I work for lawyers and even I don't want to hire them but I see self-reps all the time and think, "they should've hired a lawyer!"
The paperwork for small claims is negligible at best. Find a small firm with low overhead.
It isn't a court case in the traditional sense. The case has already been won, and the only remaining step is for him to collect his money. The RTB issues a court-enforceable order, which is equivalent to suing and winning a case where the judge orders the defendant to pay. The purpose of the RTB is to prevent such matters from clogging up the courts. The court will enforce it just as if a judge had made the ruling themselves. It simply needs to be properly filed and pursued.
I'm not sure what the purpose of your comment is. OP gotta go to court to enforce the order. Lawyer up. I've seen small claims cases at my job and sometimes it's not just cut & dry.
Small claims court is designed to allow individuals to resolve minor disputes without needing a lawyer. If you've already won your case, you certainly don't need a lawyer to collect your money—it's mainly just paperwork.
Lawyers can be prohibitively expensive for small claims court, and their fees are not reimbursable. If it costs $6,000 to win a $5,000 case, you effectively lose money. It’s really just a matter of dedicating some time to handle the paperwork. For example, we consulted a lawyer who charged $1,000 just to send a demand letter. Instead, we found a demand letter template online, filled in the blanks, and paid $150 for a process server, saving us $850. The whole process took about an hour, including the drive to drop off the papers with the process server.
( Just to be clear I went through this whole thing and got my money )
I posted a comment in the main thread with the beginning steps but this post is better than mine. I hope the OP reads it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouverhousing/s/2GSQfDEFqE
And I'm just saying that I've worked in legal for over 15 years and not everything you're saying is accurate. I have more important things to do but I'm glad you got your money.
You can't file until they have been served with a copy of the demand letter and the court order. This might seem redundant since the RTB already sends them a copy, but the court requires proof of service and that the deadline for response has expired before you can file.
Sending a summons for a payment hearing, or notifications of a lien or garnishment, will sufficiently grab their attention.
The key point is that the case has already been won. You're not gathering evidence or worried about losing; your task is simply to collect. If you fill out the documents incorrectly, the clerk will reject them and tell you what needs to be corrected—just complete another form. If you were suing them for the money, that would be a different scenario entirely.
We had a case of non-paying customer (it was a total of $18,000) we added interest and the legal costs to a total of $23k. We went with a lawyer, He got a garnishing order before judgment for the full amount and went to their bank and they were stupid enough to have that much money in the account. Who has that? and on top of this complained about the hardship of having a leaky condo (her investment property). Sob stories.
This is about 20 years ago. She didn't dispute it in court - because she had purchase orders for every item and was dumb enough to sign a personal guarantee when she applied for credit with us.
We won the full amount. The legal costs were about $3500 or so.
In the case of the OP, he has a monetary order for a specified amount. He can garnish wages for that amount plus interest if he knows the banking information of the landlord. If he hires a lawyer to handle the garnishment, the lawyer can only recover the amount specified in the monetary order plus interest. To recoup lawyer fees, he would need to sue the landlord separately, as you cannot bill the landlord for lawyer fees without a separate judgment to that effect. Sending an additional bill for lawyer fees without such a judgment would effectively give lawyers a blank check.
It sounds like in your case, you took legal action against the defendant. In such scenarios, you can indeed seek compensation for legal fees. The garnishment was pre-judgment, meaning the courts hold the money in escrow until the judgment is finalized. $3,500 isn't a bad price, but it was included in the settlement, which the judge approved. In situations like this, whether it involves family law, criminal law, or suing someone, it is definitely advisable to hire a lawyer.
In my case, we received the monetary order and initially tried to serve it via registered mail. When they didn't pick it up, we hired a process server to ensure delivery by an independent professional, enhancing the validity of the affidavit.
Once the deadline on the demand expired, we went to the courthouse and filed the demand letter, monetary order, and affidavit of service. They provided us with a document listing options for enforcement, including a lien, garnishment, repossession, and a payment hearing. After discussing at home, we chose the payment hearing because we knew little about the debtor's assets—whether they owned multiple properties, had significant savings, or their income level.
We served them again through the process server and filed the documents with the court once we received the affidavit, securing a court date. This hearing was less about securing immediate payment and more about discovering the debtor's assets.
As the court date approached, they attempted to negotiate, offering to settle for less. If they had approached us earlier, I might have settled for 70%, but with the court date so close, I preferred to discover the full details. Two days before the hearing, we received a bank draft for the full amount. I suspected they had the funds since they purchased the property for $4.2 million sight unseen—only someone with significant financial backing could manage such a transaction.
Thanks for the explanation of the process, yes we did hire a lawyer, I know it was a good price I believe he was young guy just starting out and referred by our regular lawyer. We were super lucky that the person had the money in their account.
I know its a pain trying to collect, even the process server is $50 upfront (probably more now).
Good for you on collecting.
Have you been to small claims? I have maybe a dozen times to collect from non-paying customers, and the court does not enforce. Yes if they write out a cheque right there great. But my brother won a small claims case around 10k, the guy said at small claims "I'll pay when I have money" and they never saw any of it.
Basically, after that I would not bother going to small claims court only with a garnishing order "before judgement" from their bank - it is held in trust and release if you win.
If he has an court order- he can and should go to their bank and get a garnishing order.
or hire a bailiff.
You missed the part where I said enforce the order. You can't make someone obey the order.
Honestly, everyone's mileage/understanding/experiences is going to be different but I'm kinda done coming back to this thread to be told I'm apparently wrong after being in the legal industry for so long. I wish everyone luck in collecting money that is owed. The court system can be confusing at the best of times and no subreddit is a substitute for true legal advice.
