All Forum Posts by: Brianne H.

@Kellen Driscoll I know nothing about mobile home parks, but only 1 well for 29 homes? How much is that well producing, and how old is it? That's putting a lot of reliability on one well, which isn't something I'd do on my own personal well at home. 7 septic systems - are there fields or mounds, or just the tanks? If it's only tanks they're going to need to be pumped more than every couple years... If there's fields or mounds just remember it's more stuff to go wrong, and very expensively wrong.

Thank you, I will pass these suggestions on to her. Hopefully he can be out sooner rather than later :( 

@Jason Ridout thanks for the suggestions!

- Unfortunately he knows enough to pay rent on time, so can't evict for non-payment

- I'm the only family member that qualifies to move in, and I don't have any plans on moving provinces. Apparently if you don't have a legitimate immediate family member move in, the landlord owes something ridiculous like 12 months of rent?! Yikes. 

- Unit is pretty well brand new, so no major renovations needed. And they certainly don't want to offer it back to him. Has BC implemented a rent maximum for after the unit has been renovated? I thought I read that it had to be offered back at the same price as it was previously rented for - ridiculous! 

- Cash for keys was my original suggestion, but she didn't think it was legal - she was worried it would be frowned upon as bribery or something. Have you or anyone you know been successful with it? For sure it's legal (anywhere it happens to mention this in the tenancy act)? 

I’ve asked this question to a few people who know the BC landlord-tenant laws, but I’d like to broaden it to a larger audience for more input. I’m asking for a relative that lives/owns rental property in BC, Canada. If you aren’t already aware, BC laws are EXTREMELY tenant-friendly.

My relatives live in BC and own a 4 acre property that they bought out of foreclosure. They live in the main residence, and there are 2 older cottages on the property. At the time they bought it, cottage A was rented, and the tenant has been there about 15 years, and it's a happy, mutual agreement to keep her. They renovated Cottage B ($30k renos), found a great tenant, who ended up only staying for a few months due to being too far from work. At that time (Dec 2017) they rented it to a man, who was the best applicant of the bunch, though not quite the same caliber of tenant as the first guy. Fast forward a few months into the tenancy, and the guy starts smoking pot inside and out, which is specifically outlined by an addition in the lease that states no smoking of any kind on the property (In Canada, smoking pot became legal in Oct 2018 but BC agreed that if the original lease has a non-smoking policy (which it does), it still applied to marijuana). Around the same time, she goes over one evening to deliver a notice of rent increase (using all the proper BC forms, etc) and the smell coming out of the house is overpowering. They discuss that this is a violation of the lease, and all agree to a mutual termination of the lease. She gets the paperwork together and goes back over to get him to sign it, and he's changed his mind and refuses to sign.

She then gives him a notice to evict, and then he files with the Tenancy board (17 days after the deadline) that he is objecting to the eviction. It goes to arbitration (a phone call that is not allowed to be recorded), and the tenant comes up with all sorts of lies and BS. The arbitrator comes back with his decision that because my mom did not A) physically SEE him smoking pot, and B) between finding the house smelled like weed and giving him an eviction notice, she did not give him a notice giving him adequate time to correct the situation, the eviction got denied. Her appeal was also denied.

She would just like this guy out, but everything she's read on BC landlord-tenant laws all STRONGLY favour the tenant, and she can not find any way to get him out.

Any ideas on how to get him out? I'm not as familiar as she is with the BC laws, but she's told me that even if she dies, or the property is sold, a new purchaser can "request" the tenants evict, but they can not enforce it. What lunacy is this? How do BC landlords ever get rid of undesirable tenants if they're still paying rent on time? The only things I’ve been able to find beyond having frequent inspections to irritate him and physically see him smoking it (which how are you going to do that when he shuts the curtains and does it inside?), is turning the unit into non-residential use (such as..?). Even that requires 4 months notice. For those about to suggest a month-to-month or non-renew at the end of the lease, unfortunately it doesn’t work that way in BC, you must have a valid reason to evict instead of just not-renewing (term leases convert to month-to-month when they’re up). The unit is rented for $1000/m, and it doesn’t help that market rent is now around $1100-$1200/m, so the guy knows he’s getting a deal.

Has anyone ever used a test for THC residue and had any success (or not) in using it as evidence in tenant-friendly regions?

I'm trying to help her find any loophole as the stress of this and being unable to enjoy her own home peacefully with an antagonistic tenant next door and having to smell it daily is really starting to affect her. Any insight you have is appreciated!

