February was crappy
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
So. I'm glad it's March. February was pretty crummy. Let me tell you an example story.
When I left my apartment in Toronto, I broke my lease. I really didn't have a choice. I'd lost my job with Pontis in October, and despite some successful interviews in Toronto, just never found work in that city. So when my current job - which looked like a good opportunity - came up in Halifax, I bolted.
Since I made my decision in mid-December, and wound up leaving at the end of the month, my last month's rent was applied to the month of January. Which was fine. I was, after all, breaking my lease.
But then came the hassle of finding someone new to take the place. As my journal entries from December attest, I paid to place an ad in the Toronto Star, and put two on craigslist.org and the tor.housing newsgroup. And then I preceded to show it to some ten parties.
But I had other inquiring parties that I had to turn away. These were people who were looking to take over my lease. And I turned them away because the property management company had forbidden me from assigning the lease (this means letting someone else take over the lease).
It turns out that this is illegal.
How do I know? When the management company sent me an email at 4:30 on Friday the 30th of January telling me that I was going to be on the hook for rent for February, March, and April, I went to the HR people at work and asked them if they could hook me up with any legal advice.
It turns out that the staff resources package that we have access to included a referral to a lawyer. I wound up in contact with a lawyer named J. Bradley in North York or Richmond Hill or somewhere. She advised me of my rights, and suggested I write a nasty letter.
So for the first time in my life, I wrote an unhappy letter.
The management firm responded by turning my case over to their collection people. There was some back and forth. I was starting to entertain ideas of being in front of the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal.
And then I complied with their request that I provide some of the emails I'd sent to people shooting down their requests to take over my lease. The next day (which was the 27th of February) the property management firm sent me an email telling me that they no longer expected any rent, and wishing me luck in the future.
My guess is that a credit bureau showed them the light. Either way, it took all month.
And then there was Tracey's Valentine's Day debacle. I flew her down, and all she did was throw tantrums and be miserable. It was great!