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A North Thompson couple who drilled out newly installed deadbolts to get back into a property they'd been evicted from for failing to pay the rent have been ordered to leave the home, eight months after they were first evicted.

Tenants Dana Foster and Stephen Ludwig filed in the BC Supreme Court, asking for a judicial review of two Residential Tenancy Branch decisions, which on both occasions had sided with the landlords.

According to an Aug. 29 BC Supreme Court decision, the couple rented a rural property in Walhachin, about 70 kilometres northwest of Kamloops.

They agreed on $2,500 a month and the tenancy began in July 2024.

However, by December that year they failed to pay $2,500 for that month's rent.

On Dec. 29, 2024, the landlords, Natalie Blair and Tanner Derreth-Blair, served them a 10-day notice to end tenancy for unpaid rent.

The notice gave them five days to pay up, but they didn't.

Ten days later, the Residential Tenancy Branch ruled that Foster hadn't paid the $2,500 and gave the tenants seven days to move out.

However, the tenants filed for a review, saying they were unable to attend the hearing due to circumstances beyond their control and that Ludwig was working remotely at the time.

Foster stated she didn't have the $100 filing fee to respond to the 10-day notice and couldn't access Ludwig's account, who is the sole income earner in the household.

The tenants also said new information was available and that the landlords had submitted a fraudulent digital contract with "forged signatures."

However, the Residential Tenancy Branch dismissed the couple's request for a review, saying they hadn't filed in time.

A bailiff attended the property on Jan. 20 and changed the locks.

"Ms. Foster and Mr. Ludwig drilled out the newly installed deadbolts and re-entered the property," the decision said.

The tenants then filed at the BC Supreme Court asking for judicial review, and a judge put a hold on their eviction as it was ticking through the court system.

The couple are no stranger to the courts, having been embroiled in a lengthy legal dispute with the province when they operated the Snowy Mountain Lodge, northwest of Blue River.

Foster and Ludwig had a licence to run the lodge on Crown land for about a decade before things soured.

The couple accused provincial government employees of "fraudulent, dishonest, unlawful, and negligent conduct" but last fall the province was granted a permanent injunction barring the couple from the lodge and ordering them to pay $42,000.

In the current case, while the couple had been evicted for not paying their rent, in their original court filing they claimed the landlords should pay them $50,000 for their "violent partial eviction." They later withdrew their request for damages.

The decision went through a lengthy explanation of the alleged forged documents and numerous text messages sent between the landlords and the tenants about the documents being altered.

"This is a confusing chain of events," BC Supreme Court Justice Lindsay Lyster said in the decision. "Ultimately, however, there is no disagreement about the material terms of the (rental) agreement." 

The Justice ruled there was no fraud or forgery.

Justice Lyster dismissed other legal arguments before ruling the Residential Tenancy Branch hadn't made any legal errors.

"It is not possible for me to determine precisely how much rent (Ludwig and Foster) owed on the materials before me, nor is it necessary for me to do so.  What is clear, as acknowledged in Ms. Foster’s various communications, is that they did not pay all the rent they owed prior to the order of possession being obtained, and they did not pay their rent on time," the Justice said.

The Justice upheld the eviction notice and gave Foster and Ludwig seven days to leave.

There's no mention in the decision whether the tenants have been paying their rent while their case was moving through the court process.

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