Client intake for landlord and tenant law.

These matters move on forms and short clocks. A notice to end a tenancy has a form number and a termination date. A tribunal or board hearing has a date and a file number. Rent is either paid to today or it is not. The intake asks for the notice by its form and reads the dates off it, records the rent position as the person states it, and gets the hearing date if one exists. The parties are often hidden: the landlord is a numbered company behind a property manager, and the tenant has a co-tenant and a guarantor. All of them go into the conflict check.

• Whether the person is a tenant, a landlord, a property manager, or a guarantor.
• The property address and the unit.
• The tenancy agreement: whether it is written, when it started, and the rent stated in it.
• Any notice received or given: its form or title, the date it was served, and the termination or compliance date printed on it.
• The rent position: whether rent is paid to today, and if not, the arrears as the person states them.
• Any application already filed with the tribunal or board, its file number, and any hearing date.
• The condition of the unit, repairs requested, and what has been said in writing.
• Whether the person is still living in, or still renting out, the unit.
• The deposit: the amount stated and whether it has been returned.
• What the person wants to happen.

• The landlord: the person or the company on the agreement, and the owner if different.
• The property management company and the manager the person deals with.
• Every tenant on the agreement, and any occupant the person names.
• A guarantor or co-signer.
• The lawyer or paralegal on the other side, if one has written.
• A condominium corporation or building owner, where the unit is in one.

A hearing date, a notice with a termination date, an eviction or enforcement date, or a lockout or utility shut-off. A person who has been locked out or had services cut is told to call the firm now, with the number on screen. Every other date is recorded exactly as printed and flagged to the lawyer. The intake never tells the person whether the notice is valid, whether to move out, or whether the date has passed.

• It never says whether a notice is valid or whether an eviction will succeed.
• It never advises the person to pay, to withhold rent, or to move out.
• It never says whether a deadline to respond, to file or to appeal has passed.
• It never calculates what is owed to either side.
• It never contacts the landlord, the manager or the tenant.

The machine takes the statement. The lawyer takes the case.