Strike Alert - RTB Closure September 5th

BCGEU will be staging a one day strike on September 5th; this job action will include Information Officers at the Residential Tenancy Branch. Dispute resolution hearings scheduled for September 5th will not be affected by this one day strike though evidence packages or applications will not be able to be submitted in person - online options for dispute resolution applications will still be available.  

-- Hunter Boucher

Hydro Tip

There are often gaps in time between the end of one tenancy and the beginning of another.    Or tenants may decide to leave early and contact BC Hydro to close their account. The property owner then gets a surprise invoice for the period of vacancy that often can be corrected, but it takes time and effort and the ability to connect with the right person at BC Hydro.

One of our property management members arranges to set up Hydro, water and cable accounts on behalf of new tenants. He has the appropriate forms and gets the tenants to sign them, ensuring the accounts are established at the right time. With the BC Hydro application, he also includes the meter reading at the time the application is submitted. If there is a significant gap between that reading and the last reading (or estimate) in Hydro’s files, the company avoids being charged for the usage that should have been paid by the previous tenants.

-- Carly Ludwar

What's That Noise

Not a lot surprises us here at the ROMS BC office. We get countless questions about some incredibly bizarre situations, however they are our everyday norm. Though from time to time, we hear something so strange, we just can’t help but share it. 

In early November, June, a manager who never ceases to astound us with her sensational stories and ability to cope, called to ask for advice. This time, her story started out with a simple noise complaint. Edie and Gerald, tenants in the basement suite of the fourplex June manages, wrote a very polite complaint about the noise coming from the unit above them (Susan and her two young children occupy the suite above). Because Susan had always been a wonderful tenant, we recommended that June speak with her about the issue. When Susan got home that day, June went up to her unit and asked if she could come in. June entered the unit and before she even had the chance to say why she was there, she saw the culprit. Susan had set up a trampoline in the living room for her children to play on. June could not help but laugh; she explained the complaint to Susan, who had figured the mat under the trampoline would absorb all of the noise. June resolved the issue with Susan very easily, but this was definitely one for the book every landlord should write.

-- Hunter Boucher