[underdog_2009]

This situation takes place in Vancouver, Canada.

At the end of August 2008, I received notice that the residence I lived in had been sold and I was given two months notice to end my tenancy at the property.

By the end of September 2008, I had still not secured a new residence. Notwithstanding this I contacted several moving companies to secure a professional moving company for the end of October 2008. This was due to the large amount of personal possessions I have.

All of the companies I contacted were fully booked for the end of October 2008. The only date near the end of the month I could secure was for Saturday October 25th, 2008. I tentatively booked that date with the moving company.

I then re-resumed my hunt for a new residence with this moving date as a crucial component in choosing to accept tenancy in any new residence.

On October 10th, 2008, I responded to an advertisement for a newly renovated apartment complex. I choose to respond to this particular advertisement because, as a newly renovated complex, there was a strong likelihood of being able to move in on October 25th, 2008.

When I arrived at the apartment, I met with the manager. He showed me an apartment which seemed acceptable. While touring the apartment, I explained my moving situation to the manager. I advised him of my situation regarding having to move on October 25th, 2008. I specifically asked him if I could move into this particular apartment on October 25th. I stated that the only way I could accept this apartment was if I was able to move in on that particular day, which was one full week before the end of the month.

The manager stated that moving into the suite on October 25th would not be a problem. I advised him that I would reconfirm that date with my movers and then get back to him.

I re-contacted the moving company and confirmed the moving date (October 25th, 2008).

On October 16th, 2008, I met with the manager of the apartment complex and advised him that I had confirmed my movers for October 25th, 2008 and I was prepared to sign an agreement to lease the suite. The male manager of the apartment advised that he had another suite to show to a prospective tenant and that he would be letting his wife (co-manager) handle the arrangements.

I sat down with his wife and signed the tenancy lease. At this time I provided a security deposit of $650.00. After signing the agreement, the manager’s wife took my deposit and went to their building across the street with the deposit. She returned with a receipt for the $650.00 security deposit and a copy of the lease.

After receiving the copy of the lease and the deposit receipt, the manager’s wife pulled out a calendar to discuss move-in dates. I stated that I would be moving into the suite on October 25th, 2008 as per my verbal agreement with her husband. The manager’s wife stated that this would not be possible because they were not available for accommodating move-in’s on that date. She referred to calendar and advised that the only available move-in dates were October 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31 between the hours of 2:00pm to 4:00pm.

I advised the manager’s wife that I had discussed the matter with her husband and he had advised that it would be possible to move in on October 25th, 2008. She responded that this was “absolutely not possible”, that the absolute earliest was October 27th, 2008 at 2:00pm.

I was dumbfounded but stated that I would have to check with my movers as I may not be able to accept the suite under these conditions. She advised me to check and restated that the earliest I could move in would be five days before the end of the month. I indicated that accepting the suite would be conditional on being able to alter my moving arrangements.

On October 17th, 2008 I contacted the moving company and was advised that there was no possible way of accommodating me on October 27th. No other moving companies I contacted could accommodate me for the end of the month.

I called the manager of apartment complex by phone on October 17th, but only received an answering machine. I left a message advising the manager that I had contacted my movers and that I could only move on October 25th, 2008. I re-requested that the manager honour his original verbal commitment to allow me to move on October 25th, 2008. This was the only way I would be able to accept residency in their suite.

Later that day (October 17th), the manager’s wife returned my call and left a message on my answering machine stating that the earliest I could move in was five days before the end of the month, on October 27th. She was very firm that this could not be changed.

At this point, the situation was very clear to me. Prior to signing the lease for the apartment, I had a verbal agreement with the male manager of the apartment complex to be able to move into the unit on October 25th, 2008. This verbal agreement was reached with the full knowledge that I was only able to secure professional movers on that day. It was because of this verbal agreement that I signed the lease to rent this apartment.
After signing the lease, the manager’s of the complex either changed their mind, or discovered that they could not allow me to move in on that date.

