Unknowingly charged my subtenant more than the amount legit for deposit, but he broke the lease, Can I keep all his deposit to pay for rent?

The maximum amount of security/damage deposit in British Columbia, Canada is half a month rent. However, I was under the assumption that the maximum amount is 1 complete month rent, so we both made the contract and signed the sublease. However, he broke the sublease before his move-in, and now I have to pay for his entire rent myself. He now claims that I have to return half of his deposit that I overcharged him unknowingly, or that he will bring me to court to nullify the lease, and get all or half of his deposit back because of this half month extra amount of deposit that has been charged and signed on the lease unknowingly. On the other hand, since he has broken the lease he owes me, and he is responsible for paying the rent for at least the first month or I until I find a replacement for him, and that is also a legit rule. I wonder what do you suggest for me to do, because I cannot afford paying his portion of the rent, and I have already spent a lot of time looking for replacement for him, and the replacement that I have finally found is going to move-in one month later, so I still need to pay one month rent of him as a result of him breaking the lease, and he is still bugging me that he can take me to the court and claims that that lease contract is not a legit contract because of the half month overcharged deposit, and claims that the lease can be nullified entirely by court as the result of that. I would appreciate your responses!

Answers

Slumlord

I don't know exactly how the court would view this one but I suspect they'd allow you to keep the extra deposit since his charges are more than the amount. They would simply count it as unpaid rent. Anyhow no sense in returning it now, make him take you to court and see what they say. If he takes you to court (or even if he doesn't) you may want to take him to court for the money he still owes you.

linkus86

No. You have every right to sue for any unpaid rent, but you can't use his breach of contract to justify you breaking the law. You legally need to right your wrong before you can pursue his wrong. Now I am not sure about BC law, but in the US there is a law to punish landlords for acting in bad faith (which is what you did when you collected too much deposit) and if he brings you to court over it, he could gain far more than the half you already legally owe (but will fail to prove the contract is invalid).

Karen L

I'd say let him take you to court. The worst that can happen is you have to pay back the portion of the damage deposit you weren't entitled to. What I said about being familiar with the BC Residential Tenancy Act applies to landlords and to tenants. Apparently neither of you spent the 5 minutes online that it would have taken to find out what is legally allowed as deposit. Maybe you deserved each other, if neither of you bothered to check on your rights and obligations. Going to court or going through a residential tenancy dispute process probably isn't worth the time for either of you, for what you'll get out of it. I'd say you still haven't read the BC Residential Tenancy Act, because what a landlord can do with a security deposit if rent remains unpaid is covered there. Read it. You're the landlord, not me. Learn it for yourself instead of getting others to do it for you. For free, too. Lawyers charge money for that.

Anonymous

L.A.

Yup

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