Rental issues

[coolbreeze]

New to vancouver as a PR. Subletted a nice furnished studio from a guy near Granville st ( prime area)
for 60% of the going rental. Wrote him post dated cheques for some months to come. No agreement. The guy
is leaving for his home country for 6 months leaving behind the property manager to help me. He is not giving
me his permanent address nor his job address. Just his phone no. Does not give me straight answers. But seems too nice
and drives me around.

My gut feeling tells me there may be something fishy? Or may be I am paranoid because I am new.

Any suggestions or advice regarding any potential trouble here. SHould I get out of this?

 

[mrbeachman]

New to vancouver as a PR. Subletted a nice furnished studio from a guy near Granville st ( prime area)
for 60% of the going rental. Wrote him post dated cheques for some months to come. No agreement. The guy
is leaving for his home country for 6 months leaving behind the property manager to help me. He is not giving
me his permanent address nor his job address. Just his phone no. Does not give me straight answers. But seems too nice
and drives me around.

My gut feeling tells me there may be something fishy? Or may be I am paranoid because I am new.

Any suggestions or advice regarding any potential trouble here. SHould I get out of this?

Who is the property manager? A Landlord?

You need Landlord's agreement to sublet. If that is done there is little to worry about.

 

[coolbreeze]

No agreement. Everything is verbal. Property manager is not the landlord. Sits in an office in the building>

What are the potential problems with this arrangement? If it could be something serious, I would get out.

And Can I legally stop the postdated cheques I wrote?

 

[Leon]

Worst case, if the landlord finds out that he is subletting, they might cancel his lease and kick you out.

As far as I know, you can stop payments on any checks that haven't been cashed yet. However, it is possible that he could take all the post dated checks to the bank and cash them right now in spite of the date. However, if they do, you can complain to the bank to get your money back because they are not supposed to cash the check until the date. Just watch your bank statements so you can see if they are cashed early.

 

[coolbreeze]

Can he still cash them early if I wrote DEPOSIT ONLY on the checks.

 

[Leon]

If you wrote "deposit only", maybe he can't cash them at all. You should ask your bank.

 

[coolbreeze]

thanks Leon. Also, he gave my postdated cheques to his own bank in my presence..
Can his bank deposit them to his account all at once?

 

[Leon]

As I said in my earlier reply, sometimes banks will cash your post-dated checks but they shouldn't and if they do, you can talk to your bank about having the charges reversed until the date on the check.

 

[steerpike]

You can always ask for a written agreement. It protects both of you. A verbal agreement is legally binding but harder to prove in court.

Did he give you the keys already? If you have the keys then you should be fine. Renters have a lot of rights in Canada and so he cant just kick you out. See this website for more info: http://www.tenants.bc.ca/main/

How is the property manager going to "help you"?

Did you pay a damage deposit? Did you get a receipt for the damage deposit?

 

[Ponga]

Is the unit furnished with any of `his' furniture, belongings, etc., and is he leaving these items in the unit? If not...I'd be concerned that he is terminating his lease but not telling the `real' landlord...and in essence, taking your post dated cheques.

It's an extreme scenario granted, but someone that's looking to take advantage [financially] would probably be "too nice and drive you around".

Have you actually spoken with the property manager to confirm that this person does in fact have authority to sublet to you?

 

[coolbreeze]

The unit is furnished and he has left all his belongings. I collected his mail coming to that address. Before he left , he made me meet the property manager to dispel any "doubts" I had.

I have not paid any damage deposit. I have the keys and I have already lived there one month. So far he has deposited only one post dated cheque
as I have lived only one month. Seems ok so far. I just hope it stays that way.

 

[steerpike]

It sounds fine, so i wouldn't worry. Next time get a written agreement. I am speaking from experience. You dont want the landlord thinking he can say stuff like "I cant pay my mortage this month, i need to raise your rent". Also if his trip overseas doesnt work out and he comes back early, he will probably kick you out. (It happened to me, i went from living alone in a nice two-bedroom condo for a really good cheap rent, to living with 1 adult, 2 kids, and a grandparent sleeping in the living room, until i could find a new place).

Some Condos do have rules agaisnt subletting, but it's rare you would get reported to the strata for that as most people dont really care as long as you are a good renter and quiet.