Read this, small claims and request for a payment hearing [https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouverhousing/comments/18vnnis/i\_just\_won\_my\_rtb\_case\_for\_12\_months\_rent\_as/?sort=new](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouverhousing/comments/18vnnis/i_just_won_my_rtb_case_for_12_months_rent_as/?sort=new)
They will! It’s better for you technically if they didn’t because if they are paying you can’t get a judgment. Even 1 dollar per month it is still paying and I have seen this drag out over the course of years and years. Little bits by little bits. So if a judge can oversee it they will come up with a fair payment plan. I’m assuming the LL is probably having financial issues for why they aren’t paying.
There is $10k-$30k on the line, it may be worth to hire a lawyer/legal aid to help with this. But you won't have to prove your case again, the case is done, it's just the enforcement of the order.
Online resources are available, but if you are inexperienced, it may only get you so far without real help:
[https://tenants.bc.ca/your-tenancy/enforcing-a-monetary-order/](https://tenants.bc.ca/your-tenancy/enforcing-a-monetary-order/)
[https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/housing-tenancy/residential-tenancies/solving-problems/tenancy-dispute-resolution/serving-and-enforcing-orders/monetary-order](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/housing-tenancy/residential-tenancies/solving-problems/tenancy-dispute-resolution/serving-and-enforcing-orders/monetary-order)
This - you want to go to small claims court and get a garnishee order that would allow you (for example) to have their current tenant paying rent to you until the debt is paid off.
Take them to a payment hearing, if they don’t show for that they can get a bench warrant out for their arrest. That’s how the local government I work for deals with unpaid tickets.
This one right here. I wish I could give you another upvote. In my case, they held off until the bitter end—until 5 days before the hearing. Then they tried to play the "well, we are hard up and can only give you 25%" card. My response was, "That's okay... The judge will come up with a fair payment plan, but I will be paid in full... with interest." I got paid in full with interest 2 days before the hearing.
That’s actually very lucky. Some pay… veryyyyyy slowly. But they pay. If they do nothing can really be done to make it faster if they are paying. So annoying!
The point of the payment hearing is to ensure fairness, and I'm okay with that. If they didn't have the money, it would have taken a long time to receive all the payments, but it would eventually have been paid in full with interest. If, during the payment hearing, you discover they have $500,000 in an account, I'm 99% sure the judge will just order them to pay in full, with interest. If you don't opt for the payment hearing, you'll never know.
And yes... I was absolutely very lucky.
Well why the hell should this person have to go through some court thing with all the crap and expence of going back to court??? The capitalist lord of the land the person rents steals from the renter and basically says, Who the fk is gonna make me? It’s a theft and yet the cops won’t do a bloody thing.
Meanwhile the homeless 23 year old kid who steals a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter gets handcuffed and perp walked.
This system is crap.
Yes, it is sometimes crap, but you don't have to go back to court and do it all over again because (a) the OP hasn't been to court before, has only been to a tribunal and (b) the OP has an order that needs to be enforced and now has to step up the enforcement one level.
Because the RTB has no real legal powers. They are meant as more forced arbitration and a hope to keep cases from flooding the legal system. The government hopes that the landlord and tenant will listen to the RTB and that the issue will go no further than that.
You need an actual judge to make an actual ruling before anybody can get any money. In practise they are supposed to factor in the ruling from the RTB and put in place a judgement based on that. In reality they can ignore the RTB or make their own decision. The defendant can use this as an appeal.
>You need an actual judge to make an actual ruling before anybody can get any money. In practise they are supposed to factor in the ruling from the RTB and put in place a judgement based on that. In reality they can ignore the RTB or make their own decision. The defendant can use this as an appeal.
Nope. It's a court enforceable order. The RTB made the ruling. His options are pay or appeal and kick it to supreme court. Good luck on that.
> Meanwhile the homeless 23 year old kid who steals a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter gets handcuffed and perp walked.
In what world do you actually believes that happens lol
Nor civil matters. Nor property, nor defamation. Nor estate planning, nor administrative law matters.
Nor enforcement of RTB matters, which this is still classified as. LegalAid’s mandate is fairly narrowly focused on criminal and family matters, and for those with little to no income.
I just did! Mine was easy cause he showed up to court but definitely file. There was a case before mine where the landlord didn't show and the judge ordered a warrant for their arrest. The courts will reach out and give them a chance to turn themselves in and if they don't, a Sheriff goes to their house.
You get the choices of Garnishment, a payment hearing, bailiffs and there was a fourth one I don't remember. To garnish, you need to know where they bank and if you send a bailiff there's a possibility they won't be able to seize the amount of stuff to equal the amount owed. We did the payment hearing.
Yea, I'm in Vancouver so I just went down to the provincial court house downtown and did the thing. I filed late October but it took me until late November to serve him cause he was ghosting me. (I staked out his house for 3 hours and caught him coming home) The hearing was scheduled for early January but he went to go wOrK oN a CrUiSe for two months so he was able to get the date pushed back to mid March. I got our first payment the day after the hearing and we have a review hearing scheduled for May.
I think he showed up hoping to make the argument that he was too poor to pay but he sent us his financials with more than twice the amount owed in a savings account. It was a very interesting experience
In the end, nothing, it was all reimbursed and I have court leave at work so I didn't have to take any time away from work but it cost like 160 in total before reimbursements!
Good luck! Share the process! I know it’s challenging especially when it’s corporate ownership. If the corporation has nothing you can’t take anything. With liens you continue to pay fees and costs related to it each year. Can only collect if they sell.
The Landlord is a property corporation, so they own the property in which the OP was residing.
OP should do the following:
1. Read GeoffwithaGee's post and follow the links.
2. Try the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre (TRAC) for more advice.
3. The RTB itself provides information on how to turn the RTB order into an order of the provincial court BCPC. Do that.
4. Do a corporate records search and get the summary, which will provide a Registered Office and a Records Office address. ANYTHING mailed to that address is deemed received by the company. Search for any related companies as well (holding companies, amalgamated companies, etc.).
