Ravi complained to our office about a response he received after he filed a complaint with the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB). Ravi felt the arbitrator was unprofessional during the dispute resolution hearing. The RTB told him it was conducting a confidential review of his complaint but due to privacy concerns the RTB would not disclose the nature or outcome of the investigation.

Ravi felt this lack of information was unfair and reached out for assistance in his case.

Through the course of our investigation, it became clear that there was an opportunity to improve information communicated to complainants following an investigation into RTB staff. Accordingly, we asked the RTB to consider whether it could disclose information about the steps taken to address a complaint without compromising personal privacy. We also asked the RTB to resolve Ravi’s complaint by providing him with a clear
response outlining the steps taken.

The RTB agreed to our request and committed to improving its communication to complainants. Importantly, the RTB provided Ravi with a more detailed response including the steps it took to address his complaint, the outcome of the investigation and offered him a formal apology for its earlier lack of response.