Dealing with an unreasonable landlord

[zamler]

Blackmail is always the answer.

[Ducay]

I wear these awesome Nike flip flops in the house, not to reduce noise, but because they're ridiculously comfortable once you wear them.

Could be a win-win for him, your relationship, and your feet.

https://www.sportchek.ca/product/nik...32450076.html#

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Ducay

I wear these awesome Nike flip flops in the house, not to reduce noise, but because they're ridiculously comfortable once you wear them.

Could be a win-win for him, your relationship, and your feet.

https://www.sportchek.ca/product/nik...32450076.html#

Wouldn't those be as loud as wearing shoes?

[burn_this_city]

He'll bang on the floor and complain about the flap flap sounds.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by getbak

Wouldn't those be as loud as wearing shoes?

No, they're a soft rubber/plastic material, like walking on a cloud, but they're also "tight" enough on the fabric straps that they dont "flip and flop" unless you're kicking your heels around trying to make the noise.

I worry for the day that ninjas discover these....although they might find themselves so comfortable they choose not to kill you.

[Huntingwhale]

This situation sucks for you OP. Especially since the solution seems to be for you to move. Take time off work to pack, find a place, worry about damage deposits, etc. All the crappy stuff that involves with moving, you have to do again because some dolt decided to install hardwood floors and then move into the basement. Ridiculous it has come to this.

I had this same issue with some old lady who used to live underneath me when I lived in a townhouse. She always complained that I made too much noise walking. Not only did I work full-time and when I was home my time was spent on the couch, but I also had carpets and found it extremely suspicious that I could walk at such a loud volume non-stop like she claimed.

Eventually my landlord came over to talk to me about this. I explained to her my side of the story. I then asked her to go to the lady's unit downstairs and to call me on my cell phone. I would walk around like I do normally and she could tell me if the noise was unreasonable.

She got permission to go in the lady's unit and I walked around like I normally did. She said other then the occasional creak that she heard when I walked up the stairs, it was absolutely minimal sound that was reasonably expected when you live in a connected unit. The complaining lady was told to stop filing complaints. Eventually she moved and the new tenants who moved in never complained about my walking at any point.

It sucks the person who is living under you is the landlord. Surely they must have understood that installing hardwood floors and additional noise come hand in hand. Obviously their soundproofing sucks and they are extremely sensitive to certain noises.

[Weitz]

I'd just approach the landlord and say its not going to work and say you are moving out October 1. Gives them plenty of time to find someone and they can't keep your DD. They may want to have someone there that they feel will work well and be reasonable.

Its only going to get worse.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Weitz

I'd just approach the landlord and say its not going to work and say you are moving out October 1. Gives them plenty of time to find someone and they can't keep your DD. They may want to have someone there that they feel will work well and be reasonable.

They have a fixed term lease, so they are responsible for the rent for the entire term of the fixed term (1 year the OP mentioned), or until the unit is re-rented.

The landlord is supposed to put every effort into re-renting if a tenant leaves early and then the tenant is only responsible up to the point where the new tenant moves in, but if they don't have a new tenant lined up for October 1 then the security deposit will go towards October rent.

I've had people leave in the middle of fixed term leases before. Generally it's easier to work with the people than try to sue over a month or two worth of rent.

That said if he's willing to risk losing his security deposit then just leaving is one option. There are some downsides.. you don't get a good landlord reference, and when applying at the new place there'll be a gap to explain.

And there are some people who are terrible, who knows maybe they'll keep the upstairs vacant for a year then come after Torture for the whole year worth of rent. Probably wouldn't succeed but going through that would still be disruptive to one's life.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by photon

They have a fixed term lease, so they are responsible for the rent for the entire term of the fixed term (1 year the OP mentioned), or until the unit is re-rented.

The landlord is supposed to put every effort into re-renting if a tenant leaves early and then the tenant is only responsible up to the point where the new tenant moves in, but if they don't have a new tenant lined up for October 1 then the security deposit will go towards October rent.

I've had people leave in the middle of fixed term leases before. Generally it's easier to work with the people than try to sue over a month or two worth of rent.

That said if he's willing to risk losing his security deposit then just leaving is one option. There are some downsides.. you don't get a good landlord reference, and when applying at the new place there'll be a gap to explain.

And there are some people who are terrible, who knows maybe they'll keep the upstairs vacant for a year then come after Torture for the whole year worth of rent. Probably wouldn't succeed but going through that would still be disruptive to one's life.

The hope is for the landlord to be reasonable and realize its not going to work. It would be extremely difficult for the landlord to pull the move you suggested in this market, and would easily lose as Alberta vastly prefers tenants to landlords.

