Three tenants battle renoviction at Cook St. apartment building

Eight of 11 ordered out accept settlement with landlord for higher compensation

Three people who have been ordered to vacate their Cook Street apartment building by the end of the month are fighting what they are calling a “renoviction.”

“I have no problem with them raising the rent once people move out, but this wholesale eviction of people is not right,” said John Donnelly, who has lived at 2626 Cook St. since 2011.

Vancouver-based Headwater Projects bought the building in November. The company has said the building is in poor condition and that even tenants have raised that issue.

Donnelly believes that the company bought the building with the sole purpose of evicting everyone, renovating and then charging a higher rent.

Emily Rogers, a legal advocate for Together Against Poverty Society, has said the building owner is acting within the law. TAPS provides legal advocacy on issues of income assistance, disability benefits and tenancy.

Tenants of the 32-unit apartment building were given eviction notices in late January, informing them they had 60 days to relocate. Some tenants were paying $770 a month for rent and had been living in the building for years or, in some cases, decades.

The company has said the building will be redone top to bottom, including the plumbing, which requires it to be vacant for six months.

Initially, each tenant was offered one month of free rent plus $250 in compensation to cover moving costs.

If a tenant thinks a landlord has ended a tenancy without a valid reason, the tenant has 15 days to dispute the notice through the Residential Tenancy Branch. Eleven people applied for dispute resolution and eight accepted a settlement with the landlord for higher compensation, Rogers said.

In his arbitration hearing last week, Donnelly argued he should be allowed to move out for the duration of the renovations and then move back in and resume his tenancy.

“John is arguing that the suite can be empty through another means rather than eviction, so he would relocate himself at his own expense, pay rent at two locations for six months and then be allowed to continue his tenancy as if it never ended and be allowed to move in at the same rent,” Rogers said.

“Whether the arbitrator will accept that argument and allow John to do that remains to be seen.”

The arbitrator has up to 30 days to make a decision. If the eviction order is upheld, Donnelly has 48 hours to move out.

Donnelly said that if he does have to leave, he’ll move into an apartment in James Bay for four months, at which point that building is scheduled to be torn down. He would then be looking for affordable rent in a city with a 0.6 per cent vacancy rate.