A Woman Gets 12 Months' Free Rent After Being Evicted By Her Landlord Who Didn't Move In

A woman in B.C. who was evicted from a property she'd been renting for years by a new landlord has been awarded 12 months' rent as compensation for her experience.

According to a dispute lodged with B.C.'s Residential Tenancy Branch, the woman was served a two-month eviction notice in December of 2020, effective from February 28, 2021, so that the new landlord could move in with her child after recently separating from her husband.

The landlord had begun to move items into the unit after the woman left, but didn't actually move in. Instead, the hearing documents said she moved back in with her husband "in an attempt to reconcile the relationship" and she found a new person to rent the property on April 1, 2021.

The landlord said moving into the unit from their family home would have put "undue hardship on her child" as it meant transferring schools and being further away from the father.

However, the tenant said the landlord provided no evidence to show she was separating from her husband and believed her eviction was so that the landlord could re-rent the unit at a higher rent.

Landlords are allowed to evict tenants providing that they, or a family member, move into the property for at least six months, according to details of the Residential Tenancy Act cited in the hearing documents.

There are exceptional circumstances when this doesn't apply, such as if a family member dies, the hearing document adds.

In its decision, the hearing concluded that a landlord who "changes their mind" not to move into the property is not one of those extenuating circumstances and therefore they awarded the former tenant 12 months' rent as compensation.

The former tenant was also awarded $100 to cover the costs of lodging her dispute.