I have been living at 207 – 1209 Jervis St A Tenant’s Story From 1209 Jervis St.for almost a year now. The building has been kept in extremely poor repair and has further been sold within the last six months. Shortly after the building was sold, tenants started receiving eviction notices. The new owner is renovating the building I expect to receive my eviction notice at the end of this month as my lease will end on April 30th.
We have had no reliable heat in the building all winter. When the building
was bought the new owner acknowledged the problems (mainly lack of heat and rodent infestation) and said they were taking steps to fix it. Since then nothing has been fixed although a lot of construction has been started in the empty suites. In fact the heat has now been shut off completely and a small electric heater was left at my door one day which is not sufficient to heat my suite.
A notice was sent out on to tenants on the 12th of April stating the water
would be off from 9 until 5 on the 15th of April. As of 9:00 am today (the
16th) it was still not on, we spent over 24 hours without running water. I
called the inspections office at the City of Vancouver today to complain and
within the last half hour the water has been turned back on.
I pay $900 a month in rent. I work full time and have been extremely patient with the construction, numerous entries into my suite and living with mice.(in one 12-hour period I recently trapped six mice in my apartment) I am extremely upset that I am a hard working person who pays all their bills and taxes, yet I cannot find adequate rental accommodation in Vancouver. I am about to be evicted and face trying to find a reasonably priced place to live that is well maintained, to top it off I have a dog which narrows down the search even more.
This will be the third time I have had to move for similar reasons in the
past four years. I know that I am not the only one who is having this
experience and wonder when something is going to change and when renters
will have some rights in this city? I cannot afford to buy a home at this
time – perhaps I should quit my job and go on welfare in hopes of receiving
some government assistance.
Please help me understand what I can do to ensure that I have a livable home
going forward.
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