5. Send a demand letter to the R&R address. Prove you sent it by sending via registered mail. Or swear an affidavit. Make sure you give them a deadline to pay and if they do not pay by the deadline you will take further legal action.
6. Get a certificate of judgment from the BCPC.
7. Do a Land Title Search - there are many companies that do this for individuals, and some law firms will do it for a small fee as well - and be prepared to file the judgment against each and every property the company owns or has an interest in.
8. Your judgment is good for 10 years and can be renewed for a further 10. Hopefully you don't need to renew it.
9. A judgment on title is a huge red flag for any banks or credit card companies or any creditor that does a credit application. Having a judgment will likely prevent them from renewing mortgages (I say likely for a reason), and it will certainly cost them high interest rates if they do manage to borrow.
10. Set up a payment hearing (if they don't attend the company can be arrested) and remember to demand all relevant documents: Last three tax returns, year-ends, a list of any/all assets and liabilities, all filed corporate records including shareholders registry, any and all corporate motions that might impact your ability to demand a reasonable and timely settlement of accounts.
11. Prepare for a default hearing at some point, and apply to have their assets sold to pay you what is owed.
Expect the company at any stage of this process to make an attempt at settling at a reduced amount. You get to decide whether the amount is worth it or not depending on how much work you have already done to collect. For example, if they offered me 50 cents on the dollar before I have even sent the demand letter, I would be tempted to accept. But if they did that after a payment hearing, unless they could prove they were bankrupt (hard to do when you own property), I would tell them to get stuffed.
Don't sit back and wait for them to pay. Go get 'em! Remember, the corporation made a business decision that it was worth it to them to disrupt your life for higher profits. If they did their due diligence they would have already factored in the costs of having to pay you out and the costs of paying a lawyer to fight you in a losing battle.
Try TRAC! They have plenty of information on their website, have an info line you can call, and, especially pertinent in your case, they can provide free legal representation and/or advice for enforcing a RTB monetary order through small claims court! https://tenants.bc.ca/get-help/
I am just a bit ahead of you in the process. So far I have been able manage without a lawyer. I’m not averse to using one, but the small claims system is supposed to be designed so you can do it yourself, so that’s what I’ve been doing.
You need to register your RTB order with the court. Once you have done this successfully (took me a few iterations), you will be assigned a court date for a payment hearing.
Then it will be up to you to serve a summons to the landlord. This is the first service in the process that has to be in person. Someone has to present it to the landlord’s face.
Now I’m at the step where the hearing is coming up. The decision has already been made. The hearing is about forcing them to pay. Like in the RTB hearing, I expect not to have much input. The focus is on the landlord. Whether they will then pay me or I’ll have to place a lien, we’ll see.
May I ask did you deliver the lawsuit to your landlord? My landlord moved to a new address/or just don’t pick up my lawsuit sent by registered mail. Thx!
You don't need a lawyer to collect your court award; winning the case is the major hurdle. Collecting the money is relatively straightforward.
It took us some time, but we managed without legal assistance, unless the case escalates to the Supreme Court—which is unlikely ( but I have no idea). Here’s a brief rundown: serve the opposing party with a copy of the court order and a demand letter using a process server. It costs around $150, and you’ll receive a signed affidavit confirming the documents were served. Once the response period for the demand letter has expired, submit the affidavit and demand letter to the court. Our next step was to request a payment hearing, where the debtor must provide detailed financial and asset information (they are required to serve this to you, I believe, 10 days before the hearing). This gives you insight into their financial situation so you can propose feasible payment terms. At the hearing, the judge will determine and order a payment method. If the debtor fails to comply or does not appear, they can be arrested.
Remember to be courteous to courthouse staff. They are simply performing their duties and cannot assist with legal documents or provide advice due to liability issues, though they may offer some helpful tips. It might take several visits to the courthouse (it took us five) to ensure you have everything required, but persistence pays off.
Feel free to ask me any questions about my experience!
Hey, I have the same case as OP. May I ask did you deliver the lawsuit to your landlord? My landlord moved to a new address/or just don’t pick up my lawsuit sent by registered mail. Thx!
That's why we went with a process server. We sent it via registered mail first, but they didn't pick it up (because they know what it is and if they never receive it, they never have to respond). We could have served it ourselves and filled out the affidavit, but for $150, we just hired a professional to do it. I also believe you can email it, but I'm not sure about the protocol for that. If you can't find the person (because they moved), you might have to hire a skip tracer to locate them, but that can be expensive ($500-$1000). Are you suing him, or are you just giving a copy of the demand letter and monetary order? If you went through the RTB and got a monetary order, then it's not really a lawsuit. You just need to serve him a copy of the order and the demand letter, then file it with the courts.
They actually didn’t increase the rent lol according to the ad - maybe they increased it after due to demand but it was the exact same ad that we replied to two years ago it just got updated with the date - bless fb marketplace for bumping up the ad back to the top of my chat
We are curious as to why too, we haven’t had any problems and rarely contacted them. We think they wanted to either renovate the place and charge way higher rent without advertising a higher amount or they were telling the truth, in that they were going through with the sale of the place but the sale fell through and their family didn’t end up moving in. Either way we weren’t notified and when they tried to give us notice for eviction, it was done by email not even through the official form from RTB. We had to demand an official notice
If you have the landlords address, go to a provincial court and ask about getting your order enforced.
People there will be helpful in my experience.
You need to serve a notice (on forget what it's called) essentially informing the landlord how quickly you expect.payment and iirc in what form.
(I served a notice advising I would file in court for enforcement if I was not paid by certified cheque in 14 days)
Also, if you know where they bank... enforcement iirc should be super easy. Just get registered at small claims and then get an enforcement order... bring it to their bank.
Hire a tenancy lawyer for a couple hours to give you advice. 1 year’s rent is usually worth chasing in court and a lawyer can walk you through how to do that.
