A Chinese-Canadian physicist Mr. Haoyu Qi and his wife moved from New Brunswick to Toronto for work reasons in winter, but when he tried to retrieve a $2,000 deposit for his apartment in Moncton from the landlord, he was told that the landlord would charge him $500 for cleaning and damages.

CBC reported that this surprised Mr. Qi, especially when he saw the photos submitted by the landlord as proof of the need to deduct cleaning and damage costs. He said, "These photos are not from our apartment."

A photo shows dirt and peeling paint on the windowsill next to the window, but he said there was no such windowsill in his unit.

The second photo shows a dozen holes in the wall, which Mr. Qi guessed were caused by an old TV mounted on the wall, but he said neither he nor his wife had a TV during their two years of living there.

The third photo shows a messy cabinet, and Mr. Qi said this could not have been done by him because his wife (whom he described as having "obsessive-compulsive disorder") would not tolerate such a mess. "That definitely wasn't our apartment. My wife cleaned the room before we left, in fact, she did a lot of continuous cleaning throughout the apartment. We kept the apartment in pretty good condition."

Mr. Qi's apartment is located in the newly built Encore Residences in Moncton, a residential area developed by local businessman Trevor Ritchie in the downtown area.

In an email to the Tenant-Landlord Relations Office, Kate Marecki, who represented the landlord's claim, cited the photos of the dirty apartment she submitted as evidence to justify the request for a $500 deposit from Mr. Qi. Marecki wrote, "In this case, the tenant left the house very dirty." She also submitted receipts for the cleaning costs incurred after Mr. Qi and his wife moved out.

Mr. Qi felt offended. "This is somewhat hurtful. I lived there for two years, and things could have ended in a very friendly way, rather than like this."

Working in the field of quantum computing, Mr. Qi initially proposed to settle the dispute for $100, but after seeing the photos and reading the descriptions of the alleged mess left behind, he withdrew this offer.

On March 18, he told the Tenant-Landlord Relations Office in an email (the office was responsible for holding the deposit and mediating the dispute) that he believed at least three photos were fake.

Mr. Qi wrote, "False evidence has been provided in this case," and forwarded a video taken by his wife on the day they moved out, showing what appeared to be differences between the room he lived in and the photos submitted by the landlord.

Based on this, he lowered the settlement amount to $50 and agreed to a full hearing if this amount was not accepted.

Encore Residences did not directly respond to Mr. Qi's accusations, but the next day, March 19, the company made concessions.

Marie-Josée Corbin, the provincial agent handling the matter, wrote, "The landlord wishes to withdraw the claim."

Marecki told reporters in an interview that she believed the photos she submitted in Mr. Qi's case accurately depicted the condition of the apartment, but these photos were not taken by her. She said that at the time, several tenants were moving out simultaneously, and it was unclear whether an error occurred due to this. "I submitted the photos provided by the landlord, I don’t know if the pictures got mixed up."

She said a joint inspection of the apartment should have been conducted before Mr. Qi left, but since this did not happen, the decision was made to withdraw the deposit claim against him.

He admitted that the case should have been handled differently. "A site visit should have been conducted. There should have been more communication."

Experts suggest that landlords and tenants should conduct a joint inspection of the apartment before moving out and try to reach a consensus on the condition of the apartment and whether cleaning or repairs are needed.

Mr. Qi reminded tenants to take detailed photos and videos of the apartment when leaving to avoid any disputes.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7493637211569553955/

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