Apartment rental lease advice

[Travis Munroe]

I really am not sure as the "we have someone else" & "they didnt fill out all the paperwork" contradict each other in a situation I could give no advice on. Do you not have a organization that you could call like we do in Calgary?
If the rental market was anything like Calgary's you could have subletted it to someone for more than what you were paying in a matter of days !!!

[sa226]

Yeah I have emailed the Manitoba residential tenencies branch just to have something of substance. If they don't get back I will call tomorrow.

I have spent the better part of the day reading through the Manitoba tenancies act, I have a few things going for me. A couple things going against me too (some paperwork corners cut due to being out of province)

I did save the phone message from this morning, and it certainly works in my favor. The manager said things like "approved" and said they are still pursuing the rent from the guy who backed out, while asking for me to forward the rent. She seemed to contradict herself a couple times.

[HOOT]

I don't know if this is allowed with the management company you are working with but why not offer an incentive for someone to take your place? When I moved to Calgary the people were moving out of the country and had a lease so instead of paying the $975/month they chipped in $200/month for the remaining months on the lease and we paid a bit less for a 7 months. The guy just gave us $1,400 since they were leaving the country but I'm sure you could figure something out that would work better than paying the full amount of the lease.

[onetwo_threefour]

Originally Posted by photon

This might be pretty low risk, since I've been told inter-provincial legal stuff is much more expensive to bring so it's not worth it unless the amounts are many thousands of dollars. Not sure about that, but that's what I've been told anyway.

You would lose the reference tho.

Inter-provincial recently became less of a hassle from Alberta in that the new Rules of Court allow for service of process outside the province without a court order (this rule trickles down to provincial court). It used to be that one of the annoying difficulties of suing out of province (from Alberta) for smaller sums was having to get a court order just to get started (and thus the added expense you mentioned). Once you get your judgment, inter-provincial enforcement is a bit more of a hassle, but since you're allowed to add your reasonable costs of enforcement to your judgment it's not too bad.

None of the above is necessarily applicable to Manitoba since each province has its own rules of procedure, and it may be just as easy or fiendishly complicated to sue an Albertan from Manitoba. Just thought I would mention the change so you don't automatically write off chasing something in the future due to outdated information.

I'm currently working on suing my deadbeat landlord who let his property manager write me a bad cheque for the return of my damage deposit then failed to replace the cheque for the place I was renting for the last half of 2012. He's in Saskatchewan, but service should just be a registered letter and if I have to get a sub-service order, it will be no different than doing so for a defendant who won't claim registered mail in Alberta. Overall, it costs the same as suing in Alberta now.

[sa226]

Originally Posted by HOOT

I don't know if this is allowed with the management company you are working with but why not offer an incentive for someone to take your place? When I moved to Calgary the people were moving out of the country and had a lease so instead of paying the $975/month they chipped in $200/month for the remaining months on the lease and we paid a bit less for a 7 months. The guy just gave us $1,400 since they were leaving the country but I'm sure you could figure something out that would work better than paying the full amount of the lease.

While the company has a perpetual ad up, I can't really control what they advertise. The ads that I have posted I have most certainly offered an incentive.

Although it is a vague incentive and I modify it at the time of inquiry depending on my motivation to get rid of the thing.

[sa226]

In case anybody cares...

I called the "hotline" and the lady didn't even hesitate. If I was told that I'm off the hook for the apartment, and I returned the keys on that premise (which I have), then its not my problem.

If the manager wants to take it further they have to file a claim with the very people that just gave me that advice.

They advised me to save anything I have as evidence. (Just a phone message but a fairly revealing one)

So now I'm just trying to decide if I should wait it out and see what happens, or call the manager back and tell her point blank what advice I received and what I'm going to do.

[Hockeyguy15]

Sounds like it can't hurt to call them and tell them. Maybe they aren't even aware of what you found out either?

[Hessen]

Nothing to wait about. If you were told by the hotline you're off the hook then move on and wait for another call from the manager. Then explain the situation.

[Northendzone]

just to ensure that the landlord is really not pulling a fast one, can you have someone you trust confirm that nobody is really living there. You may want to get teh keys back until this is settled......

[sa226]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

just to ensure that the landlord is really not pulling a fast one, can you have someone you trust confirm that nobody is really living there. You may want to get teh keys back until this is settled......

Its a good point, but I trust the caretaker.

As well this is a fairly large property management company. If they tried to pull something like that and were caught, it would be a pretty huge deal.

Also the ads that I have posted include pictures of a completely empty apartment. I have also been in communication with people who have gone for a showing and they haven't mentioned anything.

Also, while the caretaker has a master key, I just mailed the the full set of keys a few days ago.

I suppose anything is possible, but I would be quite shocked if that were the case.

[photon]

Originally Posted by onetwo_threefour

Just thought I would mention the change so you don't automatically write off chasing something in the future due to outdated information.

Interesting thanks! If I had the time and energy I'd reconsider going after the lady that stole my fridge while taking off to Ontario.

Originally Posted by sa226

I called the "hotline" and the lady didn't even hesitate. If I was told that I'm off the hook for the apartment, and I returned the keys on that premise (which I have), then its not my problem.

Interesting, did she give any more detail as to why? Was it basically the phone call that triggered it? Or is their law regarding fixed term tenancies different?

[sa226]

Originally Posted by photon

Interesting, did she give any more detail as to why? Was it basically the phone call that triggered it? Or is their law regarding fixed term tenancies different?

Not really.

I may call back for a "second opinion." I might also wait for a response to the email I sent, which was more detailed. Its hard to convey everything and have the person understand everything over the phone when they probably take 100's of phone calls like this everyday. She also seemed to think the fact that I turned in the keys to be a deciding factor, but I'm not 100% sure why.

Basically what I think it comes down to is that I was flat out told that I'm off the hook for the apartment, on that premise I returned the keys. I wouldn't have returned them otherwise. I don't have evidence of that, but I have a saved voicemail that explicitly implies that.

What works in my favor is that if they make a claim to the residential tenancies branch, the manager wouldn't have much of a leg to stand on, because she would have to lie that she didn't tell me I'm off the hook. If she did, I can present the saved voicemail which would certainly require some explaining and backtracking on her part.