Tags: Vancouver, Kamloops, Victoria, Nanaimo, Kelowna, 

Since I started listening to the podcasts, it's been my goal to eventually have enough experience and have done enough deals to be considered for a guest on the podcast. I'm only on deal #4 right now, but I have a feeling things are going to start happening much more quickly in 2019. I have also wondered why it seems there are so few women, but I hadn't realized there weren't many applying. Good information is good information whether it comes from a male or female, but hearing from another woman who's successful is nice as well. They can have a different perspective as they've probably had to deal with contractors and other people in business who, as I've experienced, raise an eyebrow when I say I can lay tile or install a floor, or tell me I should "talk to my husband about it first". 

I plan to attend!

@Hai Loc I just did a quick search and I found 56 houses in Calgary for under $300k (not condos). They're out there, but those are the C, sometimes D+ neighbourhoods. You wouldn't have been able to find that before oil crashed. The oil bust REALLY affected Calgary, our unemployment rate is still really high, and the economy and market hasn't bounced back yet. People are really bitter in particular about our current government, federally as well as the provincial NDP because every time it seems like things might get better, a new pipeline project gets cancelled. The news story of the week is the 3000 jobs lost in ON, but what about the 120,000 jobs lost in the oil sector, mainly impacting AB? That's about 1 in 3 people laid off that worked in oil and gas, and since Canadian oil is trading at $13/barrel, unless something drastic changes like a pipeline actually getting built, things are pretty bad. 

House prices went down, but rental prices also went down as well. I'm still not seeing a lot of numbers for rentals in Calgary that make sense. 

@Levi Rietveld welcome!

One thing I would be cautious of in Calgary is the abundance of condos. There are a lot of new condos going up right now, and I predict there will be more than the market really needs, so I don't foresee a lot of appreciation. Also, almost everyone I know that's owned a condo for any length of time has experienced either bad management from the management company, and/or a special assessment, ranging from $1200-$40,000. Perhaps a better option would be a duplex or finding a single family with a basement suite, if your goal is to rent it out. 

@Travis Hewlett how is the project coming along? What neighbourhood are you in? One other thing to be cautious about is whether or not the garage/shop will help or hinder your appraisal. 

Last year, I bought 7 acres of land near Strathmore and moved a 3/1.5 bungalow from Charleswood onto a new basement foundation. We did our first refi at that time, and then we gutted the main floor, did a bunch of landscaping and fencing, and are in the process of adding a triple garage, and then we'll do another refi in about a month when it's all done. This is our primary so I'm not concerned about cashflow (this is our dream property) but I still want to come out ahead on it. Originally we were planning on building an approx 52 x 30, half double garage, half 4-stall barn. I was under the impression that an appraisal would only count 1 outbuilding, which is why we combined the 2 into a multi-purpose building. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone, sounds great right? Incorrect. Most lenders will only count the GARAGE portion of a building for value. They also have other silly rules like most lenders will only count 5 acres for an appraisal on rural property. We ended up modifying our plans and are now building a 30 x 38 triple garage, and after the refi we'll convert one bay into a couple stalls for animals. Just make sure that what you're building is a "garage" rather than shop if the future lender has strict rules. You might want to find out exactly what they'll count for an appraisal. Good luck!

Originally posted by @Rabinder Chopra:

@Brianne H. Hi Brianne, thanks for sharing your experiences when obtaining unsecured LOCs. Do you suggest starting at Credit Union's for approval first, before going to the "5 majors"? Also, what type of interest rates were you getting, (I know your post dates back a bit), and what was their required credit score? Thanks!

Rob Hamilton, Ontario

Hi, I don't think it really matters if you're starting with credit unions or banks, but I would try to coordinate them so you're doing all your credit checks around the same time, so that each bank doesn't see what the others have already approved. I think my lowest was about prime + 2%, and my highest is prime + 5%. My credit score was pretty high (750+) so I'm not sure what their minimum requirement is. Good luck! 

PS - One more thing I've recently encountered. My 30k LOC through RBC was closed (without my knowledge or consent) because in Jan, I paid off the balance in full when my house was refinanced. I went to use it in Sept, and found out at that time it had been closed. Why? Because apparently with RBC, unless the letter that came with the refinance cheque specifically says to keep it open, they will close it. TD and Scotia did not close my LOCs with them. My letter just said that the cheque must be used to pay off the balance on the LOC, but it said nothing about needing to close the account (and apparently nothing saying to keep it open either). Extremely frustrating when I was counting on having access to $30k just to find out that I don't, in fact, have access to that 30k, mid-way through a project.