Landlord changed locks and then took votes on if a tenant could return home

A Canadian landlord changed the locks and took votes from the occupants of a rental suite to gauge whether or not a tenant should be allowed to return.

The details come from a British Columbia small claims case at the Civil Resolution Tribunal.

In a case between Man-Ling Weng and Daichi Araki, Weng claimed $4,500 in damages. Araki disagreed with the claims.

Both parties were self-represented.

You might also like:
• "Get out": Tenant sues landlord after being evicted for overusing the heat
• "You are messing with the wrong family": Landlord-renter dispute gets heated
• "No visitors after 10": Vancouver renter evicted after less than a month sues landlord

In July 2019, Weng became a tenant in a home. At the time, Araki was also a tenant, but in March 2020, he took over the duties of collecting rent, filling vacancies, and dealing with conflicts as requested by the property management company managing the house at the time.

Around that time, the case doc suggested that Araki and Weng entered into a new unwritten agreement with Araki as landlord and Weng as a tenant. Weng was paying $600 per month to Araki at this time on a month-to-month basis.

On September 21, 2021, Araki permitted Weng’s friend, SJC, to stay in her rented bedroom. Weng, in exchange, increased rent from $600 to $700.

In November 2021, Weng left for Taiwan temporarily. Araki and Weng’s friend signed a document post-dated May 24, allowing the friend to stay in Weng’s room to “safeguard her possessions.”

Weng initially said she’d be back in February 2022 but then changed the return date to June 2022, and at the time, Araki didn’t object to these terms. However, in April 2022, Araki emailed Weng a notice to end the tenancy and gave Weng until May 31 to move out.

Araki said Weng had “breached their contract by subleasing her room to SJC without his consent.”

The tribunal member overseeing this case pointed out that this contradicted Araki’s statement allowing SJC to move in.

Email and text messages show that Weng objected to the notice, and Araki even accepted another $600 for June rent. Then, Araki changed the house locks. Weng returned on June 16, 2022, and was refused entry into her home.

“He said he needed time to decide what to do,” the court doc states.

Between June 16 and 17, Araki collected votes from the other tenants on a form asking if Weng should be allowed to stay for the rest of the month.

Weng was allowed to stay for the remainder of the month and moved out on July 1.

In the end, Araki was ordered to pay $40 to Weng for a partial rent refund and $130 in damages for $170.

At least no bread knives were involved.