| A:
A tenant in a month-to-month tenancy agreement is required to give at least one full calendar month's notice that he is ending the tenancy. 24 hours makes a difference, as you now appreciate. A material term of every tenancy agreement is that the tenant must pay the rent on time and in full. If the tenant doesn't pay the piper, the landlord can issue a notice to end the tenancy, and he can file a claim with the Residential Tenancy Branch to pursue the tenant for non-payment of rent. What the landlord cannot do is with-hold the security deposit without written consent or without authority granted by the RTB or a real Judge. The only odd thing in what you've described is that the security deposit appears to be the same amount as the rent, which indicates the landlord charged you more than 1/2 of one month's rent as a security deposit. As for the landlord renting the unit out illegally, this issue is well settled; the nature of your agreement with the landlord is recognized by the authorities (an enforceable tenancy agreement) even if the legality of the landlord's property and the municipality's zoning by-laws are in dispute. |
