We prepared for the hearing in good faith, based on sound advice that an early eviction was extremely unlikely and that we had a reasonable chance of getting the 30-day eviction overturned. At the hearing, the arbitrator for the Residential Tenancy Branch ordered a 10-day eviction , based on the landlord's and realtor's testimony. However, all we had done was engage in lawful, conventional activities in the privacy of our own home, at the same time that the house was being viewed by potential buyers. These lawful activities occurred on only three separate occasions, after five months of cooperative showings during our one- year lease. The Residential Tenancy Act does not protect tenants from frequent, unwanted, and prolonged intrusions into their home by realtors and potential buyers, even if such intrusions extend over the entirety of the tenants' lease.
Tenants have no power under the law to request less intrusive arrangements or compensation.
Also, allowing potential buyers into their home places a distressing and onerous burden on tenants, since the sale of their residence would likely mean their eviction. Simply put, the Act fails to recognize that tenants have no reason to cooperate with realtors and buyers, and that in fact, they actually have a strong incentive not to cooperate. As a result of this weakness in the law, the arbitrator was able to, and chose to, disregard our grievances against the landlord which initially brought about the dispute. A further grievance is that neither the landlord nor the realtor made any attempt at any time to address or even understand our objections. We had been advised in no uncertain terms by the Tenants' Rights Action Coalition and by a clerk at the Residential Tenancy Branch that an early eviction was simply not applicable in our case.