Looking for Advice - Tenants are Separating

[Tony Miller]

Hi,
My tenants are separating and the husband has already moved out. Both
the husband and his spouse signed the lease. He has furniture in the
unit that he is paying for and would like to move the furniture to his
new apartment, however, his spouse took away his keys to the apartment
and won`t let him in to pick-up his stuff.

He asked for my help and I suggested that they try to work this out
themselves. This hasn`t worked and he has asked that I let him in or
that I speak to his wife and ask her to let him into the unit.

Since he signed the lease, does he have a legal right to access the
unit and pickup his stuff?

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated!

Cheers

Tony

 

[RebeccaBryan]

Phone the tenancy board, however they will likely say that there is no ruling on this issue.

In my view, he signed the lease and is still responsible for rent and legally can go in the suite. However, you don`t know what happened between them so it`s risky to get into it. If I were you, you should tell him that it`s not your job to get into the middle of a dispute and if he needs to get his things out, call the police.

This is just off the top of my head, so do call the tenacy board for direction.

 

[GarthChapman]

Tony, nothing good can come from you getting in the middle of this situation. You have no authority in the matter and that would be my pitch to either of them if I were in your shoes.

Your concern now is that the rent is paid, and if it is not then act quickly to protect your position.

 

[Tony Miller]

QUOTE (GarthChapman @ Feb 26 2008, 11:38 PM) Tony, nothing good can come from you getting in the middle of this situation. You have no authority in the matter and that would be my pitch to either of them if I were in your shoes.

Your concern now is that the rent is paid, and if it is not then act quickly to protect your position.

I spoke with the wife this morning and she asked to stay in the unit until the end of the lease (Aug 08). The husband has asked to be taken off the lease and she has agreed to this arrangement.

Thank you both for your input!

Cheers

Tony

 

[mrlaframboise]

QUOTE (TonyMiller @ Feb 27 2008, 07:31 AM) I spoke with the wife this morning and she asked to stay in the unit until the end of the lease (Aug 08). The husband has asked to be taken off the lease and she has agreed to this arrangement.

Thank you both for your input!

Cheers

Tony


Glad to see the tenants were able to resolve their issues without dragging the landlord into a messy situation. Now as for the lease agreement, did they ask you to draw up a new lease? I heard some landlords who did this and ended up with a non paying tenant (no income to pay the rent) and ended up with no recourse on the previous partner/spouse who was the one with the income.

I am currently managing 10 of my units in Ottawa and never experienced this type of request but if I was asked to remove someone from the lease, I would ask the remaining tenant to provide some type of income verification before doing so. I am no lawyer.. this is just my 2 cents!

 

[Tony Miller]

QUOTE (mrlaframboise @ Feb 27 2008, 05:30 PM) Glad to see the tenants were able to resolve their issues without dragging the landlord into a messy situation. Now as for the lease agreement, did they ask you to draw up a new lease? I heard some landlords who did this and ended up with a non paying tenant (no income to pay the rent) and ended up with no recourse on the previous partner/spouse who was the one with the income.

I am currently managing 10 of my units in Ottawa and never experienced this type of request but if I was asked to remove someone from the lease, I would ask the remaining tenant to provide some type of income verification before doing so. I am no lawyer.. this is just my 2 cents!


I will amend the original lease and ask her to initial (I think this is sufficient?). Thanks for the income verification suggestion - I didn`t think about that and I will ask her for the information.

Tony