STORY about Housing posted on October 24, 2010 by isaac
Left to Fight Alone
The City is of little help to renters in the fight against evictions
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Also in Housing:
Located in the Grandview-Woodlands area, a house and a two-unit apartment building quietly await being turned into duplexes for buyers.
The two were sold to a large development corporation: the DeCotiis Group. The new landlord, Don DeCotiis, is in the process of evicting the eleven tenants, giving them two months in which to move out.
“The problem is that the eviction notice claims that the developer has all the necessary permits to demolish the houses,” said Scott Edwards, one of the renters. “A simple call to the City (of Vancouver) dismisses these claims; the developer doesn't have a single permit.”
Edwards and his neighbours suspect that the plan is to subdivide the two lots into three. The renters all are either working or graduate students, and have little time to fight the eviction.
“The number one thing that bothers me is that this particular developer can give eviction notice without getting permits because there are no checks and balances by the City to stop him,” said fellow renter Dave Wodchis. “And it's up to the renter to fight it.”
Wodchis further noted how the current owner/developer is not giving back one of the renter's damage deposit for not completely emptying the room, even though the house is going to be torn down.
"I work a full day five days a week, and on top of that need to find time to make all these calls and get through all the legality," said Edwards. "They're a big company and we're a small group of renters."
Edwards and Wodchis are both fighting the eviction on the grounds that the developer has not applied for any permits as of yet.
“Much of the rental housing in this neighbourhood are scheduled to be changed to strata,” said Wodchis. “With the price of housing and renting going up in Vancouver, where does it stop?”
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