Landlord Awarded Damages in ‘Animal House’ Tenant Dispute

A file photograph of a judge's gavel. Andrew Harnik/Pool/Getty Images

A judge in Nova Scotia has ruled that student tenants must cover costs to remediate “shocking” damage to a rental property. He likened what he saw to a real-life scene from the movie “Animal House.”

The court said, “The landlord took the position the house was virtually destroyed,” according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

“The tenants had not yet been born when National Lampoon released ‘Animal House’ in 1978,” said Judge Raffi Balmanoukian of Nova Scotia Small Claims Court.

“Missing from that classic, perhaps, is a storyline in which the homeowner and inhabitants confront each other about the state of the dwelling in which much of the action takes place. If such a scene there had been, I expect it would have looked something like this dispute.”

The house in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, home of St. Francis Xavier University, was rented to several students at a time, evidence revealed.

Around 15 tenants rented the house over a span of two years. It was described as being “something of a Grand Central Station for all and sundry,” said the court. One student also testified the property was left “a bit dirty” by the tenants.

Judge Balmanoukian disagreed. “‘A bit dirty’ is a mastery of understatement,” he wrote. “One might equally call the Battle of Ortona a bit of a dust-up.”

“A reasonable person would be ashamed to leave such a state of affairs on their watch and under their name, even if they didn’t personally toss every pizza box or beer can into the pile, themselves.”

During argument, the judge characterized the photographic evidence as showing a “pigsty.” The tenants’ lawyers agreed.

Alan Armsworthy, who manages the property on behalf of the plaintiffs, Emily Wilson and Nick Wilson, testified during proceedings that the tenants “up and left,” and he provided verbal and photographic evidence of “dirt, abandoned furniture, garbage, and a generally unsatisfactory state of affairs.”

Mr. Armsworthy also testified to “holes in the [drywall], most screens busted, aluminum door broken off, railings kicked out with an unsatisfactory repair effort, missing panels from glass doors, cotton glued to the ceiling in a bedroom over strip lights, dirt on glass and wood in [the] living room.” Garbage also filled the deck and shed, he said.

The court wrote of “filth to an extent that the house needed to be cleaned not once, but twice, and painted inside, top to bottom.”

“For their part, the tenants acknowledge the property ‘needed cleaning’ and that some items were left behind, but that it ‘wasn’t that bad,’” said the court. “They deny the wear and tear went beyond what they say was, or should have been, covered by their security deposit. Since this is in the hands of the landlord, the tenants say they are ‘square.’”

The landlord’s bills included $19,911 to replace siding, $3,951 for construction supplies, $1,264 for painting, and $2,199 to pay cleaners who billed for 50 hours of labour. The students’ rent was $4,200 a month with a $2,100 security deposit.

The Court awarded the plaintiffs $5,932.27 in damages.

The comedy movie “National Lampoon’s Animal House” starred John Belushi and Canadian actors John Vernon and Donald Sutherland. The movie portrayed the wild antics of members of a fictitious fraternity, Faber College, in the United States.