Even if it wasn’t deliberate misrepresentation, it violates the verbal agreement we had about the lease. In my opinion, after drawing back from their verbal agreement, the Apartment complex cannot then seek to hold me to the lease as they resiled from their agreement.

More importantly, faced with the prospect of being unable to convince these co-manager's to honour their verbal commitment of allowing me to move into their rental suite on October 25th, 2008 – and faced with the prospect of only having 5 days until I had to move – I had to frantically resumed my search for an acceptable residence.

I found another residence on October 20th.

This other residence was at a rental in a suburb of Vancouver. This location was far less desirable from the one located at original apartment complex. It was less desirable because I would now be faced with an hour long commute to my work location and then an hour long commute from work location (instead of being able to walk to work from the original complex). The move to the suburb apartment would also incur a higher fee from the professional moving company. In addition, in order to accommodate the higher monthly rent at the Surrey location, I made arrangements with my girlfriend to move in with me (she has a dog).

On October 21st, 2008 I hand delivered a letter to the male manager of apartment complex. This letter outlined the fact that I could not accept tenancy at his complex because they had resiled on their verbal agreement to allow me to move in on October 25th, 2008. I requested a return of my security deposit.

After reading the letter the male manager acknowledged that he had stated I could move in on October 25th, 2008, but he said they still had some work that had to be done on the suite. He stated that it might be possible to have the work moved up and “perhaps they could see what they could do” in regards to ‘possibly’ allowing me to move in on October 25th, 2008. I advised him that it was now too late. I had needed concrete assurances on October 17th, but that his wife had insisted in a telephone message that this was simply not possible. Owing to the fact I had to move in 5 days (that would be 5 days from the phone call from his wife - now 4 days from this conversation), and owing to the insistence of his wife that no accommodation could be made for moving in on October 25th, I had now had made arrangements with my girlfriend for another rental and that she had a dog (this complex does not permit dogs).

The manager nodded and noted I made no mention of a dog in my letter and asked if I could re-write the letter to mention the dog. I advised him that I could do that, but I would not be able to have another letter ready until the next day (October 22nd, 2008). He said that would be fine. On October 22nd, I hand delivered the letter with those revisions.

On October 24th, 2008 I received a letter from the manager of that complex dated October 23rd, 2008. The letter acknowledged that I had cancelled the tenancy agreement for that complex, did not contain a refund of my security deposit and purported that the reason for cancelling the tenancy agreement was for personal reasons relating to moving into a building allowing dogs. The letter also asserted that, as per a clause in the standard BC rental agreement titled 'liquidated damages', I would be responsible to pay the rent for the apartment until it was re-rented.

At the end of December, 2008, the manager of the complex has filed for a hearing with the Residential Tenancy Branch of BC seeking to have me pay rent for the months of November/December.

My question is... is the lease valid in light of the fact the manager resiled from his verbal commitment on move-in dates?

Can I be held responsible for rent (as per the lease clause under liquidated damages) when I was duped into signing the lease on a verbal promise that was immediately revoked?

I would appreciate any knowledgeable assistance on this.

[gsimpson1313]

The verbal contract will do little to no good for you. Although they did say they could let you move in early if it was not wrote down and signed in some document it is only a mans word with no legal bindings.

[ScottGem]

First, this is way too much info. A lot of people are not going to bother reading it. All you needed to say was;

On Oct 16 I signed a lease and paid a deposit for a new apartment based on a verbal agreement with a co-manager that I could move in on Oct 25. Immediately after paying the deposit and signing the lease I was informed that I coulodn't move in before the 27th. This forced me to find other accomodations and now they refuse to give me my deposit back and want me to pay rent for Nov & Dec. This occurred in Vancouver.

As long as you can document that you informed the managers of the need to move on 10/25, I think you will be OK. If they file suit against you, then you counter sue for the return of your deposit. If they refuse to return the deposit then you sue them. A verbal agreement is binding as long as there is reasonable proof of it.