BC tenant's misconduct nets him $57,000, until landlord finds out
A BC tenant has been ordered to pay $3,500 to his landlord after he hoodwinked the Residential Tenancy Branch about why he'd been evicted, which led to the landlord being ordered to pay the tenant $57,000.
According to a Sept. 11 BC Supreme Court decision, Saeed Mohammadi agreed to pay $4,800 a month rent for a North Vancouver property on a fixed contract of 17 months.
After that, the landlord, Siavash Dehpour, was going to do renovations to the property and then move in.
Mohammadi paid his rent for almost a year before he stopped paying.
Months later, Dehpour had him evicted, but then unbeknownst to the landlord, the tenant filed a dispute with the Residential Tenancy Branch.
However, Mohammadi failed to serve the papers to his landlord by purposely sending them to the address where he had rented, instead of where the landlord lived.
Totally unaware a dispute was going on at the Residential Tenancy Branch, the landlord didn't show up at the hearing.
"The tenant deliberately failed to take the proper steps to serve the landlord because it was in his interest for the landlord to be absent from the hearing," BC Supreme Court Justice Judith Hoffman said in the decision.
At the hearing, the tenant claimed that he'd been evicted so Dehpour could sell the property or rent it to someone else. He provided rental ads and testified that the property was up for sale.
Mohammadi didn't mention he'd been kicked out for not paying his rent.
Due to the misinformation, the Tenancy Branch ruled that Mohammadi had been unfairly evicted and ordered the landlord to pay him 12 months rent.
At $4,800 a month rent, the award equated to $57,700.
The decision said the landlord only found out about the $57,000 he'd been ordered to pay when his ex-wife told him a month later.
Dehpour then filed for a judicial review of the Residential Tenancy Branch decision at the BC Supreme Court.
Justice Hoffman overturned the $57,000 award, saying it had only been granted because Mohammadi had given the Tenancy Branch misinformation.
"The absence of the landlord and the tenant’s failure to disclose the (eviction) notice prevented the (Tenancy Branch) from understanding the full context of the tenancy’s termination. Had the landlord been present, he would have had an opportunity to explain that the tenancy was terminated because the tenant had failed to pay rent," the Justice said in the decision.
The Justice said she had "no hesitation" that the Tenancy Branch hearing was unfair, particularly given the financial consequences.
"I find the tenant failed to make full and fair disclosure of the circumstances under which the tenancy was terminated. This is misconduct deserving of rebuke," Justice Hoffman said.
The Justice ordered the tenant Mohammadi to pay $3,500 special costs. He's also on the hook for the regular court fees.
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