Let me get this straight. You're looking up laws and planning to move because your landlord is maintaining the structure and premises??? Please read this. Maybe you'll see things from a more realistic perspective. Trees need trimmed. Trees next to structures/wires with overgrowth, dead limbs, excessive weight, etc. are a danger. Dead limbs fall down. And they don't need a wind to give them a shove, either. A dead limb at a straight drop from a high height can puncture a roof. (And you know you'd be complaining if a limb fell on your child or dog, no?) From a liability/damage perspective, it's prudent to keep trees pruned/topped so they are not top heavy or have weak/dead limbs. This is ideal tree pruning season. And chainsaws/reciprocating saws make noise. And even maintenance is no guarantee when it comes to Mother Nature. We just had a wicked storm blow a large (maintained) tree right on top one of the rentals. A large limb smashed through the picture window where tenant was sitting and ended up laying on their sofa, shooting chunks of glass through the room (fire dept had to cut it out). It happened in the blink of an eye. Thank heavens, no one was hurt. Tree specialsts estimated the weight at several tons. Fire dept said another 10' the other direction, and it would have been disastrous (collapsed building, live wires down and injuries). Just for kicks, let's pretend I didn't maintain that tree. Throw in an extra 1/2 ton of unmaintained dead limb weight and imagine the damage/injury potential. If someone's hurt, now whom do you suppose is going to get sued? Municipalities have codes, especially for shrubs/bushes near driveways and public sidewalks so drivers' vision is not blocked. Nor can the place be allowed to turn into an overgrown jungle. I maintain landscaping (shrubs, etc.) at properties because most tenants won't, or don't know how (yes, there is a proper method, depending on species and age) and I can't risk someone inexperienced getting hurt from a gas or electric saw. We also wash the siding, once a year. Why? Because if we don't all that crud from traffic/weather/birds starts to set in fast and stain the siding and caulking/trim around windows. Those are big $$ items. Not only is it an eyesore, the longer it sits, the harder it is to remove. Ever see siding with a northern exposure that wasn't cleaned? If conditions are right, it can and will grow green mold on it. As far as using your water, where would you have them hook up the pressure washer? Bring a tanker truck with them? (Then you'd be complaining about all the equipment in the driveway?) My tenants pay their own water and I hook up the hose for pressure washer to the outside spigot. It takes about 3 hours, start to finish, to do a small 2-3 bedroom house (presoak it first, scrub some areas, then pressure wash). You probably use more water on laundry day. I will not permit a tenant to take a pressure washer to the siding, risk having them do it from an improper angle and too high pressure and blast siding off the house (yes, that can happen). Not one tenant ever has complained about water use. All are appreciative that the house they live in looks good. None of them look like run down properties. However, if one did complain, I'd probably kick in $10 toward their water bill just to shut them up. And that's generous ($10 is roughly 15%, or 4 1/2 days worth of their average monthly water usage.) Three hours water usage out of 720 hours in a month doesn't amount to squat. That metal-on-metal sound you heard I'm guessing probably involved gutters or flashing, pounding could have been minor roof/shingle repair (driving roofing nails in does generate lots of noise inside the structure, but that's just the way it is.) If gutters aren't cleaned (and this is a critical time of year), leaves and debris will clog them fast. That readily leads to leaks back into the roof, water can seep into rafters/attic insulation, down between walls (where you can't see it but you get to breathe mold spores eventually). During heavy rains water won't go out the downspouts, it simply spills over the gutters in a wall of water, possibly at your front/back door. If the ground is saturated enough, water will seep into the basement, eventually damage the structure and certainly get your personal belongings wet. And if that wall of water hits the ground and freezes, you could easily have a sheet of ice on your porch/sidewalk. So then when you step outside and hit the ice you fall flat on your rear. It saves a lot over the long haul for a landlord to do jobs DIY if possible. If your landlord recruited younger/stronger family members to help, more power to them. Two goof-ups: lack of notice (perhaps family/workers recruited were instructed to give 24 hrs. since your landlord is out of town, and it was an oversight on their part.) And they should have been more careful about the back door area, definately. (I always make sure doors and windows are sealed tight pre-pressure wash, and check after I'm done.) Realistically, on the whole, the only thing your landlord is guilty of is trying to maintain their property and structure, which does benefit you. So pick your battle carefully and weigh everything: a couple days of noise ~ or~ leaky roofs, overflowing gutters, mucked up mildewed siding, mold, seepage, personal property damage, dangerous conditions, etc. The day one of my tenants pays the property taxes, insurance premiums, HVAC repairs, painters, plumbers, electricians, etc. etc. etc. is the day they get to dictate when/how upkeep and repairs are done. I have a life and schedule to work around too, as does any professional or volunteer help I have. If you know they're doing work, and they'll be there for awhile, pack up your child and dog and take them to grandma's for a nap or the park for a walk if it bothers you so badly. And just a tip: if I EVER had a tenant request that I or any workers exit the premises when doing maintenance/repairs (not gonna happen), they wouldn't have to worry about searching for a way out. Tenant just sealed their fate and non-renewed their lease (I just wouldn't let them know it right then). This thread grates on my last nerve. Good grief, be grateful you've got a landlord willing to not let the place rot to pieces around you and look like an eyesore, you'd really have something to complain about then, wouldn't you?

