That’s a pretty bad tenant!

Smart counter move stating you are interested in renting our your primary residence and to move into the other unit. That would work, but as a tenant, i woudl argue in front of the tribunal that I should only be given my 60 days on or after you’ve signed arms-length tenants to your ‘new’ rental unit. That would be an interesting scenario to see how the judge would rule.

The other side of the coin is that if the tenants are indeed violating the lease, you as a landlord can just as easily approach the tribunal asking to evict the tenants. If the tenants are guilty you should probably win an eviction order. Probably slightly easier than moving in for a few months!

Does the tribunal really impose free rent as punishment for landlords’ misdeeds?

When I was showing my condo, the tenants I most wanted to rent to were the ones who asked lots of questions, nailed down exactly what we were agreeing to, carefully read the entire lease and knew their rights (like you from the sounds of it). My feeling (and it’s borne out with the tenants in place now) is that people who are aware of the legal way to structure a rental agreement are more likely to live up to their end. I’m happy to live up to my end as well: I’m not trying to impose any illegal actions on them.

I’d only try to pull the whole “you need to leave because I’m moving in” if tenants were violating the lease and trying to dig themselves in (and cause problems for me).

Mike (FP): Yeah, I was pretty shocked as well. I also agree that having their place sold underneath them is stressful for tenants (who usually expect high rent and bad changes after the change in ownership).

I agree about bribing the tenants – that’s only fair. Why should a tenant help you sell the house they live in so that you can evict them?

I can’t believe that landlord expected to you to turn your apartment into a public washroom / kitchen… that’s incredible.

I don’t know why the guy wanted to sell – I think he used to live in Toronto and then moved out west or something. Perhaps the tenants had given notice and he just wanted to sell asap?

Here’s how I would counter that – I’d prove you have no intent of selling your primary residence that you currently live in (not hard to show itsnot listed and you don’t have an agent asigned to it etc.). Then I’d take you to the Tribunal and likely win some free rent since you were illegally trying to evict me.

BTW – i’m a fantastic tenant. I just know my rights because although there are some good landlords out there, there are many that are slow on repairs, are bullies, or sometimes simply don’t know what they cannot do. So I keep up to date on my rights as a tenant and because of that, I tend to get along well with my landlord as they either know or learn what their rights are as well.