A Richmond landlord has been ordered to pay more than $14,000 to former tenants due to an unusable second bathroom, mould issues and a broken window.
Spirit Musicorum and Sharise Petty rented a house from Narinder Rai in late 2020 in the Thompson area. They were told an unfinished bathroom in the lower floor would be finished within weeks of them moving in.
It was not finished until July 2022, and leaking water caused mould to grow in the bathroom.
The tenants had a roommate living in the downstairs area, but they eventually moved out due to the mould and unfinished bathroom.
In the end, the entire lower floor was unusable due to the mould issues.
The Residential Tenancy Branch ruled in favour of the tenants after a hearing in February.
The tenants were granted $1,855 in compensation for the unfinished bathroom and $10,600 for not being able to use the lower floor. The landlord was also ordered to pay $1,192 because of cold air coming in from the broken window in the upstairs bathroom and $500 for breach of “quiet enjoyment” of the tenancy.
The $500 was based on testimony from the tenants that Rai “intimidated” them starting in July 2022 “by threatening to move in their son and ending the tenancy” and also on the fact the repairs weren’t completed.
A separate order had been made against the tenants who failed to pay some rent, although the decision didn’t specify how much was unpaid. The tenants didn’t receive their damage deposit back as part of the agreement over the unpaid rent.
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