A rental building with numerous deficiencies is getting some much-needed repairs.
Tenants and members of ACORN Canada rallied at 1210 Cameron St. in April to highlight concerns about lack of running water, water damage in the building, pest control issues, and problems with the elevator and fire-safety issues.
The City of New Westminster's integrated service team has made the building a top priority and has provided the building owner with a list of upgrades to be made.
A staff report presented to city council on June 11 indicated that the property owner has started work on a number of the repairs, and have restored the building's water service.
"However they did not obtain all of the required permits or copy with the timelines to provide professional reports imposed in the maintenance order," said the report. "They have now retained the required professionals, provided the required reports and submitted a plan to conduct the needed repairs. The plan calls for major plumbing, electrical, flood restoration and other repairs throughout the building."
The city will be issuing a further order stating that the repair work must be done in a "timely manner" and must comply with city bylaws.
Because of concerns about the fire separations and the apartment's alarm system, the city is requiring the property owners to have a "fire watch" on the building until all outstanding fire deficiencies are corrected to repair damaged fire separations and to the building's alarm system. A fire watch means a person is required to patrol the building to ensure there is no fire and take steps to alert tenants if a fire is detected.
"The bylaw officer and fire department officials are conducting daily inspections to monitor the condition of the property and compliance with outstanding city orders," stated the report. "Staff are issuing municipal tickets for all bylaw violations."
As of June 11, the city had issued about $9,000 in fines to the building owners and they had paid most of these tickets. The outstanding amount owed is about $2,700.
In addition to the apartment at 1210 Cameron St., city staff is also concerned about the condition of a building at 1211 Cameron St. and are doing a detailed assessment of the property. In addition to these two properties, the property owners have several other rental buildings in Greater Vancouver - including one in Surrey for which they were penalized more than $100,000 by the residential Tenancy Branch for not complying with notices about water damage.
ACORN Canada said the Cameron Street tenants have been struggling with poor building conditions for years. The organization planned the April 26 rally after the building had been without running water for a week.
ACORN is planning to launch a campaign in July that's aimed at having comprehensive reforms made to the Residential Tenancy Act and giving the Residential Tenancy Board teeth so it can enforce its own decisions.
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