Bad faith eviction in Alberta
This is more for my own info, rather than taking action, but I just found out my former landlord lied when giving us notice a couple of months ago.
Heres the back story: we had a 6 months lease that was ending at the end of April. About 45 days before the end of the lease, we were informed that the owner will not renew the lease as he wants to sell the place. I looked up our rights, it said that the owner was required to give us 60 days notice on a lease, however decided not to make a big fuss about it and just move. Problem was we required a bungalow bcz Mom has mobility problems, so we couldnt find anything before the end of April. We asked for a 30 day extension, it was given to us, however, because of the situation here in Alberta where most landlords are trying to sell their houses, it became impossible to find a house, let alone a bungalow, so we had to settle for two apartment units as we needed the extra space. All in all, rental costs including utilities are similar, except for the hassle of moving.
Anyhow, long story short, we drive by the old place, and we see that its occupied. Been keeping tabs on it, it never went up on sale, and the neighbors confirmed it was rented. Probably with $2000/month rather than the $1600 we were paying, as thats the going rate now. To add, we were never late with our rental payments, in fact we had prepaid 6 months everything in cash (not post-dated, actual prepaid)
Now, question is why the owner chose to lie about it being sold, instead of just asking for a rental increase when the lease came up for renewal, and what, if anything, we could have done differently in order to stay, under our rights as renters, rather than going thru the hassle of finding a different place?
Heres the back story: we had a 6 months lease that was ending at the end of April. About 45 days before the end of the lease, we were informed that the owner will not renew the lease as he wants to sell the place. I looked up our rights, it said that the owner was required to give us 60 days notice on a lease, however decided not to make a big fuss about it and just move. Problem was we required a bungalow bcz Mom has mobility problems, so we couldnt find anything before the end of April. We asked for a 30 day extension, it was given to us, however, because of the situation here in Alberta where most landlords are trying to sell their houses, it became impossible to find a house, let alone a bungalow, so we had to settle for two apartment units as we needed the extra space. All in all, rental costs including utilities are similar, except for the hassle of moving.
Anyhow, long story short, we drive by the old place, and we see that its occupied. Been keeping tabs on it, it never went up on sale, and the neighbors confirmed it was rented. Probably with $2000/month rather than the $1600 we were paying, as thats the going rate now. To add, we were never late with our rental payments, in fact we had prepaid 6 months everything in cash (not post-dated, actual prepaid)
Now, question is why the owner chose to lie about it being sold, instead of just asking for a rental increase when the lease came up for renewal, and what, if anything, we could have done differently in order to stay, under our rights as renters, rather than going thru the hassle of finding a different place?
