
Dr. Lorin D. Card,
Department of Critical Studies, University of B.C. Okanagan ( UBC
Kelowna) bounced two rent cheques and caused $4,850 damage to my town
home.
I always believed that, people who subscribe to the theory that all
renters are dishonorable, actually harbor a certain bias against those
who can’t purchase their own homes. My theory is that, if owners do
due diligence on prospective tenants, they will enjoy good working
relationships with renters. However, Dr. Lorin Card UBC Kelowna proved to be an exception to my theory.
In the case of this nightmare tenant, I wonder if I did some profiling
when I researched his application. He is, after all, a Professor at
the University! He touted his profession throughout the interview
process. In fact, he went so far as to identify his job at the
University on his personal cheques. Perhaps I was unduly influenced
when I made the assumption that University educators live within a
sound code of ethics.
Construction
of my new town home was completed in late spring of 2008. Initially, I
planned to use this unit as my personal residence. I worked with the
designers to create a unique and beautiful home. Detailed attention
was given to the choice of high quality hardwood floors, plush carpets,
granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. When my personal
circumstances changed, I decided to rent out my home for the time
being. I was confident that I would find tenants who would treat my
home with respect.
To
that end, I set the rent amount consistent with the high-end upgrades
and advertised my town home. My representative started the interview
process. We thought we had found the perfect family. Dr. Card’s
income, alone, was ample enough to cover the rent for his partner,
children and cat. They appeared to appreciate the quality of my home
and were excited to be considered. In fact, they required an exception
to my general policy of month-to-month rental agreements. They wanted
more security and requested a one-year lease agreement. After due
consideration, I agreed to sign a lease for not less than one year
starting August 1, 2008.
Dr. Card provided us with twelve post-dated rent cheques entitled “Lorin D. Card, Dept. of Critical Studies, UBC-O,
3333 University Way, Kelowna, B.C. V1V1V7”. Other than one NSF cheque
(which appeared to be an accounting error and was rectified
immediately), there was no reason to suspect that his cheques were not
sound. Further, we had no reason to suspect that Lorin Card’s family
was so negligent that they were causing more than $5,000 worth of
damage to my home. It wasn’t until he bounced his June 1, 2009 cheque
that I realized that a nightmare was about to start. He was about to
flee the premises, refusing to leave a forwarding address. He was
about to take no responsibility for the damage he caused.
Just
prior to the NSF cheque, my representative received an email from
Dr. Card’s partner. She was sharing the fact that she and Lorin were
planning to separate. She gave her sincerest apology and assured us
that they would work with us to find new tenants. Just hours later,
she sent another email advising that; indeed, they each found new homes
and would be leaving soon. “Good news”, she said. Of course, this
correspondence wouldn’t even meet the LRB notice required if they had a
month-month agreement. However, they were aware that they had a lease
and were contractually obligated for the balance of the twelve months.
I was
sorry to hear about their personal issues and naively set out to
re-rent my home quickly so that I could release them from their lease.
The first step in that process was to meet with the tenants to do a
walkthrough and compare the existing condition to the signed August 1,
2008 condition document. Lorin’s partner did attempt to meet with my
representative. Clearly, it took courage for her to face us, given the
deplorable state of my home. However, Lorin Card was not so
courageous. He left.
Although
the attached pictures show the damage, they don’t do justice to the
appalling state of my home. It would take weeks to set appointments
with service people and get $4,850 dollars worth of repairs done, which
didn’t deal with all of the damages they caused.
The
damage was caused by sheer negligence. The house was filthy. At some
point during their 10-month stay, the dryer hose disengaged. Instead
of hooking it up again, they simply used the dryer while all the lint
flew throughout the house. The walls were thick with lint. There were
holes in the walls throughout the home. In most cases, the painters
were unable to patch marks and had to fill the holes and repaint the
entire wall. My beautiful hardwood floors were gouged. They didn’t
bother with putting felt under the legs of their furniture. They
continually scraped their furniture across the floors, creating
scratches and actual gouges in many of the floors.
It is
noted that, initially, I couldn’t believe that the buckled floorboards
in the kitchen could be caused by negligence. I hired a fridge
repairer to fix the faulty, leaking fridge. But, the fridge was in
perfect working condition. The tenants continually spilled water each
time they used the fridge water dispenser. They just left the water to
puddle on the floor. The floorboards eventually buckled. I hired a
hardwood specialist. We replaced the boards that were completely
ruined but had to leave the scratched floorboards. I hired two carpet
cleaners in an attempt to remove the peculiar stains in my carpets.
The stains couldn’t be removed and I couldn’t replace the carpet.
All
attempts to work with Lorin, through emails, to recover some of my
losses have been fruitless. To add insult to injury, Lorin Card is
attempting to blame me for his negligence. He says that the damage was
“normal wear and tear”. His response to the issue of the ruined
hardwood floors was that they were “pint size scuffs and can be fixed
with a little paint”. His actually threatens to “call CHBC or better
to expose me as a rip-off landlord who is making them pay for new
floors”. The fact that my floors were new before he damaged them seems
to escape him.
Dr.
Card attempts to justify his bounced cheques. He broke the lease
because he was sleeping on the sofa AND the driveway was too small. He
fails to mention that they didn’t use their storage cupboard. Instead
they strew their junk and garbage across the garage floor so that they
couldn’t park there. One of his classic excuses is that he broke the
lease because the owners of the town home next to mine had a no pet
policy. He writes, “the place next to us won’t let (sic) her have a
cat and yet we have a cat. How can that be?”
He
advised me that the $1,000 damage deposit along with money to ‘steam
clean the carpet” is more than enough to pay for the $4850 damage plus
the two months’ rent. In fact, he wrote, “you will get an IOU which we
cannot pay, that is should you be flukey enough to win this case”.
I will
continue the legal battle. But, in the meantime, it is my
responsibility to share my nightmare experience through the complaints
board. When owners do their due diligence, they will see my posting.
They will be cautioned not to make an assumption that because of the
nature of Lorin Card’s profession, he will be a reliable honorable
tenant. At the very least, any one reading my complaint may want to
consider researching further before signing any contract with this
particular professor.
Lorin
Card writes that this complaint is “your stupid idea” and that “only
crazies do such idiocies”. Further he writes that my posting will only
get me “derisory” stares. He advised me that his “colleague can
dismantle it in less than 5 mins”.
Despite
my experience with this tenant, I still believe that some renters are
reliable and responsible. Now, when owners do their due diligence, they
will be cautioned that one renter, Dr. Lorin Card, Assoc. Professor
Dept. of Critical Studies, UBC-O caused over $5,000 damage to my new
home and bounced two rent cheques for $1750 each. He shows no remorse
and accepts no responsibility.
For more information and pictures please see www.lorincard.com
Tags:
renting, tenant, landlord, Dr. Lorin D. Card, Department of Critical
Studies, University of B.C.-Okanagan, prospective tenants, UBC.CA,
Lorin Card, UBC Kelowna
In the article I was Read that About the mrunlock.net Site Fine Thanks..I want To Unlock My Mobile Locked To... read more
on Mobile SIM dialer no cutting --- Mr Unlocking -- http://www.mrunlock.net