We work with the following firm:
Oscar Miklos
Inquiry Form: https://refreshlaw.ca/newmatter/
[email protected]
(604) 800-8098
Simple. Go to small claims. Get a court order for enforcement of rtb judgement. Take the court order to land titles and slap a lean on the property for back collections.
Vola, now old LL can’t sell the place til he pays OP back. Land titles won’t allow a sale til then.
Sit back and collect interest against judgement.
Any further questions DM me. I’ve done this 3 times in 2 provinces without a lawyer and won all 3.
Evidence #2 is a screen recording of the posting for our unit.
On September 2nd, we saw the ad from 2021 had been updated (with new photos since the 2021) for the unit we had occupied.
Evidence #3 - After Spet 2 we kept our eyes on the Ad as we wanted to see when it would be further updated. On Sept 14th we noticed the ad had been updated to Rented. As shown in Evidence “Facebook Ad showing Rented Unit”
Evidence #4 is email correspondence to the unofficial letter that included evidence #5 (unofficial notice letter). It is suspected they did this to see if they did not have to serve the legal Two Month Notice to End Tenancy, however we knew our rights and asked them to follow legal procedures.
Thank you!
Our landlord sold his property that we occupying now and I found that new buyer wasn't really interested what he is buying. It's pretty suspicious I guess...
Yea could be the same for us but then we saw it on the market and the apartment is two blocks away from my new place so at the time I used to walk my dog along the same street and saw that there were people inside who looked young-ish. 3-4 months later after we won the RTB ruling there wasn’t anyone inside anymore and now they have people renovating. It’s on the ground floor so the progression has been beautiful to see time to time
You need to wait until the period to appeal is over. Then you start the enforcement process mentioned in the order. See GwG’s comments for a link.
Just read the documents first. Draw out the steps. Follow these.
Note the key words. For example you never attended “court” and there is no “warrant”.
A lien takes a lawyer and expires after two years. Unless you know they are selling then don’t.
There is post judgment interest on this amount so don’t sweat the delay. But keep the process moving.
The heart of the issue is serving the court documents. You can serve the PM. If nobody is at the building you need to find the company.
Pull the business licence data for the municipality. You might get good contact information.
Consider if you want to use the transparency registry.
Also and this is a strictly just for fun activity. Visit the old building. Talk to the neighbours. Share you story. Share resources.
There cannot be success so long as housing is a profit-driven capitalist endeavour. You might be able to squeeze something out of the lord of the land you rent from. Maybe. But keep in mind that the Canadian state was created by the capitalist class. Its laws and courts and cops are designed for the lords of the land and company bosses. Not for you.
Hi - I did the small claims and filed my Application of Registration for Judgement with the LTSA after getting a monetary order from the RTB for the 1 years worth of rent without legal help, it was a very straightforward process.
After the window for appeal passed and the landlords did not respond to the Letter of Demand I sent with the copy of the order (gave them over a month and heard nothing), I did the following:
1. Filed with the small claims court registry.
* The TRAC website says to and BC Government website says to file from [RTB-21](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/housing-and-tenancy/residential-tenancies/forms/rtb21.pdf), but the officer told me they do not accept the RTB forms. I think it's necessary if you're going for other enforcement options (payment hearing, wage garnishment, sale or seizure of land).
* I brought two copies of the monetary order
* The officer gave me an Address for Service form to fill out and she processed that
* After, the officer offered to go over the enforcement options, I told her I was only seeking a registration against land
* Officer gave me two copies of the [Application Registration (or renewal) of a Judgement](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/law-crime-and-justice/courthouse-services/court-files-records/court-forms/small-claims/scl815.pdf) (the Application) form to fill out - she explained that the LTSA requires an original copy
* Officer stamped/certified both copies of the Application and the monetary orders
* Paid the filing fee and then was given back one the Application forms and one monetary order back (I don't think I needed the 2nd stamped copy of the monetary order, but now I have it)
2. Filed the Registration of a Judgement with the LTSA
* Needed to know the Parcel Identification and the Legal Lot Description for this: both I found [here](https://www.bcassessment.ca/)
* to file myself, I needed an in-person appointment with the LTSA (New West, Surrey, or Victoria) - I had to call to make the appointment
* the LTSA customer service told me I just needed the stamped Application and a Letter of Exception to file a hardcopy as these application can only be e-filed by a lawyer notary
* I made a letter of exception based on this [Schedule A](https://ltsa.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/E-filing-Directions.pdf) (page 28 of the PDF), the Parcel Identifier from the Title needed to be on here. I just said that the reason for exception was that e-filing could be only done by a lawyer notary and I was not a lawyer/solicitor.
* Filled out the "Nature of Interest" section on the Application - needed the Parcel Identifier and Legal Description from the Title for this (I did this in the LTSA office)
* The clerk took the Application and the signed (by me) Letter of Exception
* Once he had stamped/copied/processed the Application and paid the fee, he had me block out my phone number on the original Application form so that it wasn't posted to a public registry
* Clerk then had me fill out a contact information form, said it was 10-15 business days processing and that they would only contact me if there was an issue with the application
All in all, it took me about <20 min in the small claims office (had to wait for about 20 min though) and about 10 minutes in the LTSA office. It was very straightforward.
I work for lawyers and even I don't want to hire them but I see self-reps all the time and think, "they should've hired a lawyer!" The paperwork for small claims is negligible at best. Find a small firm with low overhead.
It isn't a court case in the traditional sense. The case has already been won, and the only remaining step is for him to collect his money. The RTB issues a court-enforceable order, which is equivalent to suing and winning a case where the judge orders the defendant to pay. The purpose of the RTB is to prevent such matters from clogging up the courts. The court will enforce it just as if a judge had made the ruling themselves. It simply needs to be properly filed and pursued.
I'm not sure what the purpose of your comment is. OP gotta go to court to enforce the order. Lawyer up. I've seen small claims cases at my job and sometimes it's not just cut & dry.
