A Burnaby woman is scrambling to find accommodation after she and her son were given four weeks to move out of their townhouse, a place they’ve called home for the last 16 years.
Lee Parker, a resident of B.C. Housing complex Lions Mulberry Place, told the NOW the property manager notified her on July 27 that she’d have one month to relocate. Parker said it came as a complete surprise and that she has a few suspicions as to why she’s been told to leave. About four days before receiving the notice, her unit had caught fire after her son left a candle unattended in his room. The damage was minor, she said, with only his room severely impacted.
“The fire was accidental,” said Parker, who makes ends meet with a job at Value Village. “I was talking to the property manager the day of the fire. He was comforting me. It happened on Saturday, and the following Wednesday, I found out there was an eviction notice on my place.”
The single mother, who claimed she’s been a good tenant over the years and has been late with rent maybe twice, also suspects the property manager, David McLean, isn’t a fan of her 15-year-old boy Josh.
“He doesn’t like my son,” she said, adding Josh isn’t handling the situation well and feels responsible about what happened. “I tried to talk to him about my son, how he was upset. He was being very unsympathetic. He wanted my son off the property.”
McLean, meanwhile, couldn’t divulge too much about why he gave Parker the notice because the matter has gone to arbitration (tenants have 10 days after they’re served to apply for dispute resolution with the Residential Tenancy Branch).
“That’s the tenant’s opinion,” he said, noting there were “many events” that led up to his decision.
He was quick to point out the notice for cause Parker received is different than an eviction notice. The former is for when a tenant has violated their residential tenancy agreement and the latter is for missing a rent payment or a security deposit.
According to Parker’s notice, she “seriously jeopardized the health or safety or lawful right of another occupant or the landlord” and put the landlord’s property at significant risk, and caused “extraordinary damage” to the unit/site or property/park.
McLean did acknowledge Parker has been a good tenant, and he’s helping her by keeping her belongings in the unit while she finds a new place.
But Parker is fearful she may have to sleep on the streets. She’s been staying with her elderly mother in New Westminster but has been told by the landlord there that she can’t do that anymore.
“I don’t know what to do. I’m putting her in jeopardy. There’s nowhere to go. All my family lives in Manitoba. You call shelters every day, and none can be found for a single mom with a teenage boy.”
Parker is also scared that with a notice to end tenancy on her file, it’ll limit who she can rent from.
“I’m sorry. What do I need to do to make this right?” she asked. “I don’t party, I don’t drink. My son, he’s a boy, and he’s a teenager. I’m not denying (he) hasn’t done stupid things, but not to the extent people need to be afraid of him or what he’s capable of doing. How am I going to get my son to leave the only home he’s ever known?”
