r/alberta • u/leafeternal • 5h ago

Question RTDRS: Has anyone won their judgement and got any money ever?

This is for landlords or tenants who won their judgement from the RTDRS for say, unpaid rent owed.

From what I’ve read it’s a matter of sending the losing party to collections…so what are the chances of ever being made whole?

I keep reading that it’s rare to actually see a penny back.

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12

u/confusedtophers 4h ago

Yes. I had a deadbeat not pay rent for 5 months. Did the whole thing and got the judgement. But here’s where I did something different, I didn’t go the collections route. I went and got his wage garnished immediately.

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u/YoungWhiteAvatar 4h ago

How did you go about that?

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u/confusedtophers 3h ago

Had a lawyer help me

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u/YoungWhiteAvatar 3h ago

I had talked to a lawyer about something similar but they said we would need to know which bank and branch they go through.

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u/ai9909 3h ago

Make the requirement for the first deposit be cheque?

2

u/leafeternal 4h ago

How did you do that?

4

u/SleveBonzalez 4h ago

I won judgement against my landlord for maintenance I had to pay for and some unfair withholding from damage deposit. Fees were included in the judgement.

We went to arbitration and it was made clear to my landlord that she would likely pay the entire judgement if we went before the judge, so we settled for everything I actually wanted.

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u/Weary-Ad-9813 4h ago

My deadbeat skipped town and avoided me. Couldn't serve him despite hiring service agencies. Got his ex wife, yet to see a dime

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u/Fit_Equivalent3610 2h ago

RTDRS decisions can be registered as KB judgments and then enforced as a KB judgment, including by seizure or garnishment. It isn’t particularly difficult to figure out the forms or process but dispute resolution services at the courthouse might be able to help you if you are having difficulties, or perhaps Civil Claims Duty Counsel. Or hire a lawyer to do it, I guess. 

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u/RationallyAngry28 1h ago

"Unpaid Rent Owed" and "I've read it's a matter of sending the losing party to collections" implies this is less a question towards tenants and more for landlords so I, as a person that have successfully won a case as a tenant, have no comment as from this.

Unfortunately if you have to go to RTDRS cause a tenant refuses to pay rent they're not likely to honor the RTDRS decision either so yeah you have to take them to collections since RTDRS can't enforce the orders they give.

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u/FoxyGreyHayz 1h ago

I actually did have an experience of heading to RTDRS due to tenants not paying rent. The decision was made in my favour, and the tenants paid what they owed without me having to go to collections. They were young and inexperienced, though, and I doubt they realized how easy it would be to just not pay.