A Burnaby landlord with three young children pleaded with B.C.’s Residential Tenancy Branch to let him break the lease to immediately get rid of a tenant whose drinking was out of control and who was receiving regular deliveries from shady drug dealers.
That’s what was listed in a recent RTB dispute resolution file in a heartbreaking case in which the landlord, who had three kids under the age of 10, literally offered to pay the tenant to leave quickly.
He even offered to help her move out if she would just find a place to live quickly.
The RTB hearing document says the tenant was paying $1,800 a month for a basement suite and had a valid lease. The landlord was asking the RTB to let him end the lease immediately. The tenant did not show up for the RTB hearing to offer a defence to the landlord’s claims that the situation had become intolerable.
“Right from the beginning there’s been problems,” the landlord said at the hearing. “I noticed a syringe by the shared garbage area. The tenant has a daily, I assume, drug dealer who comes every morning and drops something off and stays for a few minutes only.”
There are also constant deliveries of alcohol.
“So, from the time anyone encounters her, whether myself or my young children, she is so intoxicated that she becomes unruly and confrontational – causing considerable stress in my household.”
At the time of the hearing last fall, the tenant had stopped paying rent.
The landlord, according to a witness at the hearing, issued a notice to vacate and even offered her $600 to move out and to physically help her move to her mother’s house, which is nearby.
“I always see one particular guy who comes every day and goes to the back and drops off a tiny package – something suspicious,” a witness testified.
The RTB adjudicator asked the landlord if it would be reasonable to wait for a longer period of notice.
“I feel we’ve suffered enough,” the landlord said. “This person is very hard to deal with.”
The landlord relayed conversations with the tenant in which she had expressed belligerence and suicidal thoughts. He has had to call the police for wellness checks.
“That’s why I’m pushing,” the landlord said. “This woman needs help with the drugs and alcohol and suicidal thoughts – it’s not a good thing for her and my family as well.”
The RTB ruled that the landlord could break the lease early and could force out the tenant two days after giving her an order of possession.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.