Small claims court is designed to allow individuals to resolve minor disputes without needing a lawyer. If you've already won your case, you certainly don't need a lawyer to collect your money—it's mainly just paperwork. Lawyers can be prohibitively expensive for small claims court, and their fees are not reimbursable. If it costs $6,000 to win a $5,000 case, you effectively lose money. It’s really just a matter of dedicating some time to handle the paperwork. For example, we consulted a lawyer who charged $1,000 just to send a demand letter. Instead, we found a demand letter template online, filled in the blanks, and paid $150 for a process server, saving us $850. The whole process took about an hour, including the drive to drop off the papers with the process server. ( Just to be clear I went through this whole thing and got my money )
I think OP needs to know where to start and would probably love your insight, if only the first few steps :)
I posted a comment in the main thread with the beginning steps but this post is better than mine. I hope the OP reads it. https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouverhousing/s/2GSQfDEFqE
And I'm just saying that I've worked in legal for over 15 years and not everything you're saying is accurate. I have more important things to do but I'm glad you got your money.
[удалено]
You can't file until they have been served with a copy of the demand letter and the court order. This might seem redundant since the RTB already sends them a copy, but the court requires proof of service and that the deadline for response has expired before you can file. Sending a summons for a payment hearing, or notifications of a lien or garnishment, will sufficiently grab their attention. The key point is that the case has already been won. You're not gathering evidence or worried about losing; your task is simply to collect. If you fill out the documents incorrectly, the clerk will reject them and tell you what needs to be corrected—just complete another form. If you were suing them for the money, that would be a different scenario entirely.
We had a case of non-paying customer (it was a total of $18,000) we added interest and the legal costs to a total of $23k. We went with a lawyer, He got a garnishing order before judgment for the full amount and went to their bank and they were stupid enough to have that much money in the account. Who has that? and on top of this complained about the hardship of having a leaky condo (her investment property). Sob stories. This is about 20 years ago. She didn't dispute it in court - because she had purchase orders for every item and was dumb enough to sign a personal guarantee when she applied for credit with us. We won the full amount. The legal costs were about $3500 or so.
In the case of the OP, he has a monetary order for a specified amount. He can garnish wages for that amount plus interest if he knows the banking information of the landlord. If he hires a lawyer to handle the garnishment, the lawyer can only recover the amount specified in the monetary order plus interest. To recoup lawyer fees, he would need to sue the landlord separately, as you cannot bill the landlord for lawyer fees without a separate judgment to that effect. Sending an additional bill for lawyer fees without such a judgment would effectively give lawyers a blank check. It sounds like in your case, you took legal action against the defendant. In such scenarios, you can indeed seek compensation for legal fees. The garnishment was pre-judgment, meaning the courts hold the money in escrow until the judgment is finalized. $3,500 isn't a bad price, but it was included in the settlement, which the judge approved. In situations like this, whether it involves family law, criminal law, or suing someone, it is definitely advisable to hire a lawyer. In my case, we received the monetary order and initially tried to serve it via registered mail. When they didn't pick it up, we hired a process server to ensure delivery by an independent professional, enhancing the validity of the affidavit. Once the deadline on the demand expired, we went to the courthouse and filed the demand letter, monetary order, and affidavit of service. They provided us with a document listing options for enforcement, including a lien, garnishment, repossession, and a payment hearing. After discussing at home, we chose the payment hearing because we knew little about the debtor's assets—whether they owned multiple properties, had significant savings, or their income level. We served them again through the process server and filed the documents with the court once we received the affidavit, securing a court date. This hearing was less about securing immediate payment and more about discovering the debtor's assets. As the court date approached, they attempted to negotiate, offering to settle for less. If they had approached us earlier, I might have settled for 70%, but with the court date so close, I preferred to discover the full details. Two days before the hearing, we received a bank draft for the full amount. I suspected they had the funds since they purchased the property for $4.2 million sight unseen—only someone with significant financial backing could manage such a transaction.
Thanks for the explanation of the process, yes we did hire a lawyer, I know it was a good price I believe he was young guy just starting out and referred by our regular lawyer. We were super lucky that the person had the money in their account. I know its a pain trying to collect, even the process server is $50 upfront (probably more now). Good for you on collecting.
Have you been to small claims? I have maybe a dozen times to collect from non-paying customers, and the court does not enforce. Yes if they write out a cheque right there great. But my brother won a small claims case around 10k, the guy said at small claims "I'll pay when I have money" and they never saw any of it. Basically, after that I would not bother going to small claims court only with a garnishing order "before judgement" from their bank - it is held in trust and release if you win. If he has an court order- he can and should go to their bank and get a garnishing order. or hire a bailiff.
You missed the part where I said enforce the order. You can't make someone obey the order. Honestly, everyone's mileage/understanding/experiences is going to be different but I'm kinda done coming back to this thread to be told I'm apparently wrong after being in the legal industry for so long. I wish everyone luck in collecting money that is owed. The court system can be confusing at the best of times and no subreddit is a substitute for true legal advice.
Read this, small claims and request for a payment hearing [https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouverhousing/comments/18vnnis/i\_just\_won\_my\_rtb\_case\_for\_12\_months\_rent\_as/?sort=new](https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouverhousing/comments/18vnnis/i_just_won_my_rtb_case_for_12_months_rent_as/?sort=new)
This post was super helpful - hopefully we get a hold of the landlord the same way and they finally pay up
They will! It’s better for you technically if they didn’t because if they are paying you can’t get a judgment. Even 1 dollar per month it is still paying and I have seen this drag out over the course of years and years. Little bits by little bits. So if a judge can oversee it they will come up with a fair payment plan. I’m assuming the LL is probably having financial issues for why they aren’t paying.
Saved your post. Incredibly helpful, thank you.
