Three BC renters who agreed to share a home had their journey end up in a Civil Resolution Tribunal dispute.
Muhammad Ishan and Kelsey Schofield sued Summer Yandon because she had moved out without proper notice.
They sought $4,177.74 in unpaid rent, utilities, expenses, and suffering.
Yandon, in defence, says she was “constructively evicted” and gave proper notice. She also claims she reimbursed the applicants for utilities.
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The trio agreed to become roommates on October 1, 2022 and decided to pay $3,000 per month plus 70% in utilities.
In December 2022, Yandon temporarily left the home to stay with family because she was sick. The month after, Yandon removed her stuff from the house and notified the landlord, SH. She told SH she’d be moving out on February 8, 2023.
Ishan and Schofield say they couldn’t find anyone to replace Yandon until April 15, 2023, and Yandon didn’t pay any rent for February, March, or April.
The tribunal decision states that it is undisputed that the trio split the rent three ways, $1,000 each.
“The applicants say that when they were discussing living together with Ms. Yandon, they all agreed that if any issues arose between them during the tenancy, they would finish the one-year lease and then go their separate ways. I accept this, as Ms. Yandon does not dispute it, and I find it is consistent with the one-year lease with SH,” the decision says.
Both renters left behind argued that Yandon effectively breached that agreement.
Yandon suggested that because Ishan and Schofield excluded her from outings and cooking meals together, she felt anxious, negative, and uncomfortable, which in her mind constituted the pair “constructively” evicting her. The tribunal found no evidence that the parties agreed to go on outings or cook meals together. However, it did acknowledge Yandon’s social tensions around the situation.
Ultimately, the pair of BC renters were able to prove that Yandon breached their agreement and ordered her to pay the applicants $2,784.45, which included $2,500 in unpaid rent, $64.27 in other debt, and the rest in tribunal fees.
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