Judge upholds eviction after rent not paid

Vikki Hui

VHUI@RICHMOND-NEWS COM

A Supreme Court judge has upheld an arbitrator’s order to evict a Richmond tenant for not paying her rent.

The tenant, Fuping Li, petitioned for a judicial review of a Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) ruling, claiming that it was “patently unreasonable” and that the RTB had made errors in addition to acting with “bias and bad faith.”

Li initially signed a lease in 2018 with her former landlord to rent a house for $2,500 per month, but later signed a second lease in 2019 to reduce the rent to $2,000.

Her new landlord, Sarabjit Singh Virk, asked her to e-transfer $2,500 for rent after only receiving the original lease.

Li disputed the amount and did not pay rent when it was due on April 1, 2022 and was served a notice to terminate her tenancy 10 days later

The parties took the issue to the RTB and Li did not pay rent from April to August 2022.

An RTB arbitrator decided in August 2022 that $2,000 was the correct rent amount, but Virk was entitled to evict Li because she had failed to pay rent since April.

In Madam Justice Jacqueline Hughes’ reason for judgment, she agreed with the RTB arbitrator that Li failed to prove she had tried to pay her rent in cash.

She also decided the RTB was correct in deciding Virk’s eviction notice complied with the law since there was indeed unpaid rent owed by Li.

According to Justice Hughes, Li didn’t have a legal basis to support her decision to withhold rent during the dispute.

She also rejected Li’s claim that RTB acted in bad faith and bias.

“(Li’s) allegations of bad faith and bias are wholly unsupported in the evidence and appear to arise solely from disagreement with the (arbitrator’s) findings,” said Justice Hughes.

Li’s petition for judicial review was ultimately dismissed and she has been given until the end of the month to move elsewhere.