Rental Dispute - Legal Help

[ramaslamma]

My girlfriend recently rented a room for her parents , who came abroad for 8 days. She made the payment in advance.

When her parents arrived, she was given a different room than what she was promised. She was told by the owner next day, the room can be changed - but this did not occur. Moreover, she requested another room on one of the days - but she did not obtain the room. When she contacted the house owner that night, she did not receive any responses from her. Unfortunately, she and her parents had to stay at a hotel for a couple of nights. She asked the house owner for a partial refund for the days in which her parents were staying at another place, but the home owner refuses to do so.

What are my options, is she legally able to do anything?

[MS MSP]

she rented a room in a house?

I would say she's out of luck if there was no contract/invoice

[DarkMasterMX]

Probably better suited in the Home & Garden forum.

Does your girlfriend have a written agreement with the home owner or some sort of written confirmation of what she was supposed to be getting?

[ramaslamma]

Room was in a house.

There was no rental agreement - just verbal discussions.

[uber_shnitz]

Unforunately unless there's a written contract or unless you recorded your verbal agreement with the owner, then there isn't much you can do from a legal point of view. Without something to cement your agreement, it could just be heysay between 2 people (similar to a guy saying "I owe you one", that wouldn't hold up in court).

Rule of thumb when dealing with money: always get it in writting.

[Ottomaddox]

How much money are we talking about?

[Buggy166]

How much money are we talking about?

id be guessing 50 bucks a day at least, for 8 days, minimum $400.

[ramaslamma]

Yeah, this is definately a learning exprience. Im pretty sure the person does not report any of the property income she gets from the lessees' she deals with. I'm thinking of reporting her to CRA - anyone know the process?

[WildWolf]

My girlfriend recently rented a room for her parents , who came abroad for 8 days. She made the payment in advance.

When her parents arrived, she was given a different room than what she was promised. She was told by the owner next day, the room can be changed - but this did not occur. Moreover, she requested another room on one of the days - but she did not obtain the room. When she contacted the house owner that night, she did not receive any responses from her. Unfortunately, she and her parents had to stay at a hotel for a couple of nights. She asked the house owner for a partial refund for the days in which her parents were staying at another place, but the home owner refuses to do so.

What are my options, is she legally able to do anything?

Did you sign a contract, if not and it was a oral agreement, you are screwed.

[Syne]

Grab a carton of eggs, pay the place a visit at 2am and be done with it.

[Manatus]

Yeah, this is definately a learning exprience. Im pretty sure the person does not report any of the property income she gets from the lessees' she deals with. I'm thinking of reporting her to CRA - anyone know the process?

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/gncy/nvstgtns/lds/menu-eng.html

[BornRuff]

So her parents were visiting and she rented them a room in a rooming house? That might be the first mistake.

You could attempt to take the landlord to small claims court. A verbal contract is legally binding. The difficulty is trying to prove exactly what that contract was. Issues would also likely arise from the fact that the rooming house likely isn't a legal business to begin with.