Q:
We are renting the top part of a house (main + 2nd floor), and also have exclusive access to the back patio, which is fenced off and only accessible from the outside through a patio gate (this is not common area, but part of what we are renting).
However, the husband of the landlord is renting the (detached) garage which is either accessible from the alley, or from our patio. Almost every day he enters the garage to get paint equipment for his own work (nothing to do with our property), by coming through our patio. He said the garage door off the alley is broken so he has to come through the other door off our patio.
Does act 28 and 29 apply to our patio? Everywhere I read it states 'premise' or 'rental unit' but does that mean he can still enter our patio whenever he wants without notice? It also states the landlord may enter the 'property' or common areas without notice? Is our patio considered the property even though it is part of what we are renting and responsible for?
To prevent this from continuing we want to put a lock on the patio gate. Doing so would not prevent access for purposes stated in Act 29 because the entire property including the patio is still accessible by coming through our frontdoor in order to get to the back of the house if need be. Do I still need permission for this even though I am not 'preventing access' in this case? |
| A:
Section 28 refers to the tenant's right to quiet enjoyment, and you seem to be advancing that you, as a tenant, are being deprived of reasonable privacy, suffering interference, not realizing exclusive possession, and you are being unreasonably disturbed - all because of a broken garage door. My formal advice is to write the landlord identifying the problem, stating what you want done, and by when, also advising the landlord that if things don't happen as you hope, you'll be applying for an order from the Residential Tenancy Branch to rectify the problem. As I see it, from your description, the fellow is going in and out of the garage via the patio because the garage door is broken. Clearly, until the garage door gets fixed, he only has one way in and out, and this involves you and your patio. I would have thought that before now you would have stopped this fellow on his way in or out of the garage one day and figured out a way to get the damn door fixed. If you'd done so, you'd have solved both his problem and yours. As for section 29, this deals with the landlord's right of entry. From your description, while the man doing the to and fro in the garage might be related to the landlord, you don't evidently recognize him as the landlord, in which case section 29 is out of play and in which case the man could be recognized as simply an intruder, or trespasser. If you were to call the cops, and advise them they can find the intruder/trespasser holed up in the garage, the cops would probably introduce you two with the landlord, and insist that someone fix the damn garage door. Whichever way this thing gets resolved, it hinges on fixing the garage door, which is an obvious and simple solution to a simple problem. That said, if you are bent on a complicating things and want them to heat up quickly, put a lock on the gate. |
