West End tenants to be awarded $40,000 after dispute with landlord

A tenancy branch arbitrator has ruled that five tenants at a West End apartment with a history of problems will be paid nearly $40,000 — plus ongoing rent reductions — following an issue nearly 10 years ago where the landlord locked the garbage chutes for a protracted amount of time.

For years, around 200 tenants of Regency Park were forced to bring their trash to an outdoor garbage area that was constantly filthy and posed safety issues.

“This is a huge victory, not just for the tenants that live in the building at 1225 Cardero St., but for every tenant in British Columbia,” said Aissa Aggoune, a housing advocate and former tenant at the building.

“It sets a precedent for tenants coming together and exposing the unsanitary living conditions that they’re forced to live in.”

Gisele Galdin has lived at Regency Park for three years. Before she moved into the building, the landlord testified it closed the indoor chutes that led to an underground garbage bin in 2016 or 2017, moving the trash area outside. The reason given was that a new tower was being built next door.

“Sometimes everything’s on the floor,” Galdin said.

“It’s really disgusting.”

The trash area looks normal today, but Galdin says rodents have been seen inside it in the past. On other occasions, people were seen using drugs.

“It’s pretty dangerous sometimes; everyone can pass here,” she said.

“Even myself I had a problem once. I was putting the garbage here and a guy was passing and it was a really uncomfortable situation because he was looking at me, staring at me.”

The arbitrator in the dispute hearing between renters and their corporate landlord, Larco Investments, ruled that the landlord failed to meet health, safety, and housing standards, breaching its responsibilities under the Tenancy Act.

And now it’s being ordered to pay up, move the garbage area back inside, and make the chutes work again.

“Now we know the law can be enforced,” Aggoune said.

“It was a long, eight-year battle, but in the end, the tenants prevailed.”

The tenants say the ruling is a huge success for the tenants who took on their corporate landlord and represented themselves at the hearing against Larco’s lawyers.

“This is just the start for everybody to start fixing everything they have wrong here,” Galdin said.

“It’s a pretty good beginning for us. Just a start, but it’s pretty important for us.”