A WOMAN was left in shock after her landlord changed the locks on her door before taking a vote on whether she could return home.
Man-Ling Weng became a tenant in the home along with Daichi Araki in 2019, a Canadian tribunal heard.
1
But in March 2020, Araki took over the responsibilities of a typical landlord by collecting rent, filling room vacancies and dealing with conflicts.
This was decided by the property management company who were managing the house at the time.
The tribunal heard that it was around this time that Ariki became the landlord via an unwritten agreement between himself and Weng.
This meant Weng was now paying around £360 a month to her new landlord.
Over a year later, in September 2021, Weng was given permission by Araki to have her friend stay in her room with her, and as a result the rent was increased to £430.
When Weng went travelling to Taiwan two months later, Araki and Weng’s pal signed a document which would allow her to “safeguard” the tenant’s possessions while she was away.
Weng then changed her return date from her trip abroad from February 2022 to June 2022 which Araki allegedly gave no objection to.
However, the tenant was left baffled when in April 2022, Araki emailed Weng saying he was ending the tenancy and she had a month to move out.
Most read in Money
According to the tribunal, Araki said Weng had “breached their contract by subleasing her room to SJC without his consent”.
A tribunal member who was involved with the case mentioned that this contradicted Araki’s original statement, which gave permission for Weng’s friend to move in.
Email and text messages showed that Weng rejected the notice, and Araki even accepted another £360 from her for the following month’s rent.
That’s when the landlord made the bizarre decision to change the locks on the house, and when Weng returned home in June 2022, she was refused entry into her home.
The court heard that Araki “needed time to decide what to do”, and Weng was speechless at the action he took.
Between June 16 and 17, Araki collected votes from other tenants on a form asking for their opinion on whether Weng should be allowed to return back to the house and stay for the rest of the month.
Weng was allowed to stay for the rest of the month and moved out on July 1.
In the end, after Weng claimed £2,700 in damages, Araki was ordered to pay £25 to Weng for a partial rent refund and only £80 in damages.
This follows reports of a sneaky landlord who advertised the same house twice, each with different rents.
Eagle-eyed potential tenants slammed the “ridiculous” price hike and accused the landlord of trying to cash in on the rental crisis in Australia.
A Miami landlord was also slammed for doubling his tenant’s rent despite her being a mum working two jobs.
And one tenant was left furious after his landlord demanded an extra £1,000 for inviting his friends over to his flat.