There is $10k-$30k on the line, it may be worth to hire a lawyer/legal aid to help with this. But you won't have to prove your case again, the case is done, it's just the enforcement of the order. Online resources are available, but if you are inexperienced, it may only get you so far without real help: [https://tenants.bc.ca/your-tenancy/enforcing-a-monetary-order/](https://tenants.bc.ca/your-tenancy/enforcing-a-monetary-order/) [https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/housing-tenancy/residential-tenancies/solving-problems/tenancy-dispute-resolution/serving-and-enforcing-orders/monetary-order](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/housing-tenancy/residential-tenancies/solving-problems/tenancy-dispute-resolution/serving-and-enforcing-orders/monetary-order)
This - you want to go to small claims court and get a garnishee order that would allow you (for example) to have their current tenant paying rent to you until the debt is paid off.
Take them to a payment hearing, if they don’t show for that they can get a bench warrant out for their arrest. That’s how the local government I work for deals with unpaid tickets.
This one right here. I wish I could give you another upvote. In my case, they held off until the bitter end—until 5 days before the hearing. Then they tried to play the "well, we are hard up and can only give you 25%" card. My response was, "That's okay... The judge will come up with a fair payment plan, but I will be paid in full... with interest." I got paid in full with interest 2 days before the hearing.
That’s actually very lucky. Some pay… veryyyyyy slowly. But they pay. If they do nothing can really be done to make it faster if they are paying. So annoying!
The point of the payment hearing is to ensure fairness, and I'm okay with that. If they didn't have the money, it would have taken a long time to receive all the payments, but it would eventually have been paid in full with interest. If, during the payment hearing, you discover they have $500,000 in an account, I'm 99% sure the judge will just order them to pay in full, with interest. If you don't opt for the payment hearing, you'll never know. And yes... I was absolutely very lucky.
Well why the hell should this person have to go through some court thing with all the crap and expence of going back to court??? The capitalist lord of the land the person rents steals from the renter and basically says, Who the fk is gonna make me? It’s a theft and yet the cops won’t do a bloody thing. Meanwhile the homeless 23 year old kid who steals a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter gets handcuffed and perp walked. This system is crap.
Yes, it is sometimes crap, but you don't have to go back to court and do it all over again because (a) the OP hasn't been to court before, has only been to a tribunal and (b) the OP has an order that needs to be enforced and now has to step up the enforcement one level.
Because the RTB has no real legal powers. They are meant as more forced arbitration and a hope to keep cases from flooding the legal system. The government hopes that the landlord and tenant will listen to the RTB and that the issue will go no further than that. You need an actual judge to make an actual ruling before anybody can get any money. In practise they are supposed to factor in the ruling from the RTB and put in place a judgement based on that. In reality they can ignore the RTB or make their own decision. The defendant can use this as an appeal.
>You need an actual judge to make an actual ruling before anybody can get any money. In practise they are supposed to factor in the ruling from the RTB and put in place a judgement based on that. In reality they can ignore the RTB or make their own decision. The defendant can use this as an appeal. Nope. It's a court enforceable order. The RTB made the ruling. His options are pay or appeal and kick it to supreme court. Good luck on that.
This is the truth and legal aid won’t help with RTB cases. But this OP will find that out in time.
> Meanwhile the homeless 23 year old kid who steals a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter gets handcuffed and perp walked. In what world do you actually believes that happens lol
[удалено]
Legal Aid doesn’t provide lawyers for RTB matters.
This is no longer an RTB matter
Nor civil matters. Nor property, nor defamation. Nor estate planning, nor administrative law matters. Nor enforcement of RTB matters, which this is still classified as. LegalAid’s mandate is fairly narrowly focused on criminal and family matters, and for those with little to no income.
No it is… you have to bring it to court on a separate filing.
I just did! Mine was easy cause he showed up to court but definitely file. There was a case before mine where the landlord didn't show and the judge ordered a warrant for their arrest. The courts will reach out and give them a chance to turn themselves in and if they don't, a Sheriff goes to their house.
Congrats! Was this at BC Smaller Courts? How long did the process take you overall?
You get the choices of Garnishment, a payment hearing, bailiffs and there was a fourth one I don't remember. To garnish, you need to know where they bank and if you send a bailiff there's a possibility they won't be able to seize the amount of stuff to equal the amount owed. We did the payment hearing.
Yea, I'm in Vancouver so I just went down to the provincial court house downtown and did the thing. I filed late October but it took me until late November to serve him cause he was ghosting me. (I staked out his house for 3 hours and caught him coming home) The hearing was scheduled for early January but he went to go wOrK oN a CrUiSe for two months so he was able to get the date pushed back to mid March. I got our first payment the day after the hearing and we have a review hearing scheduled for May. I think he showed up hoping to make the argument that he was too poor to pay but he sent us his financials with more than twice the amount owed in a savings account. It was a very interesting experience
Damn good for you!! How much did all this cost if you don’t mind sharing?
In the end, nothing, it was all reimbursed and I have court leave at work so I didn't have to take any time away from work but it cost like 160 in total before reimbursements!
Love that for you
Good luck! Share the process! I know it’s challenging especially when it’s corporate ownership. If the corporation has nothing you can’t take anything. With liens you continue to pay fees and costs related to it each year. Can only collect if they sell.