I really have to say I feel for every post I have read. Although Vancouver BC has a lot going for it in theory, it's landlords are not one of it's perks. Take M Block Holdings...seems like a nice little company until you realize the M is Ms. Milos. Now I will set the stage by saying...my fiancee and I are weirdos. Really. 6'5", pink mohawk, don't shave as much as I should, housewife (by choice!! and a good one!!) and my girl is a little bit technicoloured also. That said my idea of fun is playing classical guitar and meditating and my fiancee paints and designs clothing. So we never had a neighbor complain, never made a lot of noise, we aren't tidy people but we are clean...So things started falling a part 3-4 months into a 12mo lease when she would do stuff like... 1 - Her unlocking our door and barging into our apartment while we were "in bed" (and not asleep). 2 - Her screaming at us from the parking lot to come down stairs and talk to her...and when we did she accused of doing drugs because someone in the building was smoking pot. Neither of us do drugs, and we barely ever drink. She assumed it was us because my winter, indoor garden got supplemental florescent light. (Come on who smokes tomatoes?) 3 - Someone broke into our mailbox - she tried to bill us for the new lock saying we had broke into it ourselves. Because I guess we were too stoned to use our key? I still don't get this one... So we move out, 2 months notice instead of the normal 1 required by the lease... What happens? She misses not 1 but 2 walk throughs... She breaks into the apartment and gets very upset that she had to mop up the spilled water...(we left a full bucket of water right where the door would hit it for exactly this reason...if it spilled we knew she had broken in) Writes a bad check to return our damage deposit. The bank manager at our bank even stamped it as a bad check because she had used white out, wrote 2 different amounts on it...etc. When we went to get a new check she started calling us racists and screaming obscenities at us. Accused us of being white supremists and hating immigrants...( for the record I am white, my fiancee is Haida(Native), and I am a recent immigrant to Canada...so....) Now we live downtown in a great little place with a great landlord, of course our neighbour (who has a different landlord) is a wanna be Gangsta-with-subwoofer so...sometimes it seems you can't win!!

Moonshadow, you are amazing. What a through contribution! I know when I used to rent, I would make a list of any little issues the house had. I'd send a copy to the landlord and invite him/her to inspect the house before I moved in. I did this because I didn't want to be blamed when I moved out. Never lost a deposit because of that well filed list. Dated photos are helpful too. I've had some great landlords in the past but there have been a few doozies too. I lived in a rental for 5 years. The oven didn't work and it was on my list, along with dates and times I phoned him about this situation. Finally I gave up and purchased my own range. I called him to tell him I was putting his range on my back porch and he should come pick it up. I noted all communication on that list regarding that stupid non-working range oven and thank goodness. He never picked up the range so I took it to the dump after a year on my back porch. When I moved he tried to keep my deposit. I mailed him another (updated) copy of my list that included my "journal" of our communication regarding his range. I offered to go to small claims court and let the judge decide if I should get my deposit back. He quickly returned my deposit. Fact was, he never did anything he said he was going to do. The only time he returned a phone call was when my hot water heater went out. I responding to his voice message informing callers that he was out of town, explaining I had no hot water and I was going to call in a repairman to fix or replace the hot water heater. He called me when he returned, just to get mad at me for being unwilling to go without hot water for a week and a half. I told him he should have contacted me before he left town to let me know who was going to be in charge of his rental while he was gone, but since he didn't, I acted on his behalf. He paid for the repairs, I guess. I never heard from the plumber either way.

There are some inaccurate comments here. Dirt and damage are NOT ordinary wear and tear (which would be something like a smudge behind the sofa on the wall). Your tenant is required to deliver the premises back to you in the same condition in which they were delivered, absent "ordinary wear and tear". Again Dirt and Damage are NOT ordinary wear and tear. Hire a cleaner, have the cleaner put the place in appropriate rent-ready condition, and deduct the cost from the security deposit. Also deduct the cost of any repairs necessary. In some states you cannot deduct the cost of your own time. I don't clean after tenants anymore. That burden is on them. I gave them a white-glove clean property, and they will pay to deliver one back to me, if they fail to do so. You are required to make a written accounting of the security deposit within your state limits - most are 30 days. Some are 45 days. Be sure you do this, as the tenant can recover treble damages from you in some states if you fail to do so. You can most definitely disallow smokers and pet owners in your property. They are not protected classes. Charge every dime it take to put the premises back in order and never allow smokers and pet owners, unless you don't mind extra damage. If you do allow pet owners, maybe one older dog won't do that much damage. I have allowed 2 different 8 year old dogs that were long-term pets with good references over the years. No puppies EVER. No replacement dogs. No smoking ever.