After having issues with their rental home in Burnaby, a mother and daughter have now found themselves homeless before the holidays.
Kate Watson, 59, and her adoptive mother, Alexi Rainier, 76, first moved to the North Burnaby neighbourhood in September, but after countless issues with the house, the landlord and the pair mutually agreed that the women would move out on Dec. 16.
However, Watson, Rainier and their two pekingese dogs are having a tough time finding a reasonable deal for a safe and clean house in an "overpriced market."
"We could be much, much better for sure," Watson told the NOW. "We're in a real crises right now. It has been, and continues to be, a devastating situation for us."
The two women moved to the city from West Vancouver so Watson could start her own business, but with constant renovations happening to their rented house and health concerns - she was unable to do so.
"It's a community issue, but really it goes beyond that," she says about her situation. "It raises a lot of stuff about tenancy and people with varying views on who's fairly represented and not fairly represented in the way the tenancy act and the residential tenancy board are put together."
Watson said she never felt comfortable enough to unpack in the home because of the renovations. She started to notice things going wrong when her mother's already spotty health - she has mobility and asthmatic issues - began to deteriorate.
"Everybody wasn't feeling well in that place," she said. "Myself and the animals."
Watson said there were two bad experiences in particular during the nearly three months they lived there. One time, Watson said she found black mould in her room and reported it to the landlord.
"We know the dangers of black mould, as you're breathing that in," she said. "(My mom's) a World War II survivor, originally from Holland, she suffered there. It just makes things worse."
The landlord put bleach on the areas where the mould was when they weren't home, but did not ventilate the area, Watson noted, and when they returned home the 76-year-old lost consciousness and ended up in an emergency room.
The other time there was a problem, was when the landlord turned on their heat and the walls in the kitchen heated up, melting food in their cupboards. Watson said they always had the heat turned off, even during the coldest months of the year, because whenever it was on, there would be a burning rubber smell.
"It's been an ongoing saga," she said. "We view it as a very sick house. It should've been a tear down."
She also said the home had "suspect" wiring issues, as well.
"The costs are just horrific and escalating, we don't know how we'll handle all of this," she said. "The financial conflict is extreme."
Watson said they have found one potential place in another city, but says she has issues with its state, as well.
"We reached a point where we said we have to get out of here," she added. "I don't know how we ended up in this situation. Our trucks are on the street, two five-ton and one smaller truck. The cost is creeping up to $2,500."
Watson's former landlord says he did all that he could to make his tenants happy.
Bill Steemson said any problem his tenants brought up to him since September, he fixed. He says he has taken a financial loss too because two out of the three months they lived in his home he let them pay only half of the $2,600 monthly rent.
"I have sympathy for them and their problems," he said. "I did as much as I could with any issues they raised, but I can only do so much."
For the last 35 years, Steemson has owned property and rented it out but he's never had two tenants cause him so much trouble.
He lives next door to the Burnaby rental property, and has owned it for the last five months. He also owns a rental home in Vancouver.
"We had a brand new gas furnace put in," he said. "After they said that they had seen a mouse come from under the front door we replaced the front door, and put quarter inch mesh screening over top all the vents."
He said Watson and her mother sealed the vents over with filters, which is why the walls heated up because the hot air had no where to go.
The black mould that Watson claimed was there, he said didn't look like mould but black soot. He said the chlorine bleach he poured over it would fix any mould that was there, but it was unfortunate that it sent the 76-year-old to the hospital.
Steemson noted that when the fire department checked the electric wiring they said the electric breakers were in good enough condition, but an electrician should check them over. When his electrician did look over the electricity in the house, there wasn't a problem, according to Steemson.
"I hope they find a home that's better for their health, and does suit their needs," he said. "Wherever they go, they'll hopefully be a lot happier than they were here."
Tom Durning, spokesperson for the educational charity Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre, says you should never move into a place in haste.
"The landlord has to do an inspection report with you, they have to initiate it and both parties sign it under the residential tenancy law," he told the NOW. "Look at a place before you take it," he said. "Say, 'Look, it's your (landlord) duty to do an inspection report with me together, do a checklist and go over the condition of the house.' If they balk at that, you know something is afoot."
Durning noted that if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. He noted that there are many resources online for renters to learn more about their rights and the best practices when finding an affordable place to live.
For more information, go to www.tenants.bc.ca or www.rto.gov.bc.ca.
The City of Burnaby's inspection office did not comment in time for the Burnaby NOW's press deadline.
