- Joined
- Sep 23, 2007
- Messages
- 191
Last fall, we rented a suite to a young girl that was a client of Chimo Youth Retreat here in Edmonton. The tenant was attending school and also working part-time. As long as she kept her grades up and was employed, Chimo would pay her rent.
She was a quiet girl that took relatively good care of the suite but she had a problem paying rent on time. She would be impossible to reach during the day but would call at 11:30pm to tell us that she had a cheque for us.
While she didn`t operate a meth lab from the suite, she wasn`t the tidiest person. We entered the suite to check on the heating system and immediately noticed a strong cat smell. We knew she had a cat but were shocked by the smell. We decided that between the smell and the difficulty in collecting rent, we wouldn`t renew the lease in the spring.
When she moved out, the smell of cat urine still permeated the suite. We hired an odor specialist and he suspected that a deep carpet cleaning would do the trick but did inform us that he couldn`t guarantee the work unless we physically removed the carpet and replaced the underpad. He performed the cleaning and the smell was apparently gone. We withheld a few hundred dollars from the security deposit and returned the rest.
Weeks after the new tenant moved in, she complained of a smell. We inspected the suite and it became obvious that the cat smell had indeed reached the underpad and as the temperature increased, the odor returned. We made the decision to replace the carpet with laminate. The odor issue has been resolved.
While no one from Chimo signed the lease, we did receive a note from the agency saying that they had great faith in this girl and would be happy to go to bat for her. During the course of the tenancy, we received seven cheques total (the initial security deposit and six monthly rent cheques). The security deposit was from Chimo and addressed directly to us as were the final four monthly rent cheques.
My question is whether or not we have grounds to invoice Chimo for the flooring replacement. Does their letter stating their willingness to "go to bat" for this person imply that they also accept responsibility for her actions? Do the cheques made out directly to us from Chimo imply responsibility on their part?
She was a quiet girl that took relatively good care of the suite but she had a problem paying rent on time. She would be impossible to reach during the day but would call at 11:30pm to tell us that she had a cheque for us.
While she didn`t operate a meth lab from the suite, she wasn`t the tidiest person. We entered the suite to check on the heating system and immediately noticed a strong cat smell. We knew she had a cat but were shocked by the smell. We decided that between the smell and the difficulty in collecting rent, we wouldn`t renew the lease in the spring.
When she moved out, the smell of cat urine still permeated the suite. We hired an odor specialist and he suspected that a deep carpet cleaning would do the trick but did inform us that he couldn`t guarantee the work unless we physically removed the carpet and replaced the underpad. He performed the cleaning and the smell was apparently gone. We withheld a few hundred dollars from the security deposit and returned the rest.
Weeks after the new tenant moved in, she complained of a smell. We inspected the suite and it became obvious that the cat smell had indeed reached the underpad and as the temperature increased, the odor returned. We made the decision to replace the carpet with laminate. The odor issue has been resolved.
While no one from Chimo signed the lease, we did receive a note from the agency saying that they had great faith in this girl and would be happy to go to bat for her. During the course of the tenancy, we received seven cheques total (the initial security deposit and six monthly rent cheques). The security deposit was from Chimo and addressed directly to us as were the final four monthly rent cheques.
My question is whether or not we have grounds to invoice Chimo for the flooring replacement. Does their letter stating their willingness to "go to bat" for this person imply that they also accept responsibility for her actions? Do the cheques made out directly to us from Chimo imply responsibility on their part?
