In Desperate Need Of Help/Advice On Dealing With Landlord!!!!!

[4PK]

Hi RedFlags! i know this is a long post but could you all PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read this? as I am in need of desperate help here!

I really need some help with an issue I'm having with my landlord. I'm a student at the University of Waterloo and around April, I found a place to rent. The contract is a 1 year contract. We knew the place was going to be renovated. However the landlord said that they would finish the renovation during the 4 months of summer. Now here is my situation:

Soon September came along and it was time to move in. Well, school started on the 12th. We (tried) moved in on the 10th. (one of my roommates wanted to move in a week earlier because he isn't from ontario, but at that point they didn't even start on our unit yet!) One of my roommated arrived around 11am... On the day we arrived, we came to find that our unit was far from finish. The bedroom floors were not changed yet (but the common area was), they were painting the bedrooms the day we arrived, and all the old furniture was just piled up all over the place (literally, all over the place. We couldn't even put our stuff inside until about 7pm). The landlord asked if we wanted to help move the furniture but we said no because thisAround evening time they moved all the furniture out of the bedrooms and into the common area and all we had was a mattress. Not even a toilet! We had to use the landlord's for 2 days while they were getting the new one installed. Also, one of the bedrooms did not even have a door!

So now school started and the first 2 weeks of school was not very fun. During the first week of class, one day we come home and find even more furniture in our unit! Most likely the people working on the units moved furniture from other units into ours so they could work with more space. This was ridiculous because 99% of the furniture was to be thrown out anyway. We have a small hallway in our unit and they put a huge desk right in the middle of it! We had to squeeze through to get to our bedrooms! We really could not take this and talked to the landlord. She just said she couldn't do anything. She did not have enough people helping and she just kept having problems with the people she hired for the job.

Since she did not want to help, we decided we had no choice but to do things on our own. So, we spent about 2 days moving out a lot of garbage furniture from our unit. This included about boxsprings, several heavy desks, dressers, and other miscellaneous items. This proved to be quite a workout. We live in a 4 story apartment with no elevator and stairs that turn, and we live on the 2rd floor. We moved out most of the furniture and it felt good to finally be able to actually be able to walk in our unit without squeezing under or around stuff. During the first week, they also finally changed the bedroom floors. However, they mixed up 2 of the units. Our unit was supposed to have carpet however they gave us laminate floors. We thought about switching units for a while until we saw that the other units had even less work completed. So we decided to stay in our unit. Also there were no baseboards in the bedrooms yet. Also during the first week, we had someone come over to change the bathtub. This was good because the old one was... yuck. However, little did we know this meant we had to shower in our landlord's unit for 3 days.

At this point, we noticed a lot of units that were incomplete were still empty. We wondered where other were since they should have started school by now. We just didn't think much about this. Then we met about 3 people in other units and we took a look at the other units. We were very surprised to see what we saw! 2 of these units (one on the floor above us and one on the floor below us) were we were almost completely finished! (note the almost, in fact, to this day their units are still ahead of ours by a lot) These 2 units were completely painted, they had a nice couch, they had a microwave, all the bedrooms had a new desk, new bookshelf and new bedrack all built for them, their washrooms were all finished, they had a new counter in the kitchen and a double sink! Some of those people moved in even later than us and didn't have to deal with the same problems we had. So we talked to the landlord once more. We joked a bit about lowering the rent for one month byt a bit and she kept assuring us oh sure, don't worry. Also, she actually had the furniture in her unit just that nobody was able to help her build them. Well, we knew at this point we'll never get anything done if we count on her. So, once again we said we'll do it. We had to build 3 bed racks, 3 desks, 3 bookshelves. I think during the 2nd or 3rd week the room without a door finally gets a door.

Also, during our first week here, we could not use the kitchen either. Our refridgerator did not work so we just ate out for the entire week. This was ok for now. During the second week they finally fixed the refridgerator, and cleaned the stove (but still no microwave) and during the middle of the second (or third, can't really remember) week we got our new counter and double sink. During the second week we got another couch. It was another old one but was a lot better than the worn one we originally had. They said new couches were coming once the units were painted, and that dressers for the bedrooms were on order (the landlord just gave us this thing we could use until we got dressers)

Another week goes by and we're onto our third week. At this point I come back from the weekend and see that we have a mirror in the bathroom now. They also put up tiles on the bathroom walls as they said they would. This seemed like a good sign. The super intendant also came by to fix a few items (replace broken switch overs/phone jack covers and they actually helped us clean up a bit!) Our place was kind of dirty because we didn't want to clean everything just to have the workers make it all dirty again. Well, during the third week we finally get windowblinds! we were without these since the first day. I guess it's not a big deal since our unit is all guys, and because we aren't facing the sunny side during the afternoon. But i can imagine what girls in other units would feel a need for them. I think it was also around this time we got chairs for the kitchen/bedrooms and coffe/eend tables for our common area. However once again we had to build 6 chairs, a coffee table and 2 end tables ourselves. At this point, our common area was not really functional... (actually.. to this day it hasn't changed at all and it's already... the 10th/11th week?) This is because there is still an old table stand thing, a big wardrobe, a boxspring, and all the closet doors of the unit in that area (the closet doors are there because when they changed all the floors, the doors would not fit.

