Landlord Judgment Proving Your Tenant

[Dan_Eisenhauer]

Recently, I have experienced two tenants who have left me with fairly large receivables... significant enough to try to get judgments against them. My experience has taught me things about obtaining a judgment that I feel I should pass on to the community.

When taking an application from a prospective tenant, get a SIN, date of birth, and vehicle license numbers. This information will make it much easier to obtain, and ultimately, collect on a judgment. The tenant has the right to not give you a SIN. But, you have the right to reject an application if they do not.

One of my two tenants was inherited with the building. The guy paid cash for everything, including rent. He has no credit history. Nor did the previous owner get a SIN or DOB from him. We will probably be unable to collect any of his arrears.

The second tenant submitted an EFT form to me, which I then passed on to the bank. By giving me the form first, I have their banking information. If they had sent it directly to MY bank, I would not be able to gain access to the information on that form. Having that information helped us track the tenant down. However, I was not asking for DOB or SIN at the time.

My application has been changed to include DOB, SIN, and vehicle license #. Those who are using EFTs, collect the EFT form from the tenant for you to give to the bank. Do not have the tenant forward it to your bank.

If the tenant pays by cheque, keep a copy of at least one cheque, or the account information along the bottom of the cheque.

 

[Bill]

QUOTE (Dan_Eisenhauer @ Jan 5 2010, 11:06 PM) When taking an application from a prospective tenant, get a SIN, date of birth, and vehicle license numbers. This information will make it much easier to obtain, and ultimately, collect on a judgment. The tenant has the right to not give you a SIN. But, you have the right to reject an application if they do not.

The second tenant submitted an EFT form to me, which I then passed on to the bank. By giving me the form first, I have their banking information. If they had sent it directly to MY bank, I would not be able to gain access to the information on that form. Having that information helped us track the tenant down. However, I was not asking for DOB or SIN at the time.

My application has been changed to include DOB, SIN, and vehicle license #. Those who are using EFTs, collect the EFT form from the tenant for you to give to the bank. Do not have the tenant forward it to your bank.

Great information Dan, thanks for sharing. As for the SIN, I believe you aren`t allowed to ask for it, but if it is on your application and they fill it out that is fine.

Regards,

 

[Dan_Eisenhauer]

You can ask for the SIN. But, an applicant is not obligated to give it to you. HOWEVER, if you ask for it from everyone, you are allowed to reject an application that is incomplete.

It is your money that is riding on that application. Do what needs to be done to protect it. I learned the hard way.

 

[asifghayoor]

QUOTE (Dan_Eisenhauer @ Jan 7 2010, 12:46 PM) You can ask for the SIN. But, an applicant is not obligated to give it to you. HOWEVER, if you ask for it from everyone, you are allowed to reject an application that is incomplete.

It is your money that is riding on that application. Do what needs to be done to protect it. I learned the hard way.

Dan,

once you get a judgement against the tennant, how do you collect the money? is it worth it for say $1000?

Thanks

Asif Ghayoor

 

[CaesarPua]

QUOTE (Dan_Eisenhauer @ Jan 7 2010, 12:46 PM) You can ask for the SIN. But, an applicant is not obligated to give it to you. HOWEVER, if you ask for it from everyone, you are allowed to reject an application that is incomplete.

It is your money that is riding on that application. Do what needs to be done to protect it. I learned the hard way.

Thanks Dan. Very helpful post to other investors out there. I quickly checked my application form and thankfully have SIN, DOB and driver`s licence already there.

 

[MikeDix]

QUOTE (Dan_Eisenhauer @ Jan 5 2010, 10:06 PM) Recently, I have experienced two tenants who have left me with fairly large receivables... significant enough to try to get judgments against them. My experience has taught me things about obtaining a judgment that I feel I should pass on to the community.

When taking an application from a prospective tenant, get a SIN, date of birth, and vehicle license numbers. This information will make it much easier to obtain, and ultimately, collect on a judgment. The tenant has the right to not give you a SIN. But, you have the right to reject an application if they do not.

One of my two tenants was inherited with the building. The guy paid cash for everything, including rent. He has no credit history. Nor did the previous owner get a SIN or DOB from him. We will probably be unable to collect any of his arrears.

The second tenant submitted an EFT form to me, which I then passed on to the bank. By giving me the form first, I have their banking information. If they had sent it directly to MY bank, I would not be able to gain access to the information on that form. Having that information helped us track the tenant down. However, I was not asking for DOB or SIN at the time.

My application has been changed to include DOB, SIN, and vehicle license #. Those who are using EFTs, collect the EFT form from the tenant for you to give to the bank. Do not have the tenant forward it to your bank.

If the tenant pays by cheque, keep a copy of at least one cheque, or the account information along the bottom of the cheque.


I see you operate in BC, Dan. Same as me. My experience with claiming against tenants in BC is that the system is geared against the landlord (can`t speak for the rest of Canada). Unless you are totally up to date with the in`s and out`s of the claim/enforcement process, you can waste a lot of time chasing these debts down. Getting a judgement is relatively easy if you have the facts organized and that you can support, but it takes time for the hearing to take place (4-6 weeks), and up to another 30 days to receive judgement (hopefully in your favour). BUT, and this is where your comments are right on Dan,...try to get this enforced and its a different story. The judgement from the Residential Tenancy Branch has to be filed at the court for an order, which in turn then needs to be served (good luck tracking them down). The order is valid for a year I seem to recall. You can either garnishee wages (you need the name of the employer and their cooperation to confirm the tenant still works there) or garnishee the tenant`s bank account. If you don`t have the exact and detailed information needed for a garnishee order you`ll be out of luck. Be aware that if the tenant`s bank account is in joint name, then you need to have your tenancy agreement in joint name to match this. I have gone through the whole process where I tried to register a court order with the Royal Bank and the manager there gave me the cold shoulder as if I was the one infringing her client`s rights...and to boot she rejected my order because it was only in the name of the husband (his name was the only one on the tenancy agreement) yet the bank account was in joint name with the wife. No matching, no enforcement....seemed unjust at the time but it was an education to me. Golden rule, screen your tenants...be vacant for a month if necessary...it`s a lot less grief. There are professional renters out there who play the game...they know the rules and will exploit the novice investor if you are not careful.