Punish the slumlords, say advocates
Residential Tenancy Branch asked to impose maximum financial penalties on owners of the worst SROs
Vancouver, January 15, 2009 - Pivot Legal Society, Carnegie Community Action Project and other housing advocacy groups are calling on the Residential Tenancy Branch to impose financial penalties on owners of the Downtown Eastside’s seven “worst of the worst” single room occupancy hotels.
“Based on discussions with advocacy groups who spend significant time assisting low-income tenants in the Downtown Eastside, two families have been identified as owning and operating the absolute worst of the worst buildings down here” says Laura Track, housing campaign lawyer with the Pivot Legal Society.
“The Sahota and Laudisio families are responsible for the most serious and ongoing violations of the law in their seven SRO buildings, including:
- Failure to maintain reasonable health, cleanliness and sanitary standards, especially in regards to rodent and insect infestations;
- Failure to conduct emergency repairs on essential utilities;
Entering residences without proper notice;
- Verbally abusing tenants;
- Ending the tenancy without due process;
- Illegally retaining damage deposits;
- Charging guest fees;
- Changing the locks without due process in order to evict the tenant;
- Threatening the tenant with eviction in order to discourage the tenant from making an application to the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB).”
“I’ve lived in the Balmoral Hotel for more than 11 years” says DJ, a volunteer with First United Church, the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre and Lifeskills. “My partner and I pay $750 for a small one-bedroom that’s got rats, mice, cracks in the walls and ceilings and other problems. When I ask someone to come and do necessary repairs it often takes weeks to get the problem fixed. I’m tired of having to fight so hard just to get the absolute minimum from the Sahotas.”
“Many of the Carnegie Community Action Project’s members are among the more than 650 tenants who live in Sahota and Laudisio-owned buildings,” says Wendy Pedersen, long-time activist and organizer with CCAP. “Low-income tenants deserve to live with dignity and security, but these two landlord families deprive tenants of their rights by repeatedly breaking the law and allowing the conditions in their buildings to remain so horrendous.”
The Sahotas own four SRO hotels: the Regent (160 E. Hastings), Balmoral (159 E. Hastings), Astoria (769 E. Hastings), and Cobalt (917 Main), and the Laudisios own three: the Brandiz (122 E. Hastings), Powell Rooms (556 Powell), and Lucky Lodge (134 Powell).
“The Sahotas’ four hotels appreciated by almost $5 million between 2005 and 2007” says Track. “They are making significant profits on the backs of some of the most vulnerable and marginalized individuals in our city."
"Both families continue to flout the law despite numerous orders from the City of Vancouver to make improvements and multiple Residential Tenancy Branch decisions against them. By asking the RTB to impose monetary penalties, we’re hoping to hit these slumlords in the pocketbook to make them realize that they cannot continue to break the law with impunity.”
