You give a first month (and maybe last) rent to the landlord to secure a place and you signed the contract and both parties have a copy. The contract is not "legalized" by a lawyer and when you arrive the landlord refuses to give you access to the key. What can be done? Assume you are in a situation where you arrived at the front of the house with all your luggages.

Is there a point to this hypothetical scenario? Or is it a situation you're actually in and you're asking for advice?

A contract doesn't have to be "legalized", a contract is a contract and will pretty much hold up legally if both parties are in signed agreement of its terms.

I don't think anyone can give you an informed answer without knowing the following:

On what grounds is the landlord refusing to turn over the key?

Did you sign a lease that confirmed the address, rental amount and length of your stay? Or did you just sign an application that didn't guarantee that you got the place?

vampin would be right, you don't need a lawyer to make a lease legally binding. That being said, roommate agreements are not really considered legally enforceable. Important to know.

Kinda hard for us to help you, Jack, if you don't give us more info about your situation.

I am actually posing a situation.

Fun facts:

• Most deposits landlords want you to give above and beyond first and last are not permissible under the Residential Tenancies Act
• You can request interest on your last month's rent cheque and any deposits you are coerced in to paying
• Anything not in accordance with the RTA is null and void, regardless of whether or not it's in the lease (i.e. if a landlord is trying to force you to do a bogus deposit that their lease "requires", then just sign the lease and then tell them you know your rights and you're not paying it)
• Landlords CAN deny you for not being willing to take on their bogus charges (had that happen to me and the Landlord Tenant Board told me I was shit out of luck)

First, you should not have come to the house with all of your luggage without having the key and/or arranging everything with the landlord ahead of time. The fact that you arrived with your luggage doesn't really change the situation - the issue is that your landlord won't give you the key.
Second, as people have already said, you don't need a lawyer involved in the contract.
Third, why is the landlord refusing to give you the key, and what is the nature of the refusal? (For example, is he difficult to get in contact with, does he keep saying he's busy and will give it to you 'later', or has he flat-out said he's not giving you the key?)

You should also go see the off-campus housing people in the basement of the student centre - bring your lease to show them as well. I'm not sure if they're open in the summer or what their hours are, though.

What type of housing situation is this? A room in a landlord's house/apt, is it a house or apartment, a room vs a group lease for the whole house, are there other tenants, etc.

Has anyone come across something called "behavioral fee" in a lease? I know damage deposits are illegal, but i met one landlord who seeked a $200 behavioral fee (will be returned upon moving out) on tenants. I walked out immediately despite the fact that she claimed she got a a lawyer to make all the arrangements on the contracts.

Originally Posted by inkhawk157

Has anyone come across something called "behavioral fee" in a lease? I know damage deposits are illegal, but i met one landlord who seeked a $200 behavioral fee (will be returned upon moving out) on tenants. I walked out immediately despite the fact that she claimed she got a a lawyer to make all the arrangements on the contracts.

I have never heard of that and I don't think they can enforce that. Like someone else said earlier in this post, just because they put it in the lease does not guarantee that it is legal and can be upheld. I probably would have walked away too.

One example of this is requiring the tenant to shovel the driveway in the winter. There was a discussion on this last year and even if the lease says you have to shovel, the courts said the landlord has to pay any fines and it is there responsibility even if it is written in the lease.