Dr. Lorin D. Card, Department of Critical Studies, University of B.C. Okanagan ( UBC Kelowna) bounced two rent cheques and caused $4,850 damage to my town home.

I always believed that, people who subscribe to the theory that all renters are dishonorable, actually harbor a certain bias against those who can’t purchase their own homes.  My theory is that, if owners do due diligence on prospective tenants, they will enjoy good working relationships with renters.  However, Dr. Lorin Card UBC Kelowna proved to be an exception to my theory.

In the case of this nightmare tenant, I wonder if I did some profiling when I researched his application.  He is, after all, a Professor at the University!  He touted his profession throughout the interview process.  In fact, he went so far as to identify his job at the University on his personal cheques.  Perhaps I was unduly influenced when I made the assumption that University educators live within a sound code of ethics.

Construction of my new town home was completed in late spring of 2008.  Initially, I planned to use this unit as my personal residence.  I worked with the designers to create a unique and beautiful home.  Detailed attention was given to the choice of high quality hardwood floors, plush carpets, granite countertops and stainless steel appliances.   When my personal circumstances changed, I decided to rent out my home for the time being.  I was confident that I would find tenants who would treat my home with respect.

To that end, I set the rent amount consistent with the high-end upgrades and advertised my town home.  My representative started the interview process.  We thought we had found the perfect family.  Dr. Card’s income, alone, was ample enough to cover the rent for his partner, children and cat.  They appeared to appreciate the quality of my home and were excited to be considered.  In fact, they required an exception to my general policy of month-to-month rental agreements.  They wanted more security and requested a one-year lease agreement.  After due consideration, I agreed to sign a lease for not less than one year starting August 1, 2008.

Dr. Card provided us with twelve post-dated rent cheques entitled “Lorin D. Card, Dept. of Critical Studies, UBC-O, 3333 University Way, Kelowna, B.C. V1V1V7”.  Other than one NSF cheque (which appeared to be an accounting error and was rectified immediately), there was no reason to suspect that his cheques were not sound.  Further, we had no reason to suspect that Lorin Card’s family was so negligent that they were causing more than $5,000 worth of damage to my home.  It wasn’t until he bounced his June 1, 2009 cheque that I realized that a nightmare was about to start.  He was about to flee the premises, refusing to leave a forwarding address.  He was about to take no responsibility for the damage he caused.

Just prior to the NSF cheque, my representative received an email from   &nb sp; Dr. Card’s partner.  She was sharing the fact that she and Lorin were planning to separate.  She gave her sincerest apology and assured us that they would work with us to find new tenants.  Just hours later, she sent another email advising that; indeed, they each found new homes and would be leaving soon.  “Good news”, she said.  Of course, this correspondence wouldn’t even meet the LRB notice required if they had a month-month agreement.  However, they were aware that they had a lease and were contractually obligated for the balance of the twelve months.

I was sorry to hear about their personal issues and naively set out to re-rent my home quickly so that I could release them from their lease.  The first step in that process was to meet with the tenants to do a walkthrough and compare the existing condition to the signed August 1, 2008 condition document.  Lorin’s partner did attempt to meet with my representative.  Clearly, it took courage for her to face us, given the deplorable state of my home.  However, Lorin Card was not so courageous.  He left.

Although the attached pictures show the damage, they don’t do justice to the appalling state of my home.  It would take weeks to set appointments with service people and get $4,850 dollars worth of repairs done, which didn’t deal with all of the damages they caused.

The damage was caused by sheer negligence.  The house was filthy.  At some point during their 10-month stay, the dryer hose disengaged.  Instead of hooking it up again, they simply used the dryer while all the lint flew throughout the house.  The walls were thick with lint.  There were holes in the walls throughout the home.  In most cases, the painters were unable to patch marks and had to fill the holes and repaint the entire wall.  My beautiful hardwood floors were gouged.  They didn’t bother with putting felt under the legs of their furniture.  They continually scraped their furniture across the floors, creating scratches and actual gouges in many of the floors.

It is noted that, initially, I couldn’t believe that the buckled floorboards in the kitchen could be caused by negligence.  I hired a fridge repairer to fix the faulty, leaking fridge.  But, the fridge was in perfect working condition.   The tenants continually spilled water each time they used the fridge water dispenser.  They just left the water to puddle on the floor.  The floorboards eventually buckled.  I hired a hardwood specialist.  We replaced the boards that were completely ruined but had to leave the scratched floorboards.  I hired two carpet cleaners in an attempt to remove the peculiar stains in my carpets.  The stains couldn’t be removed and I couldn’t replace the carpet.

All attempts to work with Lorin, through emails, to recover some of my losses have been fruitless.  To add insult to injury, Lorin Card is attempting to blame me for his negligence.  He says that the damage was “normal wear and tear”.  His response to the issue of the ruined hardwood floors was that they were “pint size scuffs and can be fixed with a little paint”.  His actually threatens to “call CHBC or better to expose me as a rip-off landlord who is making them pay for new floors”.  The fact that my floors were new before he damaged them seems to escape him.

Dr. Card attempts to justify his bounced cheques.  He broke the lease because he was sleeping on the sofa AND the driveway was too small.  He fails to mention that they didn’t use their storage cupboard.  Instead they strew their junk and garbage across the garage floor so that they couldn’t park there.  One of his classic excuses is that he broke the lease because the owners of the town home next to mine had a no pet policy.  He writes, “the place next to us won’t let (sic) her have a cat and yet we have a cat.  How can that be?”

He advised me that the $1,000 damage deposit along with money to ‘steam clean the carpet” is more than enough to pay for the $4850 damage plus the two months’ rent.  In fact, he wrote, “you will get an IOU which we cannot pay, that is should you be flukey enough to win this case”.

I will continue the legal battle.  But, in the meantime, it is my responsibility to share my nightmare experience through the complaints board.  When owners do their due diligence, they will see my posting.  They will be cautioned not to make an assumption that because of the nature of Lorin Card’s profession, he will be a reliable honorable tenant. At the very least, any one reading my complaint may want to consider researching further before signing any contract with this particular professor.

Lorin Card writes that this complaint is “your stupid idea” and that “only crazies do such idiocies”.  Further he writes that my posting will only get me “derisory” stares.  He advised me that his “colleague can dismantle it in less than 5 mins”.

Despite my experience with this tenant, I still believe that some renters are reliable and responsible. Now, when owners do their due diligence, they will be cautioned that one renter, Dr. Lorin Card, Assoc. Professor Dept. of Critical Studies, UBC-O caused over $5,000 damage to my new home and bounced two rent cheques for $1750 each.  He shows no remorse and accepts no responsibility.

For more information and pictures please see www.lorincard.com

Tags: renting, tenant, landlord, Dr. Lorin D. Card, Department of Critical Studies, University of B.C.-Okanagan, prospective tenants, UBC.CA, Lorin Card, UBC Kelowna