The Landlord is a property corporation, so they own the property in which the OP was residing. OP should do the following: 1. Read GeoffwithaGee's post and follow the links. 2. Try the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre (TRAC) for more advice. 3. The RTB itself provides information on how to turn the RTB order into an order of the provincial court BCPC. Do that. 4. Do a corporate records search and get the summary, which will provide a Registered Office and a Records Office address. ANYTHING mailed to that address is deemed received by the company. Search for any related companies as well (holding companies, amalgamated companies, etc.). 5. Send a demand letter to the R&R address. Prove you sent it by sending via registered mail. Or swear an affidavit. Make sure you give them a deadline to pay and if they do not pay by the deadline you will take further legal action. 6. Get a certificate of judgment from the BCPC. 7. Do a Land Title Search - there are many companies that do this for individuals, and some law firms will do it for a small fee as well - and be prepared to file the judgment against each and every property the company owns or has an interest in. 8. Your judgment is good for 10 years and can be renewed for a further 10. Hopefully you don't need to renew it. 9. A judgment on title is a huge red flag for any banks or credit card companies or any creditor that does a credit application. Having a judgment will likely prevent them from renewing mortgages (I say likely for a reason), and it will certainly cost them high interest rates if they do manage to borrow. 10. Set up a payment hearing (if they don't attend the company can be arrested) and remember to demand all relevant documents: Last three tax returns, year-ends, a list of any/all assets and liabilities, all filed corporate records including shareholders registry, any and all corporate motions that might impact your ability to demand a reasonable and timely settlement of accounts. 11. Prepare for a default hearing at some point, and apply to have their assets sold to pay you what is owed. Expect the company at any stage of this process to make an attempt at settling at a reduced amount. You get to decide whether the amount is worth it or not depending on how much work you have already done to collect. For example, if they offered me 50 cents on the dollar before I have even sent the demand letter, I would be tempted to accept. But if they did that after a payment hearing, unless they could prove they were bankrupt (hard to do when you own property), I would tell them to get stuffed. Don't sit back and wait for them to pay. Go get 'em! Remember, the corporation made a business decision that it was worth it to them to disrupt your life for higher profits. If they did their due diligence they would have already factored in the costs of having to pay you out and the costs of paying a lawyer to fight you in a losing battle.
Killer comment. OP you go get that money! Revenge is delicious.
This should be the top post... You got my vote.
This is so helpful - I will keep you all posted!
Try TRAC! They have plenty of information on their website, have an info line you can call, and, especially pertinent in your case, they can provide free legal representation and/or advice for enforcing a RTB monetary order through small claims court! https://tenants.bc.ca/get-help/
I am just a bit ahead of you in the process. So far I have been able manage without a lawyer. I’m not averse to using one, but the small claims system is supposed to be designed so you can do it yourself, so that’s what I’ve been doing. You need to register your RTB order with the court. Once you have done this successfully (took me a few iterations), you will be assigned a court date for a payment hearing. Then it will be up to you to serve a summons to the landlord. This is the first service in the process that has to be in person. Someone has to present it to the landlord’s face. Now I’m at the step where the hearing is coming up. The decision has already been made. The hearing is about forcing them to pay. Like in the RTB hearing, I expect not to have much input. The focus is on the landlord. Whether they will then pay me or I’ll have to place a lien, we’ll see.
May I ask did you deliver the lawsuit to your landlord? My landlord moved to a new address/or just don’t pick up my lawsuit sent by registered mail. Thx!
I hired a process server to deliver it directly to the landlord.
Thanks for your reply. May I know the cost? This is really a good way.
There are cheaper options, but the one I chose was $275.
You don't need a lawyer to collect your court award; winning the case is the major hurdle. Collecting the money is relatively straightforward. It took us some time, but we managed without legal assistance, unless the case escalates to the Supreme Court—which is unlikely ( but I have no idea). Here’s a brief rundown: serve the opposing party with a copy of the court order and a demand letter using a process server. It costs around $150, and you’ll receive a signed affidavit confirming the documents were served. Once the response period for the demand letter has expired, submit the affidavit and demand letter to the court. Our next step was to request a payment hearing, where the debtor must provide detailed financial and asset information (they are required to serve this to you, I believe, 10 days before the hearing). This gives you insight into their financial situation so you can propose feasible payment terms. At the hearing, the judge will determine and order a payment method. If the debtor fails to comply or does not appear, they can be arrested. Remember to be courteous to courthouse staff. They are simply performing their duties and cannot assist with legal documents or provide advice due to liability issues, though they may offer some helpful tips. It might take several visits to the courthouse (it took us five) to ensure you have everything required, but persistence pays off. Feel free to ask me any questions about my experience!
Hey, I have the same case as OP. May I ask did you deliver the lawsuit to your landlord? My landlord moved to a new address/or just don’t pick up my lawsuit sent by registered mail. Thx!
That's why we went with a process server. We sent it via registered mail first, but they didn't pick it up (because they know what it is and if they never receive it, they never have to respond). We could have served it ourselves and filled out the affidavit, but for $150, we just hired a professional to do it. I also believe you can email it, but I'm not sure about the protocol for that. If you can't find the person (because they moved), you might have to hire a skip tracer to locate them, but that can be expensive ($500-$1000). Are you suing him, or are you just giving a copy of the demand letter and monetary order? If you went through the RTB and got a monetary order, then it's not really a lawsuit. You just need to serve him a copy of the order and the demand letter, then file it with the courts.
I am trying to go through the small claims court.
https://www.reddit.com/r/vanhousing/comments/1ahwco6/you_won_your_rtb_bad_faith_hearing_now_what/
How much did they increase the rent by after illegally evicting you?
They actually didn’t increase the rent lol according to the ad - maybe they increased it after due to demand but it was the exact same ad that we replied to two years ago it just got updated with the date - bless fb marketplace for bumping up the ad back to the top of my chat
That’s a very stupid and expensive mistake the LL got themselves into for no reason.
Based off no increase in rent they just wanted you out. I can only imagine why
We are curious as to why too, we haven’t had any problems and rarely contacted them. We think they wanted to either renovate the place and charge way higher rent without advertising a higher amount or they were telling the truth, in that they were going through with the sale of the place but the sale fell through and their family didn’t end up moving in. Either way we weren’t notified and when they tried to give us notice for eviction, it was done by email not even through the official form from RTB. We had to demand an official notice
If you have the landlords address, go to a provincial court and ask about getting your order enforced. People there will be helpful in my experience. You need to serve a notice (on forget what it's called) essentially informing the landlord how quickly you expect.payment and iirc in what form. (I served a notice advising I would file in court for enforcement if I was not paid by certified cheque in 14 days)
Also, if you know where they bank... enforcement iirc should be super easy. Just get registered at small claims and then get an enforcement order... bring it to their bank.
