City tries to shut door on rooming houses
Civil claim filed against owners of three homes that officials say violate bylaws
Surrey officials are finding themselves hamstrung in their attempts to shut down what they say are two makeshift rooming houses in North Surrey, partly because the B.C. government refuses to file an affidavit confirming how many people are living at those addresses.
The city has asked the province for information on how many social assistance cheques it sends directly to the homes, located in the Bolivar Heights neighbourhood, which would help determine who officially lives there and back up Surrey’s assertion that the homes have been illegally converted into lodgings for multiple residents.
The city has since filed a civil claim against the owner, Shamima Bi, as well as Mohammed Izaz, the owner of a third home that burned down about four months ago.
The properties are all zoned single-family residential.
“We’ve done everything in our power to get the owners to comply,” said Jas Rehal, Surrey’s manager of bylaw enforcement and licensing services. “These individuals they are renting to are causing a lot of grief in the neighbourhood. We want the owners to go back to (being a single-family) residential house. But for some reason, the owners have no will. They don’t want to work with us.”
The city maintains it has tried in the past year and a half to take action under its existing bylaws against the alleged rooming houses at 13901 Hansen Rd. and 11409 142nd St.
In that time, it has issued 39 bylaw investigations, two cityordered property cleanups, 17 violation tickets and $25,000 worth of nuisance fines. It has even gone so far as to get a search warrant, which Rehal said showed evidence the homes were being used as lodging houses, with separate sleeping rooms that had locks or signs on the doors.
But the province is balking at signing an affidavit that would confirm how many people are living at the homes.
In a Feb. 20 letter to the ministry of social development and social innovation, which is part of the city’s court documents, the city’s lawyer, Don Howieson, noted a freedom of information request had already yielded the relevant details from the ministry, yet they were still waiting for the official affidavit to be filed.
“You are aware of the importance of the information to the city. In order to succeed, the city must establish that the dwelling houses are occupied by individuals with separate tenancy relationships with the landlord and are not living together as a family,” Howieson writes in the affidavit. “If we do not have the evidence from the ministry we shall be unable to meet that burden.”
The city claims in court documents the Hansen Road house was converted into an illegal 10-room lodging house in 2006, shortly after Bi bought it, while the one on 142nd Street was converted in 2013 to include four separate “locked sleeping rooms.” Neither a building permit nor business license were obtained for the properties, the city claims.
In a response to the civil claims, Bi denies she is operating a rooming house at either location, saying she rents out only two units, which are both in accordance with Surrey’s bylaws that allow family to live in the house.
She also claims that in the Hansen Road case, she has “made her best efforts to co-operate” with the city, including appropriate access to her property for inspection.
Bi, who does not live on either of the properties, could not be reached. Her lawyer, Robert Campbell, was unavailable for comment. None of the claims have been proven in court.
Social Development Minister Moira Stilwell was not available to speak with The Sun Wednesday, but said in an emailed statement the ministry is working with Surrey’s legal counsel on “alternative ways that they may be able to get the information they are seeking.”
“While we understand the frustration to resolve the issue in Surrey, the ministry can only release information that is authorized under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act,” Stilwell’s statement reads, before adding: “As this issue is before the courts we are unable to comment any further.”
Rehal said the city has dealt with similar problems in the past involving illegal rooming houses but this is “one of the rare ones.” In most cases, he said the owners tend to comply with city bylaws and that’s the end of it.
He maintains the city will continue to pursue the owners, saying residents are highly upset with the increasing number of people in the neighbourhood as well as incidents of theft and violence.
Court documents obtained by The Sun also highlight the issue of safety, noting one of the three homes in Surrey had recently burned down.
Sadhu Johnston, Vancouver’s deputy city manager, said illegal boarding houses are problematic because people are trying to get around city laws. In some cases, he said, owners can remove locks ahead of an inspection to make it look like a single-family home. The key, he said, is to have all enforcement agencies go in at the same time.