Dhiman v Babaie

Tenant wins · Toronto · 2025-05-06

Adjudicator

Rachel Gibbons

Dispute

Illegal Deposit Retention

Amount

<$5K

Landlord

N.B.

Tenant

N.D.

Landlord rep

Afshin Nooralizadeh

What happened

The Tenant filed an application for the return of his last month's rent (LMR) deposit. The Tenant had to end his one-year lease early due to a work relocation, to which the Landlord agreed. After the Tenant vacated, the Landlord withheld the LMR deposit, claiming it was to cover an insurance deductible and repair costs for alleged damages caused by the Tenant's negligence related to a water leak. The Tenant disputed this unilateral deduction.

The ruling

The Landlord was found to have illegally retained the Tenant's last month's rent (LMR) deposit. The Board ruled that landlords cannot use self-help remedies to cover alleged damages and must file their own application. The Landlord is ordered to pay the Tenant $2,661.75, which includes the full LMR with interest ($2,613.75) and the Tenant's application filing fee ($48.00).