5 minute read
Hunter’s Hints
HUNTER’S HINTS By Hunter Boucher, Director of Operations, LandlordBC
I once had a dental hygienist that liked to play loud music while she worked, as she put it, “if you can’t listen to it loud it isn’t worth listening to.” I didn’t mind but I can’t speak for the patients in other rooms. I doubt she received any complaints but then again, it’s generally not good practice to complain to a person holding a drill to your tooth.
How does this apply to your rental housing business? Simply put, as a landlord a critical aspect of your job is to ensure your tenants are not unreasonably disturbed by other tenants and occupants of the residential property. This means establishing clear lines of communication with your tenants that encourage open and constructive feedback, following up on this feedback, and when possible be proactive to a situation that could escalate if not addressed early.
In the last issue of The Key I reviewed the basics of setting up a system for tenants to provide constructive feedback. While focus of that article was on handling repair requests, the approach is the same. Ensure you have a simple way for tenants to communicate, acknowledge the complaint, communicate next steps, and follow up. This can be applied to any issue that may arise in a tenancy, including noise complaints.
The difficulty you face when receiving noise complaints is how to do you resolve the complaint? To simplify, it’s easier to look at this as a series of steps. Step one is investigation; you need to interrogate the situation and determine for yourself what is occurring. If a tenant makes a complaint that their neighbour is blasting music at all hours, reach out to other tenants and determine if the noise is truly unreasonable. Get any complaints in writing and ask for permission to use it in future proceedings. It is important to not make a situation worse by acting without verifying the complaint.
Once you have investigated the complaint, it is time to address it with the problematic tenant, step two. Depending on the severity of the issue this should generally start with a simple conversation. This is your opportunity to resolve the issue without causing you and your tenants any unnecessary grief. If possible, have a meeting with the affected and offending tenants to try to reach an agreement for resolution. If, however, the situation is quite severe, or a conversation does not resolve the issue you may need to serve a Caution Notice to the tenant.
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Hunters Hints (Cont’d) A Caution Notice is essentially a prelude to a Notice to End Tenancy. It warns the tenant that their actions, if not corrected, may result in their tenancy coming to an end. As such it should not be used lightly. Before serving a Caution Notice you should ask yourself, is this serious enough to end a tenancy over? Consider the very serious effects that eviction can have on your tenant and only proceed if you are certain it is the correct and only course of action.
As mentioned, a Caution Notice provides a tenant with a warning that their actions may result in an end of tenancy. When filling out this notice you need to provide three pieces of information: • What is the issue? • How does the tenant resolve the issue? • When does the tenant need to resolve the issue by?
Be specific and provide as much detail as possible to ensure the tenant has every opportunity to resolve the issue. This means giving dates and times of disruptions, terms of tenancy that have been breached, and providing a reasonable way for the tenant to resolve the situation.
After the Caution Notice is served move to step three: follow up with the tenant that made the complaint and make sure they are aware you have addressed the issue. Ask them to keep you informed of any problems that arise. If the issue does in fact persist, you will need to further investigate and get
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written complaints that may be used in future proceedings. If possible, get complaints from more than one tenant.
Step four, end of tenancy. There are four notices to end tenancy available to landlords: the 10 Day, One-, Two-, and Four-Month Notices to End Tenancy. Each notice is used for a different reason, and to address a noise complaint you would use the One Month Notice. This notice gives the tenant one clear calendar month to vacate the property. If the tenant does not vacate as per the notice you may need to obtain an Order of Possession through the Residential Tenancy Branches Dispute Resolution Services.
While most complaints about disruption of quiet enjoyment are going to be based on issues with noise, they are not limited to just noise. It is possible that something such as an odour coming from a tenant’s unkempt suite is severe enough that it is affecting their neighbours. No matter what the cause of the issue is, it is important to take the appropriate steps to resolve the matter as quickly as possible. Problems like that can cause significant dissatisfaction and sow resentment among your tenants.
You do not need to wait for a tenant to make a complaint to start the process of addressing an issue. If you witness a tenant breaking tenancy rules you can begin the process of investigating further and addressing it with the problematic tenant. Just because you have not received a complaint does not mean it is not an issue; addressing it early can help ensure your tenants remain happy about their choice of landlord.
ADVICE FOR LANDLORDS FROM THE GROUND UP
• Residential Tenancy Branch
• Evictions
• Landlord/Tenant Disputes
• Construction and Repair Claims
• Strata Disputes
• Judicial Reviews
• Lease Drafting and Reviews
• Property Management Issues
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