an unusual event today

[kathryn d]

We have a new tenant at our single family rental.
She also asked to initially make several payments during the course of 3 weeks to pay the bond and monthly rent.We agreed in writing, and her signing the payment schedule.

She asked to have paint, so she could paint the loungeroom.
We said ok, purchased the paint, and told her she could pick it up at the store..it would be waiting for her (we live 120 kms away)
A few days later she called again, and stated how dirty the house was when she moved in (news to us)and she also wanted enough paint to repaint the stairs to the second floor, and also to paint the kitchen.
Here is when she asked to be compensated for such...we said no.We would be coming to the town in a few days and would bring the supplies to her.

We arrived at the rental, and pulling in ahead of us, in the driveway was a truck with bags on it. She proceeded to get out, and started unloading the bags. Rob asked who she was and what she was doing. She was returning her previous tenant's belongings..aka garbage. Rob was a bit miffed at first, but I knew exactly how this woman felt. I looked at her and told her I wanted to work with her.
She came and talked to me. Told me about her tenant..who was now ours.
How she paid one month rent.Left the place in a pigsty, and water running deliberately when she left to flood the rental.
We talked for quite awhile and then the tenant came out and ordered her previous landlord off the property, and stated the cops were coming.
She started to leave, and I advised her it is in best interest to stay to speak with the cops. Within 5 minutes,cops were speaking with both sets of landlords. We explained she was just returning her tenant's belongings, and we had no issue with that.
Woul you allow another landlord to drop off their tenant's garbage?
Normally we wouldn't..but the last week has been cleaning up after tenant garbage..one tenant cost us $700 in refuse removal, and that is not even including our labour.
We went directly to file a 5 day eviction on our tenant. She had breached some rules, and we are acting quickly.
The day after her eviction time, we have organised for the disconnection of water. We don't want a repeat of our property being flooded.
I also contacted her welfare caseworker to report her for providing fradulent information to obtain money. Of course there is nothing they will do...but it makes me feel better.

Hopefully this will be one of our short stay tenants.

 

[matto_]

she obviously hasn't given her previous landlord as a referee.

Interesting situation.

There would certainly be an element of empathy for the other landlord.

Did the tenant have a "side to the story"?

 

[Ausprop]

5 days... a lot can happen in that time

 

[kathryn d]

I couldn't be bothered waiting for the tenant's side of the story.
When she couldn't pay the promised next installment of the agreement, her chance to explain was forfeited.

The 5 days was the quickest we can issue.She hadn't met a condition of her lease. When signing the lease, she agrees to, or willing vacate in 5 days.
If we waited for the rental arrears, we would need to wait until she was 30 days in arrears, then the 15 day Notice to Quit.
We don't expect her to willing vacate.
We have now issued her 24 hrs notice of entry for inspection. We always give 48 hrs, so there is no chance we didn't provide enough time.
It will be made quite clear on that day, she will leave when her notice period expires.

I'm so sick of tenants thinking they don't need to follow the rules, and nothing ever happening to them.

 

[boomtown]

Bloody hell. I really hope this mob pays you good money on average.

 

[kathryn d]

Today I emailed all the landlords in this particular town, who had rental ads, on our version of Gumtree.
Suggested we all work together to make a list of problem tenants. So far I have had 2 positive reponses. I think it will take awhile.


Boomtown,
Honestly, I can't complain about the return.
..but then again, our "wants" are small.

 

[ozsupra]

Would you allow another landlord to drop off their tenant's garbage?

Yes, I would. I know it would be a PITA however being in the same position, more than once, and the legal requirement here, I would have no alternative.

I believe you have done the right thing however I would pay extra attention to vetting my potential tenants in the future.

A.

 

[kathryn d]

Yes, I would. I know it would be a PITA however being in the same position, more than once, and the legal requirement here, I would have no alternative.

I believe you have done the right thing however I would pay extra attention to vetting my potential tenants in the future.

A.

Screening potential tenants is extremely hard in Nova Scotia
Tenants usually put down their friends, who pretend to be their LLs.
No one has a bad tenant list..except their own personal one.
Most landlords here are "mum and pop".

 

[Perp]

Woul you allow another landlord to drop off their tenant's garbage?

As a landlord, surely you don't have any say, do you? If they are the tenant's belongings, it's an issue between the tenant and their former landlord.

I do hope they voluntarily leave. If they don't, is the tenant's breach of rules safety/security-related (in which case I see Nova Scotia allows issuing a 5 day NTL)? If they breached other rules, ie not relating to safety or security, will the Nova Scotia authorities recognise the NTL as enforceable?

 

[mcwrangler]

Interesting story indeed...

Maybe I missed something, but how did the old landlord find out where the tenant relocated to?

 

[long88]

i think we should run the same section here, just to identify who is the one in the problem list..

Today I emailed all the landlords in this particular town, who had rental ads, on our version of Gumtree.
Suggested we all work together to make a list of problem tenants. So far I have had 2 positive reponses. I think it will take awhile.


Boomtown,
Honestly, I can't complain about the return.
..but then again, our "wants" are small.

 

[kathryn d]

As a landlord, surely you don't have any say, do you? If they are the tenant's belongings, it's an issue between the tenant and their former landlord.

I do hope they voluntarily leave. If they don't, is the tenant's breach of rules safety/security-related (in which case I see Nova Scotia allows issuing a 5 day NTL)? If they breached other rules, ie not relating to safety or security, will the Nova Scotia authorities recognise the NTL as enforceable?