Well... let's just go to the 4th week now... not much went on... the superindendant has finally fixed a broken window screen which was broken since the first day. 1 flourescent light cover was broken since the first day and he still he didn't have time to replace it (he said he would). Another flourescent light cover is kind of broken (part of it keeps falling off) and he didn't have time to fix it yet... also, i should mention something about all the doors in the unit. I don't know if it's because they installed them bad or what... The landlord kept talking about getting new doors or shaving them. But to this day never got to it. the door to the washroom keeps getting stuck near the bottom and so keeps scraping the door frame. It used to be painted, the paint is already scratched off. One room, the door does the same thing and actually ripped part of the door frame near the bottom so when you open the door you need to put your foot against it so it doesn't just completely rip off. The room with no door, well... the door itself, a thin piece it self is ripped because it keeps getting caught near the bottom. Only one room in the unit has door without problems. It's now the 10th/11th week and the doors are still like this. Although they did nail up the ripped door frame... on the 9th week.

As a side note, i should add that we found out a lot of the empty units were actualyl rented out. But for the first few days, some of those people decided to just live at the local hotel or a friend's house because some units did not even have tiles change yet and when changed you cannot step inside for a day or 2.

Anyway... back to the 4th week... well we keep rushing the landlord to finish our unit... and so she keeps telling the workers. But those people didn't really work much so she fired them. Well, at this point she said she would finish things herself. But we knew that wouldn't be the case... so we just wait... Also, we find out she has new doorhandles with locks for the bedrooms. Someone else in the unit upstairs who got them said she won't give them out unless you ask for them. So we did. But she said we don't need them since we know everyone in our unit. We explained about the sublet issue and she said she'd get them installed then. We were completely ok with this (i just hope she goes through with this)

about the 6th week comes along and we get baseboards in our room! I think it's also around this time she posted a notice about hiring a new worker and to contact him to arrange to get things done... I called the guy as soon as I saw it to make arrangements. However, he just never seemed to show up. He started working on another unit. Then came to our unit to patch up holes for about 1-2hours. After that i kept seeing him in the building but never doing much work... and i wait and wait...

(continued in post #2)

[4PK]

(continuation from post #1)

7th week they post a notice saying the superintendant will be going around the next few weeks installing peepholes. I didn't think much of this as I knew he wouldn't do it. Guess what? now it's the 10th-11th week and i don't see one unit with a new peephole.

finally around the 8th week the landlord is here and the worker finally comes and finishes patching the holes. great! so now we need the unit painted... the landlord promises of finishing in 1 week. But we knew to expect worse.

It is now the 10-11th week and i have not seem the worker in our unit since! As a matter of fact, he was supposed to show up today. But no surprise he didn't show up. He said he was working on the unit upstairs but i went and checked. This guy either works really slow or is just lazy. They do not allow these people to work on units while nobody is at home. This is a good security thing. But it's just that whenever i do make arrangements with them on days i am not busy, they just don't show up! I'm really frustrated at this! The landlord keeps saying she's already went through and hired/fired so many rounds of people now. I guess it's not her fault that all this is happening. But like it's hard on us students to have to go through all this.

I should also note that we gave a deposit for the first and last month. I've read I can get up to 6% interest for deposit on the last month.

We are supposed to pay rent before the start of the month. She didn't get us to pay for the 2nd month until it ended. However, at this point we tried to get her to lower our rent for one month to free because this is obviously ridiculous we have to go through this! she of course said no. she said no to every amount we threw at her. The least we were willing to accept was a reduction of 1/2 for one month's rent. She also tells us that one unit is not paying and she needs to take them to court.

Our contract does not say anything about renovations so I'm not sure what to do. My friends tell me to either cancel my contract (since i think even when a contract ends you can stay there indefinitely... so most likely i would just stay until end of this term) or to just directly take her to court. However I never documented much of this and because of our contract not having any of this... I don't think it will go well in court. At this point I want to either

a) cancel my 1yr contract with her because of these issues. I really hoped i did not have to bother with finding another place to stay until i graduate but you just can't ignore something like this!

or

b)I was also debating changing my contract to instead of a consecutive one year contract, to make it every other 4 months for 12 months (this is because I am in co-op and need to find a sublet). Because of us needing a sublet, everyone here, the landlord included knows it will be incredibly hard to find one with the condition things are right now. Especially in the winter when there are more choices out there.

A lot of the people here that need sublets are at a huge disadvantage and facing a huge loss. So she is basically saying it's ok for us to lose 2000 while we're away but it's not ok for her to lose any amount while we live in these conditions.

As you can all tell i am very pissed already but am at a loss of what to do. I thought about maybe getting a few units together to get a class action suit going... but i'm not too familiar with the law and such...

