Slumlord Has No Right to Evict Tenants
Rat-infested hotel has no right to evict tenants, says city
By Doug Ward, VANCOUVER SUN, September 8, 2009
VANCOUVER -- The City of Vancouver is urging tenants of a Downtown Eastside hotel to stay put in their vermin-infested units despite an eviction notice issued by their landlord.
Chief licence inspector Barb Windsor said Tuesday that Golden Crown Hotel owner Daniel Jun has no legal right to evict his low-income tenants, and that the city fears they could end up homeless.
Windsor said the city would like to know whether Jun intends to renovate the rooms and rent them to higher-income clients, perhaps visitors to the 2010 Olympics.
She said Jun has not applied for renovation permits.
Jun could not be reached for comment. But in a notice given in August, the Golden Crown owner told his tenants that they would have to leave by the end of September for a few months so that pest control workers could rid the hotel of rats, bedbugs and cockroaches.
“We have no choice but close the doors in order to improve the hotel,” Jun said in the letter.
Windsor said Jun can’t legally evict the tenants of the single-room occupancy hotel without the approval of the provincial Residential Tenancy Branch.
“We are saying that the evictions are not legal,” said Windsor. “He (Jun) has to give the tenants proper reasons on proper forms.”
In his letter, Jun said the eviction became necessary after the City of Vancouver ordered him to clean up the hotel.
But chief licence inspector Windsor, in a Sept. 3 letter to Jun, said that the city has not issued any orders “that would necessitate the eviction of tenants from that building.”
“Accordingly, the city does not condone the actions you have taken.”
Windsor said pest control could be conducted without mass evictions, and that the city wants to work with Jun on getting rid of the vermin.
Jun has told the tenants they could return at the same rent once the hotel resumes operation.
But the Downtown Eastside Residents’ Association is advising the tenants not to trust the owner’s promise and to stay in the hotel.
“These evictions are utterly and completely illegal,” said DERA executive director Kim Kerr.
“No doubt these people are living with an abundance of cockroaches, bedbugs and rats. But he (Jun) has legal obligations and pest control doesn’t require him to vacate the building.”
Kerr believes the Golden Crown owner wants the tenants gone so that he can either take advantage of the Olympic market or sell the property.
dward@vancouversun.com