Li v Murtagh

Tenant wins · Oakville · 2025-09-24

Adjudicator

Nicole Pedron

Dispute

Non-payment of Rent

Notice

Non-payment of rent (N4)

Amount

<$5K

Landlord

S.L., X.Q.L.

Tenant

T.M.

Landlord rep

Wen Liu

What happened

The Landlords applied for an order to terminate the tenancy and evict the Tenant due to non-payment of rent. The primary dispute revolved around the characterization of a $2,385.00 payment made by the Tenant in August 2025. The Landlords argued this was a repayment of a rent deposit that had been applied to arrears in 2020 by agreement. The Tenant contended the payment was for current rent, as indicated in the e-transfer message. The Board had to determine if the rent arrears were indeed paid off and whether the Landlords could legally require the repayment of a rent deposit.

The ruling

The application for eviction and termination of tenancy is denied. The Board found that the Tenant had paid all rent arrears. The Landlords' attempt to allocate a recent rent payment toward a previously used rent deposit was deemed contrary to the Residential Tenancies Act. The Tenant is ordered to pay the Landlords $186.00 to cover the application filing fee by October 5, 2025.