It's about time to pay rent again (a post dated cheque for dec 1) but i am VERY hesitant about giving that cheque because this is the last cheque for this term before i leave. I want to get things straightened out before giving the landlord anymore money

edit: also forgot to note the unit should be fully furnished (which is the cause of the complaints about furniture)


After reading all this does anyone have any advice? I'd really appreciate some input on my situation here. thanks a lot!

EDIT: (Summary)
-Rented a place that would be renovated
-condition of unit was very poor for first few weeks
-after 10 weeks out of a 16 (actually 14) week term still far from completed
-landlord refuses to reduce rent or change contract term from 12consec months to every other 4 months for 4 months

unit problems summary:
-did not start until 1 week before we move in
-bedrooms being painted day we move in
-tons of furniture everywhere inside unit
-only had mattress for first week.
-no toilet for first few days
-door problems
-had to move most furniture out of apartment ourelves
-had to build all new furniture ourselves
-long periods of nothing done
-10th week now and entire unit (except bedrooms) need to be painted, waiting for the couch, dressers, fixing broken flourescent lighting covers,peep holes

to get a better idea of the situation and why these are such big issues you need to read a bit of the long post

[Yaowsers]

cliff notes are required

[15-20_God]

cliff notes are required

aren't they called coles notes here in canada?

[camzie]

move out, don't pay and let her take you to court

[Yaowsers]

aren't they called coles notes here in canada?

Yeah they are. Coles notes are actually better than Cliffs. Fonts were larger and easier to read. Plus they had the coloured covers unlike the ugly yellow ones from Cliffs.

[4PK]

this is one issue... i thought about just directly take her to court. However I never documented much of this (nothing written and no specific dates to show long periods of complaints) and because of our contract not having any of this... I don't know how well this will go in court

move out, don't pay and let her take you to court

[aquariaguy]

Go to ombudsperson in SLC upstairs. She''s helpful.

[danfromwaterloo]

Apply to the Tribunal. DO NOT STOP PAYING RENT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. You can't just up and stop paying rent for any services withheld. You must grieve it to the Tribunal first, get them to order your landlord to make the changes. If they decide that you've been put out for a length of time, they will tell you to withhold x number of dollars in rent. But only then is it legal.

If you stop paying rent, they can and will chuck your ass out.

[4PK]

where can i contact the tribunal?

hm.. i didn't know there's an ombudsman in the slc i'll contact him/her to see if they can help

[CSK'sMom]

Definitely complain to the school's housing officer as well. We have a friend that rents over 60 units (not rooms, figure 6 rooms per unit on average) to students. The school's housing officer generally has alot of clout with student housing landlords. The Tribunal is not an option if you are renting a room IIRC.

All that said, put your complaints in writing to the landlord. Give her a firm date of when you expect the work to be completed. CC a copy to the school housing officer as well. You could also try getting the city involved (think building permits and fire code violations)....

[Ziggy007]

First off I hope someone took pictures, as that makes things much easier.

Now when dealing with the reno's it would be very helpful if it is explained the dates and lengths of the work in the contract to proove when things were supposed to be done.

Keep paying rent but file the above listed complaints, if you can proove that the living condiions are unacceptable or that the landlord backed out of his end of the agreement with the reno's you can probably get out of it.

[4PK]

That is the problem. Everything was verbal. Nothing was ever even written that there would be renovations. She just said they would renovate the place over the summer.

I'll try and have the current issues in writing and send it to both her and the housing officer. I'm thinking even if i have things done in writing now, it might not be effective since I don't have a list of things throughout the few months. Also, because we never expected it to take so long (she kept verbally promising things would be finished quickly) we never thought about taking pictures or giving her written documents of things to do during the first worst few weeks. but i'll contact the housing officer about this as well

[Defiant]

Dan's advice is right on the money. KEEP PAYING RENT. You have no right to withhold rent, unfortunately. What you need to do is docement everything, give written complaints to the landlord outlining your issues etc.

Then, if the matter cannot be resolved, you can go to the tribunal. This is a lengthy process however. The tribunal will probably rebate you some rent and allow you to break the contract if you choose. But from the time the application is submitted , it can take a few months(or more) to go to a hearing. Usuaully, a mediator is available to solve disputes before they go to a hearing. One good thing is that, as a tenant, you gain access to duty council(a lawyer) on the day of your hearing. Don't expect the lawyer to be the linchpin of your case; all he will do is help guide your evidence and question the defendant. Have your case organized when you go to the hearing to make it easier for the lawyer to understand what has transpired, what evidence you have and what you expect for the outcome.

[googoo]

Remember to have witnesses, and try to get people from other units with the same problems get involved.

Remember that you buddies are all witnesses!

The landlord is being completely unreasonable, and is playing you as "just soem kids that won't do anything", see hired contractors based on the lowest rate and just figures the "kids" would suffer.

Also explain the work you did in an attempt speed up work, and the fact that you didn't have "right to privacy" that anybody should have in their home.

Take it to the tribunal, with lots of witness statements and you should be fine.

and remember .....KEEP PAYING RENT!