Chat with a real estate lawyer changed how I see tenancy disputes

I was at a BBQ up in St. Albert last weekend and got talking to a lawyer who does a ton of landlord tenant work in Edmonton. He told me that most people who go to the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service don't even bring the right paperwork. He said they show up with text messages and verbal agreements but no written lease or move in inspection report. That hit different because I almost went to a hearing last year over a security deposit and I had zero docs to back me up. He said the board basically tosses cases without proper evidence no matter how right you are. Now I'm going through all my old rental files and scanning everything. Has anyone else here been burned at a hearing because you didn't have the right forms?

2 comments

2 Comments

taylor_fox1mo ago

Most people who go to hearings don't even bring the right paperwork" - yeah that's me, I'm that person. I showed up to a dispute once with nothing but a blurry photo of a cracked window and a voicemail from my landlord where he sighed real loud. The mediator just looked at me like I was handing them a drawing of a lease instead of an actual lease. Learned my lesson hard, now I keep a binder that's thicker than my high school history textbook for every rental I live in. How many people actually keep their move in inspection reports past the first month of living there?

wood.john26d ago

Man, that binder thing is exactly what saved me last year. I got into a mess over a cleaning fee and the landlord tried to claim I trashed the place. I had the move in report with photos time stamped and the one from move out, plus the emails where I flagged a crack in the tub within the first week. The arbitrator actually said the evidence made their decision easy. I keep that stuff in a plastic bin now, one for each place Ive lived, labeled with dates and addresses. It feels like overkill until you need it, then it's the only thing that matters.