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Nanaimo tenants rally against “reno-viction” at Victoria Rd. apartment building

Feb 28, 2018 | 3:30 PM

NANAIMO — A Nanaimo landlord is being accused by tenants of illegally evicting them and undercutting affordable housing options in the city.

Past and present tenants of 250 Victoria Rd. gathered in front of the building Wednesday morning, protesting moves by landlord Guy Bouchard to raise rent from $650 to $900 per month allegedly for renovations.

Tenant advocate and former resident Courtney Deneal told NanaimoNewsNOW other tenants were pressured into the new rental agreements, which are larger than the four per cent allowed by the province, and the move will mean less affordable housing in Nanaimo.

“We all lived here for a reason, because it was cheap rent,” she said. “I told the new landlord I didn’t have the money to just give an extra $300…as an upcoming professional, just graduated from university (and) trying to get my foot in the door. The majority of people here can’t but they signed (the rent increase agreement) out of fear because they don’t have to move, because they’re seniors.”

Frank Nozaki, 70, said when he moved into the apartment building he expected to spend the rest of his days living there. Now, he’s not sure if he’ll even have a place to live since he was one of 10 units handed an eviction order for March 1. It’s the same day tenants have a hearing with the residential tenancy branch.

He said he feels deeply for other seniors in the apartment building, specifically a woman on the fourth floor who suffers from dementia.

“They can’t afford a rent increase like this. They’re barely getting by on their pensions or their disability, which is even less. They’re between a rock and a hard place.”

Lawyer Noah Ross, representing the tenants at the hearing, said renovictions like this are too common across B.C. and he described the move as “predatory.”

“(Guy Bouchard) went around and talked to all the tenants trying to get them to sign a rent options form, which is essentially getting them to sign away their tenancy rights against the threat of being evicted.”

Ross said his understanding of the proposed renovations for the building are purely aesthetic, doors, windows and flooring, nothing structural and called them a poor excuse for raising the rent.

This is not the first time Bouchard has found himself involved in a “reno-viction” dispute.

In Maple Ridge during the summer and fall of 2017, residents at an apartment called Esme Manor protested their rent increase from $750 to $1,300 for a one bedroom apartment. At the time, Bouchard said the increase was done to fund an $800,000 renovation.

He told NanaimoNewsNOW while his company is in their right to try and make a profit off the building, they’ve handled it in a respectful fashion.

“There was absolutely no bullying, no pressure at any given time,” he said, commenting only a few tenants hadn’t agreed to the rent increase and it was just a few “problem tenants” raising the issue.

 

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit