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From outside, the building at 1171-1177 East 14th Avenue is unremarkable: a pitched roof, multiple entrances, and covered patio are all common features in a three-story East Van edifice. But inside, the tenants of the multiplex’s seven rental units have found themselves battling a series of legal loopholes that could impact renters all over Vancouver.
The building was sold in 2021. In 2022, new landlord Andrzej Kowalski submitted a redevelopment permit to the city. More recently, tenants found out he is planning to evict the existing renters, and convert the long-standing apartments into four strata condos—turning seven affordable rentals into fewer, pricier homes for sale.
“The city is supposed to be trying to establish affordable housing,” says Terry McIntosh, a 75-year-old botanist who has lived in a two-bed apartment in the building for 26 years. “And yet, here they are, eliminating some things like this… Nobody’s happy about it in the neighbourhood.”
Under the Tenancy Act, landlords can evict tenants to turn rental units into strata condos. However, two-thirds of households have to agree to the conversion to proceed, which is not the case for the East 14th Avenue multiplex, and municipal laws further restricts the process.
Tenants fear that their landlord is applying for permits to do renovation work, will evict the tenants once he obtains the correct permits, and then push through the strata conversion when the building is empty and nobody can protest.
The nine residents—including a senior and a Ukrainian refugee—say other apartments in the same neighbourhood wouldn’t be nearly as affordable. Current average rent for a vacant two-bed apartment in Vancouver is over $3,700, according to a February report from Rentals.ca.
BC has the highest
The post East Van tenants are organizing to fight a potentially devastating real estate loophole first appeared on Insie Mesenza.