Actually, the cops asked if we were ok with the "belongings" being left. We stated yes.
We went to the property today to do an inspection of the property.Had a stern talk with the tenant, who didnt want to talk about it, because her children were present. She doesn't give any indication she will be voluntarily vacating in 4 days. Her hearing isn't until mid August.
I asked her for her rent today also..but she said she wasn't going to give me any, when she is being evicted.
Next week will be interesting.

McWrangler,
I asked that same question.
It seems her "good" tenants had people..who knew people....small town and all that. I feel sorry for the 3 kids living with her. What chance do they have, always moving.They will be on their 4th home when they leave, since New Years.

 

[Perp]

She doesn't give any indication she will be voluntarily vacating in 4 days. Her hearing isn't until mid August.

Bugger. :/ Good luck.

Do you have any social housing programs such that the landlord could be paid directly, either as a deduction from her welfare or by the government, so that the kids get some stability of housing?

Purely out of curiosity, why do you think that she has so much trouble maintaining housing? Is it because she genuinely doesn't have enough money to stretch to pay for essentials, or are there mental health / substance abuse issues that mean she just can't get organised and manage her money?

 

[handyandy]

We went to the property today to do an inspection of the property.Had a stern talk with the tenant, who didnt want to talk about it, because her children were present. She doesn't give any indication she will be voluntarily vacating in 4 days. Her hearing isn't until mid August.
I asked her for her rent today also..but she said she wasn't going to give me any, when she is being evicted.
Next week will be interesting.

How she paid one month rent.Left the place in a pigsty, and water running deliberately when she left to flood the rental.

The day after her eviction time, we have organised for the disconnection of water. We don't want a repeat of our property being flooded.

Hi Kathryn

I am surprised that you can disconnect the services even though you don't have a hearing until August.

Cheers

 

[locko24]

If she's refusing to pay rent, it will be easier to evict her, one would assume.

 

[Perp]

I am surprised that you can disconnect the services even though you don't have a hearing until August.

I'm assuming Kathryn will cancel that, so as not to prejudice the hearing.

 

[kathryn d]

Water is not included in her lease.
After the evicted date, she is no longer our tenant.
I guess we are willing to push the envelope, and see what happens, concerning water connection to our property. The town is disconnecting it at road, and they understand that only the owners are to put the order in to reconnect.

If we evict on rental arrears we need to wait until 45 days have passed..which is mid August.

Perp,
This tenant is one of the growing number of "professional" tenants who know, or think they know, how to play landlords.
Even if we ask, or require, tenants on welfare have payments made directly to us, the tenant can cancel these automatic payments whenever they want.
Greed, and the "entitlement" attitude I think is a contributing factor for this type of behaviour. She is also rewarded, because nothing ever happens from the welfare department. They sympathize with us landlords on a personal level, but there is very little they can do professionally, because of the laws in place.

 

[kathryn d]

update

Yesterday morning the water was cut off.
An hour later, the tenant who was supposed to have vacated the previous day, called and is a bit angry. (she left a message on phone)
She has called the police, residential tenancy board, and town water.

Last evening we received a call from the police, with this former tenant's complaint. Had a nice conversation with him.
He says it is part of the criminal code to with hold water, as it is a vital service (paraphrasing, but that was the jist) We said water isn't included in her lease. We asked if the tenant showed him her lease, where she agreed to be evicted in 5 days if she didn't provide tenant insurance within 5 days of signing the lease. He said no. We emailed him a copy. We informed him we have a hearing, but the soonest one we could get was mid August,and that is too long, but nothing we can do.He agreed.
He admitted he used to have rentals, but sold them, because he was in court all the time, and couldn't take the hassle. He says he sympathized with us, and all the other LLs, and was definately not taking her side, but just doing his job.He said something needed to be done to protect LLs. I asked if he could make some suggestions, and he stated he already had, to no avail.I said maybe until LLs started a "revolution" of sorts, nothing will be.Maybe this will be the test?
It is probably a good chance he attended, or knows about garbage incident, when the previous LL dropped off her " belongings".
Constable said he would be in contact with us again today.

Anyways, this woman and 3 kids are living in a house without water.
I will need to contact her welfare worker, and advise her to check out the situation, as it would be unsanitary, and She should move.

 

[sashatheman]

Any updates? I was interested in your story.

 

[kathryn d]

Any updates? I was interested in your story.

The next day we received a phone call from the council man of the town, on behalf of the tenant. Of course he couldn't understand how we can refuse to connect the water. We informed him the tenant had already agreed to vacate, but she fails to mention that bit of info,to all the people she is asking for help.
Later in the day, we also received a phone call from the Residential Tenancy Director on the tenant's behalf.

Everyone is spouting how we must provide water to her. We said we are not preventing it. It is the town's bylaw that require that all water connections be in the property owner's name. We refuse to pay for something, we will never be compensated for, especially when it is not provided in her lease.

Today we had 2 hearings with the same tenancy officer. We took this tenant's lease with us, and showed her where the tenant agrees to vacate. Of course she still can't understand the relevence.

It boils down to:
On a Fixed Term Lease, termination can be by mutual consent. It is written in the lease if she breaches a condition (in this case, providing tenant insurance within 5 days of signing the lease) she agrees to vacate in 5 days, and still be responsible for the lease until a new tenant is secured.

I have called Community Services and reported the situation of this tenant and her 3 young children are residing in a premise without running water.

I have also contacted all the landlords who have advertised rentals in this small town, and warned them about her.This time they were appreciative, and one had already been contacted recently. They are also going to let us know in the future if they have any problem tenants.