Landlord's "use of property" forces tenants out of rental which gets relisted

Two tenants were forced out of their rental home in British Columbia after the landlord found someone to buy the place, but the sale never went through, and the rental was subsequently relisted.

Marcia Rubio recently emailed Daily Hive about the ordeal that she and her husband went through, which ended up in them winning an arbitration hearing for 12 months of compensation with the BC Residential Tenancy Branch.

They haven’t received that compensation yet.

“We want to be heard and let people from BC [know] how bad and unfair the housing market is here.”

Rubio and her partner began renting the townhouse in question in Surrey, BC, from April 2019 until April 2022. The rent was $2,300.

“We received the notice to end tenancy because the landlord (Realtor) was selling the house.”

Rubio said that by the end of February 2022, the landlord said the house was sold.

“We move out early in April because we found a good opportunity.”

In May 2022, they moved to a townhouse in Langley where rent was significantly higher, at $2,750, making being forced to move out of a spot where rent was over $400 cheaper more of a sore spot.

“Everything else was over $2,800 a month.”

After moving, Rubio says they found out the unit was rented. While Rubio isn’t sure how much tenants are being charged in the rental today, she says they’re pretty sure the landlord is making more than the original $2,300.

“After a couple of text message conversations, the landlord confirmed the unit was rented again and that he still owns it.”

Rubio adds that the house was rented again within one week of the buyers backing down on the purchase. The potential buyer was part of a tenancy hearing with Rubio and the landlord, explaining that the bank denied the mortgage loan, so they had to back down on the purchase.

In BC, a landlord only needs to give a tenant two months’ notice when asking them to move, and “use of property” can be attributed to a sale.

“We won 12 months compensation with the RTB,” Rubio said.

So far, Rubio and her partner have yet to receive anything, so they’ll have to follow up with the buyer who couldn’t close the deal to obtain their compensation.

Have you faced a rental housing situation like this before?