Somfalvi v Zheng

Tenant wins · Mississauga · 2025-01-24

Adjudicator

Christine Waler

Dispute

Illegal Fees

Amount

<$5K

Landlord

Y.Z.

Tenant

H.S., S.S.

What happened

Tenants applied for an order determining that the Landlord collected or retained money illegally. The Landlord had served an N12 notice to terminate the tenancy for personal use, and the parties negotiated a potential agreement for the Tenants to stay for an additional year by paying a $20,000 premium. However, the Tenants ultimately vacated the unit on October 1, 2023 as per a previous consent order. The dispute is over the Landlord's retention of $705 that the Tenants paid in error for September 2023 rent, as well as the Landlord's failure to pay interest on the Tenants' rent deposit.

The ruling

The Landlord must pay the Tenants $774.02, which includes $705 for the rent payment made in error and $69.02 in interest owed on the rent deposit. The Landlord's actions were not an abuse of process, so no fine will be issued.