WATERLOO — A student says difficulties he faced moving into the One Columbia apartment building caused him to flunk exams and drop out of the University of Waterloo.

A legal representative for Schembri Property Management, however, says she can't understand why his life was so disrupted, given that he had a free hotel room for six weeks and then a room at One Columbia.

"My schedule was absolutely thrown out of whack," Aaron Crose, who lives in Owen Sound, said at a Landlord and Tenant Board hearing. He described a "giant downhill slide" in his studies at UW.

"I ended up dropping out of school."

About 300 students planned to move into the 22-storey One Columbia building in Waterloo on Sept. 4. When it wasn't ready on time, Schembri Property Management put students up in hotels.

Crose, now 21, stayed at a Best Western in Kitchener for about six weeks. He told Thursday's hearing that when he heard a seventh-floor room in the apartment building was ready, he took his possessions to One Columbia on Oct. 20 only to be told someone else moved in.

"I was just baffled how that could happen," Crose told the hearing. "I was just incredulous. Why was someone in my room? I had nowhere else to go."

Crose said he was put in a "temporary" room on the eighth floor. He vacated the unit on Oct. 31, claiming the room wasn't as good as the one he asked for. He then moved into another Waterloo apartment building.

Crose, represented by lawyer Joseph Richards of Waterloo Region Community Legal Services, is seeking the return of his first and last month's deposit and key deposit.

Questioned by Terri van Huisstede, a paralegal representing Schembri Property Management, Crose acknowledged he has no documents showing he was promised a room on the seventh floor.

At first Crose asked for a room on the 17th floor, but later changed his mind, he said.

Van Huisstede said a room on the 17th floor became available on Oct. 23. Crose said he didn't take it because he "hand-picked" the room on the seventh floor.

"You actually had options," van Huisstede told him.

Crose told the hearing that when he should have been studying for mid-term exams, he was busy reading email updates about One Columbia and a Facebook page created by students and parents after the building failed to open on time.

He said he dropped out of school after failing his mid-terms. He was enrolled in his second year of psychology.

Van Huisstede said she doesn't understand why his life was disrupted, given that he had a hotel room to himself and then a room at One Columbia.

She questioned why Crose waited until Aug. 17 to sign a lease for One Columbia and suggested he was stressed out even before the building was delayed.

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Van Huisstede said Crose had no good reason to leave One Columbia. She said the company was doing its best to accommodate him.

Crose acknowledged he didn't try to find someone to sublet and didn't return the key.

His mother, Wanda Doubt, told the hearing Crose did great in his first year and was thinking of becoming a lawyer. After dropping out, Crose felt like a failure, Doubt said.

Crose moved back to the family home in Owen Sound in December and kept apologizing for being a "burden" on her, Doubt said. She said Crose spent a lot of time in his room alone.

"It devastated me, just about brought me to my knees," Doubt said through tears. "I felt like the worst mother in the world."

Crose told the hearing the Best Western room he stayed in wasn't as good as what he said he was promised at One Columbia. He said he was surprised when he entered his hotel room to find another student already living there. Crose said the student left within a few hours and didn't return.

Earlier at the hearing, UW student Arjun Gnana said he spent two nights in a Best Western room with another student when One Columbia wasn't ready on time. Gnana wound up deciding not to live at One Columbia.

Questioned by van Huisstede, Gnana, 23, said he understood he was still bound by the lease when he took the hotel room. He is seeking the return of deposits on One Columbia.

At the start of the hearing, van Huisstede asked hearing chair Brenna Homeniuk to bar the public, saying her client's confidential financial information would be discussed.

Homeniuk rejected the request.

Earlier in the day, four other cases involving tenants and One Columbia were settled during mediation.