A Vancouver tenant who was forced out of the Fairview apartment she’d called home for 23 years recently won the largest sum possible over the eviction.
Charna Buchalter’s ex-landlord must pay her a year’s worth of rent after she proved to a Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) arbitrator that his daughter didn’t actually move in even though he issued a family-occupancy eviction.
“It’s a victory for me because I knew what he was doing wasn’t ethical and wasn’t right,” Buchalter told Daily Hive.
She was paying about $1,000 per month for her old one-bedroom apartment at Ash and Broadway. It was in a 12-unit building owned by Andrew Mowat. He also owns The Victorian Hotel downtown and a Shaughnessy home valued at over $5 million along with his wife, according to land title documents.
Buchalter was the building’s longest-standing tenant and was paying the least rent of any of the other units. When she received the eviction notice last spring, hearing the landlord’s daughter planned to move in, she was suspicious.
With the help of her neighbours, she kept an eye on her old apartment after moving out. The landlord did renovations the week after she moved, and installed a keypad lock on the door. But according to neighbours and Buchalter’s photos, no one was staying in the unit overnight.
Buchalter decorated the old apartment with her own flair during the 23 years she lived there. (Submitted)
BC tenancy laws are clear: for a family-occupancy eviction to be upheld in good faith, the landlord or their immediate family must live in the unit for a minimum of six months.
Buchalter filed for arbitration in November, and the hearing happened March 19.
In the interim, she says her old landlord contacted her via his lawyer to try to settle the matter — offering her six months’ rent. Closer to the hearing date, she says the landlord phoned her with a slightly higher offer, but Buchalter declined.
According to RTB documents, the landlord told the arbitrator at the hearing he needed to renovate the unit before his child moved in, but the contractor he hired broke his foot in May, which delayed the project. Then the contractor went on vacation during the summer, and renovations weren’t completed until December.
He said his daughter moved in briefly but then relocated to Whistler for work.
“The landlord testified that due to the renovation delays their daughter’s plans had changed and she could not live in the rental unit as planned,” the document says.
What’s more, the documents say the landlord testified he chose Buchalter’s unit in part because of the low rent she was paying. Several other units in the building had been recently renovated and were in better condition, but the landlord claimed updates would be required there, too.
The landlord told the arbitrator Buchalter’s old unit has not been re-rented.
Thirty days after the hearing, the RTB made its decision, siding with Buchalter and ordering the old landlord to pay her 12 months’ rent because the daughter didn’t move in in a reasonable time and didn’t stay for the required minimum of six months.
“The intended occupant changing their mind is not an extenuating circumstance,” the decision reads.
Buchalter’s monetary award comes out to just under $12,000. It’s about about six months’ rent at her new apartment.
“I just wanted to do this because I wanted to give hope to other people,” she said. “It is a daunting task to go through this, and I have a feeling the majority of people look at it and say, ‘Oh, I’ll move out.’”
The RTB has ordered the landlord to pay Buchalter by May 15.
Buchalter has luckily found a new dog-friendly apartment in South Granville that she says is much nicer than her old one. It’s about double the price at $1,950 per month but has hardwood floors, lots of light, and a view of the mountains.
“It’s a tight squeeze financially, but in the end, it worked out well.”
Buchalter’s ex-landlord did not reply to Daily Hive’s request for comment.