Image Credit: FACEBOOK/TD Bank

ENDERBY - An Enderby senior has won a legal battle against TD Bank after a judge ruled the multi-national's actions had prevented him from renting out his trailer for $600 a month.

Representing himself, Keith Weston took the Toronto Dominion Bank to small claims court and on June 28 Judge Jeremy Guild ruled in his favour.

Along with the lost rent money, Judge Guild also ordered the bank to pay $500 to cover cleaning costs when Weston's tenant moved out of the trailer.

"The bank failed to consider its duties to Mr. Weston," Judge Guild said in the decision.

According to court documents, Weston owns a rural property near Enderby with a mobile home on it, which he bought to rent out and support himself in his retirement. In 2011 he defaulted on his mortgage with TD Bank, and in 2012 the bank started foreclosure proceedings.

In 2012 Weston told the bank he was waiting for compensation from another legal case and would clear the outstanding mortgage balance when it came through. The bank agreed with this and took no action until it had not received the funds and in February 2018 arranged to sell Weston's home.

The decision says that Weston had offered to pay the bank the money he made from renting out the mobile home but it refused to accept it.

Weston's mobile home tenant moved out without notice in January 2018 after complaining about continuing interruptions from the bank as it sent various people to the property to access its value.

Following this, in preparation to sell the mobile home, the bank needed to get a Canadian Standards Association certification and hired Home Alone Property Management to organize an electrician to complete it. While Weston was told the work would take a few days, the work wasn't completed until May 30. On the same day, the electrician shut off the power to the pump house that supplied water to the trailer.

During this time Weston was unable to find a tenant and was, therefore, losing $600 per month in rental income.

Along with Weston's complaints to the bank about the lack of water, a realtor hired to sell the property for TD Bank in July 2018 told the bank it could not sell the property as it had no water supply. The decision says by the date of the trial in April 2019 the property is still without a water supply.

"The Bank entirely failed to ensure that Mr. Weston’s rights with respect to his property were not negatively impacted by the people it retained to do work on his property for its purposes," Judge Guild said.

Weston does not dispute the bank's right to do what it did but says it "failed to act promptly and reasonably" in doing so.

Weston argued the bank's actions led him to be unable to get a tenant and he had lost rental income from January 2018.

In the ruling, Judge Guild says the bank had the right to do the electrical work and no evidence was provided that it could have been done any quicker.

However, Judge Guild said the bank was aware of the water issues and could have easily fixed it so a tenant could have moved in July 1.

Guild, therefore, ruled TD Bank was liable for the resulting loss to pay $600 per month to Weston from July 1, 2018.

The Bank also argued the money should be off-set against his debt to the bank, but Judge Guild declined to do this.

Judge Guild also ordered TD Bank to pay Weston's expenses relating to the proceedings.

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