A Supreme Court judge has rapped the Residential Tenancies Board, and a landlord, on the knuckles for refusing to hear a tenant’s complaint.

The man’s ceiling sprung a leak about a month into the pandemic. That meant no one could come in to fix it, so he had to do it himself, with the landlord’s blessing. But—surprise—they were far apart on what the work was worth. The tenant estimated $650 for labour, supplies and inconvenience, while the landlord countered with an even $100.

It went to a tribunal of the Residential Tenancies Board, but they refused to hear the case, saying they didn’t have jurisdiction. Not so, said Supreme Court Justice Vikas Khaladkar in his ruling this week.

In fact, he said the law is clear when it comes to landlords compensating tenants for repairs to keep a place liveable—noting the Act is there to keep such disputes from tying up, and ending up, in the courts.

The judge sent the dispute back to the board to be “dealt with according to the law.”