Documentation

Sunday, March 25, 2012

7:21pm (28 seconds)  Mrs. called and asked if I was busy and could they please come down and chat with me.  I preferred them not to come in to the apartment as it agitates the cat so I volunteered to meet them upstairs in their living room.

I arrived two minutes later.

Mr. and Mrs. l stated that because of their daughters pending wedding, they had a lot of out of town guests coming, including Mrs’s mother who was coming from India.  Mrs. mother would be staying for two months for the wedding along with some other relatives and Mr. and Mrs. wanted her to stay with them at their home.

Mr. and Mrs. then stated that because they didn’t have room in their portion of the house, they wanted to give the relatives the suite downstairs, where I pay rent to live.

Before I could say anything, Mr. told me that they had a plan and that they had another property a few minutes away that was vacant at the moment and that they would like me to move there for the two months that their relatives were living downstairs.

They said that once the relatives left, that I could move back.

I questioned them, stating that it would be very difficult and disruptive to me to pack up everything in my home, furniture and contents included and move down the street for two months, only to pack again and move back.  Mr assured me that he would provide his son and nephew to do the physical moving but that I was on my own for packing.  At no time was any monetary compensation offered.

They told me at this time that if I did not take them up on their favor to temporarily move to the move to the more expensive place for the same price, then they would have no choice but to evict me.

At this time I inquired as to what the financial implications were to me and he assured me that I would continue to pay rent on my suite but would not be paying rent on the temporary suite.  He told me that he was doing me a favor because the rent on the temporary suite is market valued at $1000 but that he would not charge me the difference. Again, no monetary compensation was offered.  It was to be status quo with me paying rent, but packing and moving to a different temporary location.

I mentioned that if they were expecting me to move, then I would have to consider just moving entirely as with a full time job and obligations there was little to no way that I could undertake packing a two bedroom apartment and moving and then packing it back up and moving it back.  They said that they wanted me to stay living in their suite and that they were only doing this favor for me because of the long time tenancy, since I have lived there for 11+ years.

When I asked what their proposed timeline was for this, Mr., suggested that I was welcome to move out as soon as April 15.

Mr then suggested that we go and view the suite.

I agreed to go and see the suite.  It was not suitable for me in any way.

When we got home, Mr. and Mrs. asked me to tell them right away if I was going to temporarily move into their other home or move entirely because if I didn’t take the temporary suite they were going to rent it out and they had to know right away.

I told them that I did not have the ability to answer at that moment as I had only been aware of this situation they were putting toward me for an hour.

The next morning I phoned Mrs. at 8:11AM on March 26, 2012 and spoke to her for 44 seconds.

I asked her to please put a copy of my rental agreement (which I have never received) in the mailbox for me for when I got home and also a written statement of what they were asking me to do, complete with dates and financial information (no extra charge for the ‘more expensive’ suite).

Mrs. told me that they were not going to put it in writing because ‘we’re friends, that’s why we had a verbal conversation.  We’re going to do it verbally, not in writing unless you’re mad’.  I said ‘unless I’m what?’ and she responded saying that we’re friends and this was going to be taken care of verbally.

I asked her to please put the rental agreement in the mailbox for me and she said she would and hung up.  As of March 27, 2012 at 3:42pm, I have not received a copy of the rental agreement.

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March 27, 2012 9pm.

I went upstairs to talk to Mr. and Mrs. as previously arranged.  Mrs was not present but Mr. said that we could talk anyway.

I told him that I was very offended by the suggestion that I move out for two months after I had made my home here and he acknowledged that he knew I was upset and offended.

I said that I didn’t think it was reasonable for them to expect me to pack up my apartment for two months and continue paying rent as a favor to them.

I told him about Section 49 and that they were required to give me two months’ notice before I had to move and that they had to pay the last month of rent.  Then I said that since two months from April 1 is passed the wedding date, that I would move out for May 1 but I wanted some incentive as legally I am entitled to stay until May 31.

Nav (daughter) entered the discussion and said that she didn’t think it was necessary to be discussing ‘legal’ things and that we should just figure this out as friends.  She said that they wanted me to do this as a favor to them and that there shouldn’t need to be an incentive to move out for two months when they were asking so nicely.

I told Mr. what my offer was to move out prior to the legal entitlement.

Two months rent, my existing damage deposit and the damage deposit for the new apartment and moving costs, all totaling $3200.

Mr. suggested that they just give me one month of rent.  I told him that I was already legally entitled to that month of rent but should be technically living there for May also, and that if he wanted me to move sooner, he would have to give me the May rent to which I am legally entitled AND an agreed upon incentive for the quicker move out.

Nav seemed to understand my position but said that she didn’t think it was fair.

She also said that her interpretation of the RTA was that if they gave two months notice, they didn’t have to pay last months rent.

Nav also said that if they hadn’t ‘accidentally’ told me that they wanted me to move for relatives, then they could have evicted me with only one months notice, no monetary incentive and just cancelled my residency in the suite.

I referred her to Section 49 of the RTA and she said that she would look it up herself because she read it earlier in the day and inferred that as landlords they were under no legal obligation to pay anything.

The conversation ended with Nav agreeing to explain the situation to her parents in their native tongue and that they would get back to me with their offer.

I said that unless the offer was mutually acceptable that I wouldn’t leave until May 31 and that they would still be required to pay the last month’s rent and the damage deposit.