Kelowna landlord must pay $27K to wrongfully evicted tenants

A Kelowna landlord’s petition to overturn a previous decision that ordered her to pay two ex-tenants after being wrongfully evicted has been dismissed.

According to a judgment released this week, Jane Li initially served an eviction notice to Tina and Scott MacLean in June 2023.

Under the Residential Tenancy Act, landlords are able to evict tenants without compensation if they or a close family member intend to move into the suite for at least six months, and they must provide proof of this. There is also an exception for extenuating circumstances. If they aren’t able to provide proof of this, the tenants can appeal to the Residential Tenancy Branch — which the tenants did.

The branch then cancelled the notice to end tenancy and they were allowed to stay for the time being. At that time, they were paying $2,200 per month.

In December 2023, Li served a second notice to end tenancy by February 2024, saying that she intended to occupy the unit, and the MacLeans moved out.

They later found that Li wasn’t living in the unit as required. They then filed an application for compensation.

A hearing was held in November 2024, and then on Dec. 19, 2024, the branch ruled in favour of the tenants.

“The arbitrator found that Ms. Li had not occupied the unit for the required period and that there were no extenuating circumstances,” the judge said this week.

“As a result, Mr. and Ms. MacLean had established their claim for compensation, and the arbitrator granted them a monetary order in the amount of $27,424 inclusive of the filing fee.

Li filed an application for review on the basis of new evidence, but the evidence turned out to be available at the previous hearing.”

Li’s application was dismissed.

In February 2025, Li filed a petition seeking a review of the previous decision.

“Ms. Li’s evidence with respect to why she did not occupy the property was that her plan to live there was changed when her medical practitioner advised her to return to Calgary, her former place of residence, for medical treatments,” the Reasons for Judgment said.

“Her evidence was contradicted by evidence produced by Ms. McLean and Mr. McLean from a neighbour, who said that Ms. Li told them at the start of March 2024 that she was leaving the province and would be back to put the property up for sale because she no longer wanted to be a landlord. The finding that she did not provide evidence that she was under a doctor’s care or require treatment could also have been made on the record before the arbitrator.”

The judge agreed with the arbitrator’s finding and has ordered that Li pay the previously ordered $27,424, which consists of 12 months of rent at $2,200 per month, plus filing fees.