BC renter moves out after just two nights in new home, sues landlords

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A renter moved out of a BC rental unit after just two nights, and due to things not panning out the way they had hoped, they sued the landlords.

In a BC Civil Resolution Tribunal Hearing, Pardeep Goyal made several claims against landlords Andrea Muzzi Bittencourt de Oliveira and Flavio Oliveira.

Goyal claimed that the landlords didn’t provide the promised kitchen storage space, preventing him from cooking. He also claimed there wasn’t enough storage in the bathroom and that the landlords removed his items from the bathroom counter.

He also claims that when he agreed to rent the room, he wasn’t told that the respondents had dogs and that they continuously barked, interfering with his work.

The landlords also had two cats, which the renter said entered his room several times.

His final claim was that he couldn’t sleep because of frequent noise from the heating system.

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In late January of 2023, Goyal said he paid $1,000 for February 2023 rent plus a $500 deposit. Goyal says he moved in on February 5. He also claimed he moved out on February 6, just a day later. Thanks to a witness statement, the Oliveiras proved that he actually moved out on February 7.

Goyal requested an order that the landlords refund him $500 for the security deposit, $1,000 in the rent he paid, and $900 for moving expenses.

The landlords denied all of Goyal’s claims while making their own claim that Goyal caused water damage in the room. They claimed they incurred repair expenses over $500, nullifying the request for the security deposit.

Sadly for Goyal, his submitted evidence couldn’t be opened due to technical issues. While he was given a deadline to re-submit the evidence, he couldn’t, so the tribunal had a limited amount of evidence to work with in its decision.

There was no contract for the rental agreement, but it was undisputed that Goyal agreed to pay $1,000 a month for a furnished room in Oliveira’s home.

Goyal’s claims depended on proving that the Oliveiras breached the rental contract but his claims about not knowing about the dogs and the storage space in the kitchen were disproven.

Texts submitted into evidence show that Goyal didn’t give the landlords adequate time to fix any of his issues; instead, they received a text stating that he would move out ASAP because the issues he shared with the tribunal meant the unit no longer met his requirements.

Fortunately for Goyal, the tribunal agreed that he was entitled to have his security deposit returned, with a $50 deduction for not returning the keys. His claim for the rent he paid was denied.

Goyal walked away with $534.27, which included the reduced deposit and tribunal fees.

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