P.property management company Olympus Properties was accused by Dalhousie Legal Aid Service to demand money from potential tenants before providing a lease – an action which DLAS says is contrary to the Residential Tenancies Act.

In a Press release of October 29Dal Legal Aid says it has heard from several tenants who were asked to pay a deposit, as well as last month’s rent, before being given a lease to sign. Article 6 of the RTA states that “No person may demand, accept or receive, from an individual who may, or requests to become, a tenant of that person, a sum of money or any other value in consideration or with respect to the request of the individual to become a tenant. of this person.

In an acceptance letter acquired by Dal Legal Aid and written on Olympus Properties letterhead, it states: “To secure the unit,” tenants are required to pay a security deposit “IN ADDITION TO LAST MONTH’S RENT TO BE HOLD IN TRUST.” The total security deposit and rent must be transferred by email to Olympus within six hours of receipt of the letter. The letter says: “Once we receive your security deposit, we will prepare and sign the lease. »

Additionally, if the tenant pays the security deposit and last month’s rent and decides to give up the unit before signing the lease, the letter states that Olympus will “retain the entire security deposit” and that the tenant will be “financially responsible for the unit until it is vacated.” rented.” The letter states that sending the security deposit means that the tenant has agreed to the conditions described.

June Xu is named in the Dal Legal Aid release as one of those people who were affected by the alleged actions of Olympus Properties. “They asked for a security deposit and last month’s rent before I even saw the lease,” she says. “When I asked for my money back, they refused. I don’t feel safe, I feel scammed.

Not the only one

Sydnee Blum, a community legal worker with Dal Legal Aid, said in an interview with The Coast that they represented “a number of Olympus Properties tenants” in rental court who paid their rent in advance in order to to get an apartment.

One of the tenants is Matthew Stewart, also named in the press release. He says he paid the rent in advance and the security deposit before seeing the lease, but was shocked to learn that Olympus allegedly tried to withdraw more money from his bank account without notice after signing the lease.

“He and his partner paid the rent in advance and they thought it was their first month’s rent. Olympus Properties told them it was their last month’s rent and so they tried to take out the first month’s rent on top of the money they had already paid,” says Blum. “When they got a stay, the landlord came back and issued an eviction notice for arrears, claiming he hadn’t paid the first month’s rent. They are facing eviction proceedings before the rental board because Olympus does not consider the money they paid for rent to actually apply to their rent.

Olympus Properties did not respond to a request for comment before publication time.

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Blum says situations like this are becoming more common in Halifax as some landlords try to squeeze tenants desperate for housing, noting that Dal Legal Aid has seen an increase in the number of people forced to pay fees file.

“There is currently no appropriate mechanism to combat this type of illegal practice,” says Blum. “The rental commission needs to step up and be more proactive in cracking down on bad actors. »

One solution to preventing landlords from breaking the law is to create a residential lease enforcement unit. Although the the provincial government paid $300,000 for a report Regarding how a residential rental enforcement unit could work, Service Nova Scotia Minister Colton LeBlanc said it would only add more red tape and bureaucracy to the process.

For Blum, this only makes it more difficult to enforce the province’s policy.

“The fact that we have no mechanism to prosecute landlords who repeatedly break the law frankly allows landlords to repeatedly break the law,” Blum says. “There is no incentive for landlords to stop because tenants have to go to the rental board individually if they want the money back or if they want an illegal policy not to be enforced.

“Landlords are betting that tenants won’t do that. It’s a gamble, right? It’s a numbers game: “How many tenants are going to pay us money that we shouldn’t be collecting, versus how many tenants are going to have to go to the rental board and fight this.” »