Ken says he’s looking for a new home to live in.
Why? Because he stopped a brawl in his rental building. Apparently, that kind of action is grounds for a landlord to attempt to evict you.
Let’s back up a minute. It all started with a brawl in his building that Ken witnessed and want to stop.
“Last month, I ran into an incident with my neighbours where I felt police involvement was necessary,” said Ken. “There was screaming, yelling, fighting, and I wasn't sure what was going on. Given that it was a safety concern, I called 911. I do not know what the outcome of things were - only that police did, in fact, come to the building. I had been advised by police in the past that even if I was not certain, to call them, and then they would be able to make a determination from there.”
Ken was then threatened by his landlord and scolded because calling police “constitutes as harassment” against the tenants who were brawling. (Wait, what?)
“They are now evicting me for being genuinely concerned for another human being,” said Ken. “I’ve since communicated with the officer assigned to the file that day and they even wrote me an e-mail back saying calling the police doesn’t constitute as harassment. It doesn’t get clearer than that. Now, I could fight this through the Residential Tenancy Branch, but in all honesty, they did me a favour in a lot of ways. Living under these property managers was like living in jail. In fact, I’d be willing to go as far to bet that you probably get even better treatment in actual jail. I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s that bad. These people are even ripping off their tenants for laundry tokens, charging $1.75 for 1. The average amount of tokens a tenant gets at once is around 18, which would cost just over $31, when you can get 100 tokens for $45 on eBay. And don’t even get me started on their strict no-smoking policy that doesn’t seem to apply at all. These people are the scummiest of scumbags and I’m glad to be out from under their grip. Finally.”
So perhaps this is a happy ending. Good luck to the person who moves into Ken’s old building.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
