The BC Supreme Court upheld the eviction of a tenant after the landlord alleged he made it difficult to fight a rat infestation in the building.
The landlord accused the tenant of throwing rat traps out the window and preventing a hired pest control company from doing their work.
The landlord provided a report noting the tenant’s apartment was the “epicentre” of the rat infestation with “factual basis” for the finding.
The tenant, on the other hand, alleged the landlord was lying and said he provided photographs to prove his unit was clean and not the source of the rat infestation.
The tenant disputed his eviction with the Residential Tenancy Branch, but the arbitrator sided with the landlord. The tenant took the case all the way to the BC Supreme Court for a second look.
The judge’s decision was posted online on Monday, where they weighed evidence from both the tenant and the landlord. The judge decided they couldn’t agree that the arbitrator unfairly sided with the landlord. They upheld the eviction.
“For example, [the tenant] says the arbitrator’s finding that he threw rat traps out his window is absurd and, in and of itself, establishes bias,” the judge wrote. “However, the arbitrator considered the evidence presented by the landlord of the location of the infestation, the encounters that had occurred with [the tenant], and the pest control witness’s evidence that [the tenant] regularly threw the traps out his window.”
The judge noted the tenant would face eviction in the midst of a housing crisis — a consequence that shouldn’t be taken lightly.
“[The tenant] falls into a class of tenants that are extremely vulnerable to eviction due to the general and personal challenges that would make locating alternative appropriate accommodation extremely difficult, and in my view, unlikely,” the judge wrote. “However, I see no basis upon which I can reconsider the findings of the arbitrator.”
The tenant will have to vacate the unit by January 7, 2025.