September 28, 1998

NEwsS

Student renters ripped off, group says

By Simon Grant

VICTORIA (CUP) - Too
many landlords in British
Columbia are taking
advantage of student
renters by refusing to
return damage deposits,
a Coalition group says.

The Tenants’ Rights
Action Coalition says
about a third of callers to
the organization’s hotline
say landlords don’t want
to give them _ their
deposits back - and it has
vowed to change the situ-
ation.

Renters are usually
required to pay half a
month's rent to their land-
lord before they move in
to cover possible property
damage during the lease,
explained Vanessa
Geary, the coalition’s co-
ordinator. If the apartment
is in good condition when
tenants leave, they
should get their money
back.

But often they don't, said
Geary. ,

“We get about 10,000
Calls a year on our hotline
and .. . about a third of
the people who call are
calling because they're
having trouble getting
their security deposits
back from their land-
lords,” says Geary.

‘Students in particular
suffer when landlords are
reluctant to return dam-
age deposits. “Students
tend to move more often,
and students are general-
ly living on a_ lower
income, so a security
deposit actually really
means something to
them,” Geary said.

And of the 25,000 annu-
al arbitration hearings
dealt with by the provin-
cial residential tenancy
office, a third involve

security deposits.
Provincial housing legis-
lation makes it even hard-
er for tenants to get their
damage deposits back.

If a landlord refuses to
return a tenant's money,
the onus is on the tenant
to prove in_ provincial
court that the residence
wasn't harmed. It's a
lengthy process that can
often take up to six
weeks. That's time - and
money for legal bills -
most students don’t have.

“The problem right now

The’ Tenants’
Rights Action
Coalition says
about a third of
callers to the
organization’s
hotline say
landlords don’t
want to give
them their
deposits back.

is that because tenants
pay the deposit directly to
the landlord, it's too easy
for the landlord just to
keep it, whether or not
they have a legitimate
claim,” Geary says.

The Tenants’ Rights
Action Coalition is
proposing a news system
that would see damage
deposits held in a trust
fund by an independent
third party. The money
would automatically be
returned to tenants when
they move out, and land-
lords would be able to
claim the deposit only if
they proved to the third
party the residence was

damaged. Similar pro-
grams in New Brunswick
and Australia are support-
ed by both renters and
landlords, the group says.
“This system has proven
itself. It's more cost-effec-
tive than the existing sys-
tem and it’s fairer,
because the money -is
there to landlords who
have a legitimate claim,”
says Geary.

Geary also explained
the new system will save
money by reducing the
number of landlord-tenant
disputes dealt with
through the courts and
tenancy office.

On top of that, Geary
argues the proposed trust
fund might even make
money. “In B.C., we esti-
mate that there are about
$170 million worth of
security deposits out
there,” she explains. “(By)
pooling that money, you
can make enough inter-
est off (it)”

That interest would
cover the costs of main-
taining the trust fund and
perhaps go _ towards
affordable housing initia-
tives. Landlord groups
are less than enthused
about the proposal. Betty
Norfolk, a spokeswoman
from the Landlord Tenant
Screening Association, a
group representing land-
lords in Vancouver, says

trust fund systems don't -

distinguish between hon-
ést landlords and corrupt
ones.

“What we really need
are stiffer penalties for the
bad landlords,” she says,
adding creating a trust
fund for damage deposits
will just be another layer
of government bureau-
cracy.

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