Of course the best hope is the landlord is living in an illegal suite... Then they should be very willing to work with the tenant.

[DoubleF]

@OP: Since the landlord is also the tenant in the basement, why not consider negotiating with him to move into the basement if there's no solution for your "noise" upstairs? That way it solves the "I can hear you from downstairs/walk on eggshells crap". It beats being berated for all sorts of weird noises that he unreasonably cannot handle and it beats sticking it out for the remainder of the term.

If he refuses, then say he has no choice but to deal with the noise or allow you to break the lease. Walk louder until he relents.

Also, HE should be paying for anything that deals with noise. You should not be buying your own rugs to deal with the sound. It's his unit, it's his issue. He sounds like a dink, but if you're offering solutions, maybe he will work with you rather than fight you.

[Torture]

Alrighty, going with a very firmly worded email that documents the history and what I've done so far (in case this gets worse), outlining my rights from the tenancy act, and telling him that this is his problem and not mine.

This email is two pages long so get yer popcorn ready folks.

If it comes to it I'm happy to negotiate ending the lease early but it is really ####ty to have to move again.

I've always been on the "renting is cheaper than owning" bandwagon but I think it might be time to start house shopping.

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by Torture

I've always been on the "renting is cheaper than owning" bandwagon but I think it might be time to start house shopping.

Most landlords are terrible.

Did your landlord put your damage deposit into an interest bearing account? If not, you can probably bail on the lease if that part is included in it.

The interest bearing account earns literally nothing at the end of a year, but it's a requirement they must fulfill.

https://www.alberta.ca/security-depo...d-changes.aspx

Holding the money
Landlords must put all security deposits in an interest-bearing trust account in a bank, treasury branch, credit union or trust company in Alberta within 2 banking days of the time they collect them from the tenant.

Records
The landlord is required to keep security deposit records for at least 3 years after the tenancy ends.

Interest chart
Landlords must pay interest on their tenants’ security deposits at the end of each tenancy year.

The interest must be paid every year unless the landlord and tenant agree in writing that the interest will be compounded yearly and paid to the tenant at the end of the tenancy.

[Torture]

Most landlords are terrible.

Did your landlord put your damage deposit into an interest bearing account? If not, you can probably bail on the lease if that part is included in it.

The interest bearing account earns literally nothing at the end of a year, but it's a requirement they must fulfill.

Fairly certain that he did.

[lazypucker]

Just like your name, you should Torture the guy by wearing work boots in the house!

Or you can ask him to buy you the rugs that he satisfies with. When you move out just wash them and return those to him.

[OMG!WTF!]

Originally Posted by Frank MetaMusil

Most landlords are terrible.

Did your landlord put your damage deposit into an interest bearing account? If not, you can probably bail on the lease if that part is included in it.

I don't know if that would get you out of a lease or not. I suspect if it were an issue in an rta dispute the LL would have like 10 days to comply. It might be enough of a breach. But you shouldn't plan on just walking away with no repercussions.

[Nufy]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

He'll bang on the floor and complain about the flap flap sounds.

Boy did I have to read that twice...

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

Or you can ask him to buy you the rugs that he satisfies with. When you move out just wash them and return those to him.

You'd let someone else decorate your place? He'll just buy the cheapest and ugliest thing that muffles the most sound.

[Torture]

Well I'm sure you all were waiting for an update so here we go:

• Sent a firm but polite message saying that this is your problem, not mine so please #### off.
• Played a round of telephone tag with him afterwards but he stopped trying to call me back. Fine by me, I've said all I need to.
• I also have an additional rug on order from Amazon cause I'm a nice person.

But now the fun part, I got an email yesterday saying that I paid my rent late and further late payments may lead to eviction. I sent an email transfer on Aug 28 and he accepted the transfer on the same day. (This is for Sept 1 rent so yes, that's FIVE days early)

The money has left my account but hasn't cleared at his bank for some unknown reason so now that's my problem. I called my bank and of course, they tell me that there's nothing they can do once he's accepted it and the problem must be with his bank.

So I told him to call his bank, not me, cause as far as I'm concerned it's paid.
And I'm going to pay with cheques going forward and and he can have fun with bank holds for those too.

He sure seems to enjoy making his problems my problems.

[Weitz]

I would have asked to mutually terminate the lease and move on.

Life is too short to deal with this kind of thing.

[Torture]

Originally Posted by Weitz

I would have asked to mutually terminate the lease and move on.

Life is too short to deal with this kind of thing.

Currently looking at houses so yeah, I think that's the point we'll get to but I'm not ready to pull the trigger on buying anything yet and don't want to put a deadline on it unless I have to.

And then I'm oh so tempted to take him to the RTDRS and ask for rent abatement and damages for making this place unliveable.