (who doesn’t want his full name used) shared his rental nightmare after reading my series of recently columns in which tenants detail their horror stories.
For R., it’s not just that his landlords are noisy and that they make it impossible to sleep. It’s also the fact that once he brought up the issue – as gently as possible – the landlords went to defcon 1 in trying to give him the boot.
“Every time I read one of your nightmare rental stories on here, I cringe - but I’m also not surprised,” said R. “Being a tenant isn’t easy. Landlords think they can walk all over tenants - and they do. Most of the time they get away with it, too. Of course, a tenant’s only course of action is to file for dispute resolution with the Residential Tenancy Branch, but if you do that, then you have to worry about your landlord potentially evicting you out of retaliation - and there isn’t really anything in place that prevents them from being able to do so. For example, if a tenant files for Dispute Resolution with the RTB, there should be a rule in place that prevents landlords from being able to evict the tenant until the matter is heard and decided upon.
“I’m currently living in my own rental nightmare. Finding a place wasn’t easy - and it seems I went from something bad to something worse. It’s easy for people on the outside to say ‘move if you’re unhappy’ - but are those people going to pay for my moving expenses all over again? Movers? Damage deposit? It’s easier said than done, and not everyone is made of money. So until I can save up, I’m more or less stuck in my own personal hell.
“The majority of my issues come from the landlord themselves who live upstairs. (I rent a house.) They’re noisy. I’ve brought the noise-level to their attention on several occasions (even in writing), and rather than being reasonable about it the landlord’s response was to try to avoid taking my rent for the month of November and wanted me to move out in 2 days. They also told me they’re the homeowner and can do whatever they want. (Newsflash: Not when you’re a landlord renting suites out in your home, you can’t!) So while the Residential Tenancy Branch claims to be in support of the tenant, there’s really no actual safeguards in place for tenants at all. It’s pathetic.”
That seems to be a common theme with renters. It’s the lack of protection they have from vindictive landlords.
And yes, I understand landlords also often don’t have protection from terrible tenants.
The entire rental system needs an overhaul to protect people in these situations.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
