BC renter disappears and leaves "a mess" behind, gets sued by landlord

A renter who left a BC rental unit on short notice and left “a mess” behind got sued by the landlord for unpaid rent and utilities.

The case was between the landlord, Darshan Rangi, and the renter, Luis Fernando Gomes Faria.

Faria’s sister-in-law, MP, was the one who arranged to have Faria move into Rangi’s home beginning on December 1, 2022.

The terms included monthly rent of $800 and 50% of the BC Hydro bill.

While Faria was planning to stay until Summer 2023, they left suddenly in February 2023, just two months after the rental began.

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The BC Civil Resolution Tribunal stated it was undisputed that Faria left “a mess” behind with discarded furniture.

Rangi said that after Faria left, they couldn’t contact the renter, so they asked MP for help.

MP also didn’t know how to reach Faria, so she and other family members cleaned up Rangi’s place and removed the furniture on March 25, 2023, a month after Faria left.

Rangi wanted Faria on the hook for the rent for March 2023 since they couldn’t rent the unit out due to the belongings and mess left behind. They also wanted utilities paid for February and March.

Faria agreed that they owed the applicant the amounts claimed, but, at the same time, said they thought they’d paid enough for hydro and rent.

Since the rental was on a month-by-month basis, the tribunal said that a reasonable notice to move would’ve been one month. However, Faria gave much less than a month, leaving behind significant belongings, thereby breaching the terms of reasonable notice and exiting the space vacant and “reasonably clean.”

The tribunal agreed that Faria was on the hook for the $800 in unpaid rent and $172.71 for hydro expenses.

In total, including tribunal fees, this BC renter was ordered to pay the landlord $1,152.47.