A renter in Burnaby who had to leave his home of 13 years due to partying neighbours and endless harassment says the “investor owners” of the building had a two-tier system of dealing with complaints.
If you were a new tenant who was brought in at a much-higher rate of rent, then you had your complaints dealt with swiftly and with enthusiasm.
For everyone else, it was a middle finger, says Nathan, who wrote to me after reading my recent series about disputes between landlords and renters.
Nathan is now struggling to find affordable accommodation after being basically forced out so the owners could bring in a tenant who would be charged a much-higher rent.
It all started with partying neighbours.
“I lived directly above the noisy neighbours,” Nathan said. “The types of noise were essentially parties that could be happening during the day, in the evening, and even when they would come back from I'm guessing another party at another location, sometimes at 1:00 a.m., 2:00 a.m., 3:00 a.m. you would be woken up by their music and partying. There's one particular instance in past years that there were 30 people in the apartment. The police were on site when 10 more people were coming to the party. The officer threw up his hands and said ‘that's it, everybody go home!’ The drunkards actually pleaded with the police to let them continue because it was summer solstice.
“On another instance police and paramedics had to break in through the balcony door because they could see someone on the floor completely passed out and were worried about his well-being. His friends had left him there because he was too drunk to go out to the next party.”
There was another time when some drunk partiers tried to break into one of the suites.
Things have now gotten worse since new owners bought the building.
“When they took over the building, all of the communal areas were not being cleaned anymore, the landscaping was essentially non-existent where it was being done once a week by the previous owner. The cost of parking went up 400%. Laundry similar. The new owners hide behind a corporate number and no one knows who owns the actual buildings.”
That’s when a pattern emerged to Nathan.
“On at least two occasions I am aware of long-term renters at lower rental rates were denied their right to quiet enjoyment and eventually having to leave, making room for new tenants at the higher rental rates. When these new renters would make a complaint, the complaint would promptly be dealt with. The landlord and management would simply operate in a fashion that would frustrate the lower rental rate tenant to eventually move and find better. Only to enforce the complaint when a new renter came in at a higher rate. Despicable.”
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
