Sahotas hit with another lawsuit from DTES

Balmoral Hotel tenants claim safety concerns

Another class-action suit has been filed in B.C. Supreme Court against the Sahota family, who own the Balmoral Hotel in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

In a notice of civil claim filed in the court last week, Balmoral tenant Harold Jay Slaunwhite alleges that tenants have significant health and safety concerns due to the manner in which the singleroom-occupancy hotel is run and maintained by the multimillionaire family.

The Sahotas own a string of lowincome hotels in the DTES, and have a real estate empire worth more than $130 million around Metro Vancouver.

A number of their hotels are considered among the most decrepit and poorly maintained in Vancouver. Besides the Balmoral, which is on Hastings Street, the family owns and operates the Regent Hotel, the Astoria and the Cobalt Hotel.

Tenants of the Regent filed a class-action suit in August against the Sahotas, demanding repairs and financial compensation for unsanitary and unsafe conditions, and sporadic heat and hot water. They allege the elevator didn’t work properly, the hotel had numerous fire-code violations and was infested with rats.

And the court document alleged that residents of the Regent live in fear when they report problems or witness illegal activity.

In the Balmoral and the Regent class-action suits, the City of Vancouver is named as a defendant for failure in getting the landlord to provide the necessities, and fix the buildings as is allowed under the Standards of Maintenance Bylaw.

Balmoral tenant David Laing on Sunday said they’re hoping their suit gets the owners moving on needed repairs.

Among the biggest concerns at the Balmoral is that the basement’s wooden beams are rotten and the building is structurally compromised. During the summer the city stepped in and closed the Balmoral’s pub after the floor of the bar developed a three-foot curve and came off its moorings due to the rotting beams.

“The floor under the street-level bar has been structurally unsound for more than four years,” the suit claims. “Numerous beams are rotten due to water ingress.”