I lived in a rental for 1 year. I did make holes from putting up shelves but I did fill it up and sand it to the best of my abilities. I also made some scruffs from day to day use but no major damage
He’s charging me $200 as he wants to redo it again and he said he has to get the correct paint + the marks. Forgive the quality of the pictures, I wish I had taken a closer pic
I didn’t paint it as I had thought that the Landlord would have to do that anyway. And I guess the sanding and fill out wasn’t good enough?
Is my landlord taking advantage of me here?
Don't agree to anything. Let him apply to the rtb to keep your money. He will have to justify it and they will decide what is actually fair.
The only problem with this is that to formalize the claim with the RTB, the landlord will have to get a quote from a professional to fix it. I guarantee a professional painter is going to quote more than $200 just to show up.
True. I cant speak for everyone, just myself....my ex LL tried to charge me for painting and was unsuccessful because it had been 5 years. We had filled in our own holes too. My landlord didn't get a quote because he intended to do the work himself so maybe that helped.
$200 is very reasonable, and if it goes to RTB the landlord will likely get this plus filing fees, possibly more. Holes in wall for hanging decorations are allowed and just have to be filled. Holes for load bearing items have often been found to be the responsibility of the tenant. If the landlord hires a professional to repair this, costs will be much more.
Yes. Don't give him anything. He can just sand a bit more if he wants and should have matching paint. It's just part of being a land lord.
It doesn't look like you did an amazing job but $200 is crazy talk. I would dispute this with the tenancy board
Yea I do have to say its not the best as its my first time. He said hes a renovator and wants to redo it
He actually originally said $300 for the cost of items and time but he lowered it to $200 😴
Just say “no thank you”. Check the “disagree” box on the move out inspection sheet. Make sure you give him your forwarding address on the form, or via email if email service is allowed in your lease. If he doesn’t fill in a move out inspection form, he will have a hard time claiming anything.
Once you move out, as long as you can prove that you gave him your forwarding address, he has 15 days to return your deposit, in full, plus interest - or file with the RTB for the claimed $200.
If he fails to do either of these things after 20 days, or just refunds a portion of your deposit, he now owes you double your deposit back. There is a direct application process through the RTB portal to get double your deposit + interest + filing fee back, no hearing required.
Lol the items are like $20-40. He's tripping.
This is literally no more than 30 bucks in paint and 20 bucks in spackle/ a trowel. And that’s assuming he doesn’t own any of that already, which if he’s a “renovator”, he should already own all of that. You’re getting scammed. I would refuse to pay and tell him to kick rocks, but if you’re set on paying him something to get him off your back, ask for receipts on material costs and just pay that. As I said, cannot possibly be more than 50 bucks
I'm going to be the odd one out and say that $200 is very reasonable. You drilled holes in the wall - that's not considered wear and tear. If he brought a pro in to fix it, it would cost a lot more. For a few hours of his time to bring a chip to the store, buy the paint, buy a roller, a tray liner, etc, $200 is not crazy.
Edit: see my response to u/VaguelySorcerous for a source.
Also, I want to point out that the landlord is entitled to pay a painter to do the work. If they do that, I promise you it's going to cost more than $200.
Small holes for drywall anchors etc. are indeed reasonable wear and tear. The RTB has always found this to be the case.
Drywall anchors for things like pictures are reasonable as per RTB, anchors for wall mount TVs are not (as per ruling by RTB), these are somewhere in between. As these are for load bearing shelving they will not be seen as wear and tear.
Funny, I've had the RTB rule twice that the drywall anchors associated with shelves that credibly bore load - they had jars on them - were actually reasonable wear and tear.
That doesn’t surprise me. The arbitrators can carry significantly in their rulings, and do not have to take previous rulings into account when making their ruling.
My landlords referenced the exact document you're linking in both hearings. The RTB made it clear that small stuff - like drywall anchors - is totally fine, and that the landlords had no grounds to call in a professional, much less charge us anything. These were double-digit numbers of anchors throughout the unit.
Please stop giving bad advice.
Can you cite any tribunal ruling or official document or do we just have to trust the anecdotes of a stranger on the internet?
I'll ask my wife if she's cool if I post the tribunal decision I can find: they're effectively private so it should be good, but I need to check.
Dec 22, 2025 decision 258259 for drywall repair the tenant claimed as normal wear and tear, RTB awarded $264.05 for repair work done by landlord. However on decision Dec 8, 2025 256506, since the landlord gave permission for shelves, and the tenant filled the holes, no damages were awarded. March 28, 2025 decision 052025, landlord awarded damages to repair drywall due to drywall anchors used for shelves.
So of 3 cases I found during a 15 minute search of 2025 decisions, 2 had damages awarded to the landlord, 1 did not, however for the 1 with no damages, the landlord had previously approved adding the shelves.
Whats your source on that? Because the Residential Tenancy Guideline explicitly says the tenant must pay for screw hole damage:
I've had landlords try to keep portions of deposits for drywall anchors, including those used for (small) shelves, twice.
Twice the RTB has given them nothing.
The key word is 'excessive'. A handful is not excessive. If the 'damage' can be covered by a dime it's not excessive.
The landlord wants to rerent without painting every year or two. Maybe every 5 years only.
These are fairly large and he needs to paint for the next tenant.
I would try to negotiate down from $200, but if only $200 is all they are trying to get, ,they aren't deliberately scamming you.
Paint match and paint the whole wall yourself or get someone to come and do it.
as long as you do it before moving out. No need to give LL anything
Taking advantage of you for sure!
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It's standard wear and tear, there's actually a list of things that qualify and small holes and scuffs are on the list. It's the tenants responsibility to try and minimize damage, not treat the place life a historic site not to be used.
In BC interior paint has an expected lifespan of 6 years when it comes to rental properties before you're supposed to repaint the walls entirely, you should have enough reserved for small touch ups (https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/housing-and-tenancy/residential-tenancies/policy-guidelines/gl40.pdf)
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But sprucing up a unit between tenants is part of being a landlord so OP’s landlord should “suck it up”; a few holes for hanging pictures and things are normal wear and tear.
That’s normal wear and tear