One Columbia | 22 fl | Complete

[Markster]

Board orders One Columbia landlord to pay Waterloo tenant $1,928
The Record

WATERLOO — The Landlord and Tenant Board ordered Schembri Property Management to return money to a tenant in a dispute over the One Columbia apartment building in Waterloo.

In a ruling released on Friday, the quasi-judicial board ruled the landlord breached the tenancy agreement and owes Tyler McFall $1,928.86.

...

"The landlord's failure to provide the rented premises to the tenant in a condition that was fit for occupancy, with no prospect of the premises becoming available within a definite or reasonable time-frame, was a fundamental breach of the tenancy agreement," Homeniuk wrote.

"Because of the landlord's fundamental breach, the tenant was entitled to consider the tenancy agreement was terminated on Sept. 4, 2014, and recover the deposits he paid. In fact, the tenant wanted to do just that but was told by an employee of the landlord that it was 'not an option.' "

Schembri Property Management called Friday's ruling a "disappointing outcome."

"Throughout this process, we did everything we could to ensure the students impacted by the delay had accommodations and were well taken care of while we pushed our subtrades to work to finish construction as quickly as possible," the company said in a statement.

"In addition to free hotels, we offered free food, laundry service, transportation, gift cards, televisions and discounted rent to help ease the impact of what were unforeseen circumstances. A majority of the tenants at One Columbia accepted these alternate arrangements until they were able to move in."

The did everything... except allow him to escape the lease agreement that they broke in the first place!

$2000 is a slap on the wrist when it comes to a development this size, but it's nice to have a little precedent set.