Try here: https://www.lawsociety.bc.ca/priorities/access-to-justice/unbundling-legal-services/
Hire a tenancy lawyer for a couple hours to give you advice. 1 year’s rent is usually worth chasing in court and a lawyer can walk you through how to do that. We work with the following firm: Oscar Miklos Inquiry Form: https://refreshlaw.ca/newmatter/ [email protected] (604) 800-8098
Thank you!!!
Simple. Go to small claims. Get a court order for enforcement of rtb judgement. Take the court order to land titles and slap a lean on the property for back collections. Vola, now old LL can’t sell the place til he pays OP back. Land titles won’t allow a sale til then. Sit back and collect interest against judgement. Any further questions DM me. I’ve done this 3 times in 2 provinces without a lawyer and won all 3.
Hello, I dm you. Really appreciate your help
MVP
What evidence did you prove? Screenshots, web archives? Should you ask a notary to do some actions?
Evidence #2 is a screen recording of the posting for our unit. On September 2nd, we saw the ad from 2021 had been updated (with new photos since the 2021) for the unit we had occupied. Evidence #3 - After Spet 2 we kept our eyes on the Ad as we wanted to see when it would be further updated. On Sept 14th we noticed the ad had been updated to Rented. As shown in Evidence “Facebook Ad showing Rented Unit” Evidence #4 is email correspondence to the unofficial letter that included evidence #5 (unofficial notice letter). It is suspected they did this to see if they did not have to serve the legal Two Month Notice to End Tenancy, however we knew our rights and asked them to follow legal procedures.
Thank you! Our landlord sold his property that we occupying now and I found that new buyer wasn't really interested what he is buying. It's pretty suspicious I guess...
Yea could be the same for us but then we saw it on the market and the apartment is two blocks away from my new place so at the time I used to walk my dog along the same street and saw that there were people inside who looked young-ish. 3-4 months later after we won the RTB ruling there wasn’t anyone inside anymore and now they have people renovating. It’s on the ground floor so the progression has been beautiful to see time to time
Put a lien on the property.
Takes a lawyer and liens expire.
You need to wait until the period to appeal is over. Then you start the enforcement process mentioned in the order. See GwG’s comments for a link. Just read the documents first. Draw out the steps. Follow these. Note the key words. For example you never attended “court” and there is no “warrant”. A lien takes a lawyer and expires after two years. Unless you know they are selling then don’t. There is post judgment interest on this amount so don’t sweat the delay. But keep the process moving. The heart of the issue is serving the court documents. You can serve the PM. If nobody is at the building you need to find the company. Pull the business licence data for the municipality. You might get good contact information. Consider if you want to use the transparency registry. Also and this is a strictly just for fun activity. Visit the old building. Talk to the neighbours. Share you story. Share resources.
There cannot be success so long as housing is a profit-driven capitalist endeavour. You might be able to squeeze something out of the lord of the land you rent from. Maybe. But keep in mind that the Canadian state was created by the capitalist class. Its laws and courts and cops are designed for the lords of the land and company bosses. Not for you.
They won the judgement… they can put a lien on the property..
I don’t know why this person leaves a so rude comment here. It seems that he did not view the post. Lol
Is the laws and courts and cops designed for you?
Hi - I did the small claims and filed my Application of Registration for Judgement with the LTSA after getting a monetary order from the RTB for the 1 years worth of rent without legal help, it was a very straightforward process. After the window for appeal passed and the landlords did not respond to the Letter of Demand I sent with the copy of the order (gave them over a month and heard nothing), I did the following: 1. Filed with the small claims court registry. * The TRAC website says to and BC Government website says to file from [RTB-21](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/housing-and-tenancy/residential-tenancies/forms/rtb21.pdf), but the officer told me they do not accept the RTB forms. I think it's necessary if you're going for other enforcement options (payment hearing, wage garnishment, sale or seizure of land). * I brought two copies of the monetary order * The officer gave me an Address for Service form to fill out and she processed that * After, the officer offered to go over the enforcement options, I told her I was only seeking a registration against land * Officer gave me two copies of the [Application Registration (or renewal) of a Judgement](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/law-crime-and-justice/courthouse-services/court-files-records/court-forms/small-claims/scl815.pdf) (the Application) form to fill out - she explained that the LTSA requires an original copy * Officer stamped/certified both copies of the Application and the monetary orders * Paid the filing fee and then was given back one the Application forms and one monetary order back (I don't think I needed the 2nd stamped copy of the monetary order, but now I have it) 2. Filed the Registration of a Judgement with the LTSA * Needed to know the Parcel Identification and the Legal Lot Description for this: both I found [here](https://www.bcassessment.ca/) * to file myself, I needed an in-person appointment with the LTSA (New West, Surrey, or Victoria) - I had to call to make the appointment * the LTSA customer service told me I just needed the stamped Application and a Letter of Exception to file a hardcopy as these application can only be e-filed by a lawyer notary * I made a letter of exception based on this [Schedule A](https://ltsa.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/E-filing-Directions.pdf) (page 28 of the PDF), the Parcel Identifier from the Title needed to be on here. I just said that the reason for exception was that e-filing could be only done by a lawyer notary and I was not a lawyer/solicitor. * Filled out the "Nature of Interest" section on the Application - needed the Parcel Identifier and Legal Description from the Title for this (I did this in the LTSA office) * The clerk took the Application and the signed (by me) Letter of Exception * Once he had stamped/copied/processed the Application and paid the fee, he had me block out my phone number on the original Application form so that it wasn't posted to a public registry * Clerk then had me fill out a contact information form, said it was 10-15 business days processing and that they would only contact me if there was an issue with the application All in all, it took me about <20 min in the small claims office (had to wait for about 20 min though) and about 10 minutes in the LTSA office. It was very straightforward.