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A landlord who removed the front door to a rental property before it was ransacked and threatened to go to jail if the tenants did not move out within 16 days, must pay thousands of dollars in compensation.
In a recently published leasing court decision, Darren Phillip Thomas Williams was ordered to pay Seiko Miyazaki and Masmi Motogami damages and compensation of $ 6,520.44 after a series of “serious and egregious” violations.
These include illegally attempting to raise the rent, trespassing on Birkdale property and removing the front door, intentionally damaging or causing tenants’ possessions, and providing them with an illegal trespass notice.
The North Shore court heard that Williams had wanted to increase the rent from $ 485 to $ 540 per week for the Lauderdale Rd home despite a six-month freeze related to the Covid outbreak in March.
Williams, who could not be reached for the prearranged telephone hearing, refused to delay the increase until the end of September.
He then delivered a trespassing notice to the tenants on July 18 telling them they had to be off the property by August 3, just 16 days in advance, and threatening a hefty fine or three months in jail if not. they received them. then.
The court heard that the restless tenants tried to request more time, but were unable to move Williams.
“He yelled at one of them, yelling that he would come to the property on August 4 and that if they hadn’t left by then, he would leave his belongings on the side of the road,” Hogan said.
Then, on August 1, the owner took the “extraordinary” step of removing the front door of the house, described by adjudicator Hogan as “serious interference with his right to obtain possession.”
Williams had Miyazaki and Motogami return home in the middle of the afternoon to find that the gate was gone and their property was left unsafe.
Tree branches were piled up at the entrance, blocking the way to the house.
The couple found that someone had broken in and damaged their television, cut the wires to their vacuum cleaner, oil heaters and a microwave, smashed an electric kettle, and broke and bent several kitchen knives.
A neighbor reported that they had seen the owner on the property.
Later that day, the owner reinstalled the front door.
The court heard that the tenants did not ask him what he was doing because they were too afraid to approach him.
They went to the police but have yet to receive a response.
“During the first two hours, while the tenants were absent and the house was empty, the landlord or someone else damaged the tenant’s possessions,” Hogan said in his judgment.
“Whoever it was, the landlord’s illegal removal of the front door resulted in the property being left unsafe and the tenants’ possessions damaged. The landlord is responsible for that.”
He described serving tenants a violation notice as an “extraordinary and egregious” violation of the Residential Leasing Act.
The tenants had legal legal possession of the property that could only be terminated with a 90-day notice of termination.
“Not surprisingly, receiving an illegal trespassing notice threatening incarceration caused alarm and distress to tenants and was a violation of their right to possession and quiet enjoyment.”
Phillips was ordered to pay the couple immediately
