B.C. woman ‘deliberately’ withheld rent: ruling

Ordered to pay $50,000 in compensation

A B.C. woman owes almost $50,000 for skipping out on rent payments for years, B.C.’S Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) found.

A decision by the department states Colleen June Clancy displayed “a consistent pattern of behaviour” to withhold payment to eight landlords, between 2018 to 2023.

Clancy has been ordered to pay $5,000 in fines and $43,624.00 in unpaid rent. She was ordered to pay the fine by Feb. 29 and provide a repayment timeline.

“Based on the evidence before me, I find that it is more likely than not that the Respondent has entered the tenancies in question with intention to not pay rent,” wrote Scott Mcgregor, director of enforcement at RTB.

Clancy was served eviction notices by the landlord sometimes within the first month of her stay, which she managed to extend by contesting the eviction. She paid a portion of her rent on some occasions and communicated with landlords that she intended to pay and assured them she would compensate for the late payments.

“In addition to the deliberate nonpayment of rent, the Respondent has deliberately failed to follow an order of the director in seven separate cases ... three (3) of which resulted in monetary enforcement orders, issued by the (Provincial Court of B.C.),” Mcgregor wrote.

Clancy was ordered by the B.C. Provincial Court to pay $19,500 for to a single landlord for outstanding rent in 2021. Another landlord was owed $11,200, the second highest amount, accrued during the COVID pandemic.

The decision, reported in late December, states none of the landlords had been paid their share.

Clancy didn’t live alone, but hers was the sole name listed on all the rental agreements. A court record search showed she has not been criminally charged.

Clancy may be ordered to pay additional fines for each day she refuses to pay and may be on the hook for criminal charges, it notes.

In addition to financial harms, one landlord reported that the rental dispute caused emotional harm to her and required her husband to undergo “significant” counselling.