Landlords who evicted tenants and bought 'dream home' dispute $30,000 fine
A pair of landlords went to the BC Supreme Court to ask it to reverse a $30,000 fine that they were hit with for evicting tenants and then selling the property to buy their “dream home.”
Tajinder Lalli and Salveen Lalli, a married couple, used to rent out a Surrey, B.C. home to tenants for $2,450 per month. The rental house was next door to another property they owned and lived in.
In November 2022, the landlords issued an eviction notice saying they would be occupying the rental unit in two months’ time. But the tenants went to the Residential Tenancy Branch afterwards arguing their old landlords failed to move in and occupy the unit for six months as is required when evicting for landlord use.
The landlords argued they needed to clean and renovate the unit — and then had to sell the property to purchase another home that caught their eye.
In the midst of getting the previous rental ready to move in, the landlords said their realtor showed them a listing for their “dream home.”
They ended up selling their previous rental unit and purchasing the dream home before the six-month mark from when they evicted the tenants.
They tried to argue this was an extenuating circumstance, but neither the RTB nor the judge agreed.
“I find the decision to purchase and occupy a dream home was within the landlords’ control and is not an extenuating circumstance,” the original RTB arbitrator wrote.
The RTB awarded the tenants just under $30,000 because the landlords didn’t occupy their former home for six months. The landlords asked the Supreme Court to review that decision, but the judge found there was no reason that the original RTB award was unreasonable or unfair.
The B.C. Supreme Court upheld the $30,000 fine and told the landlords to pay the former tenants’ additional legal costs for proceeding to the higher level of court.