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White Rock ‘demoviction’ notice cancelled

Residential Tenancy Branch agrees landlord did not give proper notice
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Misty Fredericks (right), with her daughter Angelina, stands in front of the window she painted in her Maple Street rental house to protest what she claims is a ‘demoviction’ by Oviedo Developments. (File photo)

The Residential Tenancy Branch has ruled in favour of a White rock mother who disputed a “demoviction” notice from Oviedo Developments.

Misty Fredericks had told Peace Arch News that Oviedo haven’t given her proper notice to vacant the house she has been renting at 1569 Maple St., which is to be demolished as part of the site of a temporary sales centre for the company’s planned multi-storey development on Findlay Street.

Oviedo CEO Kanwar Dhamrait disagreed, telling PAN before the ruling that the company has given her “everything as per regulations.”

Following a hearing on Wednesday, RTB arbitrator M. Lee ruled the notice to vacate “is cancelled and of no force or effect.”

In the ruling, the RTB says that although the landlord produced documentation to demonstrate that he had started to take the necessary steps to demolish the property, “it is clear that the documentation produced by the landlord were obtained after the tenant filed an application to dispute the 2 Month Notice issued to her.”

“It’s no coincidence,” Fredericks told PAN. “I filed for a dispute resolution on Dec. 6. I had a time limitation – I believe of three days – to serve a copy to Kanwar. I went immediately on the 7th, and on Dec. 8 they were at the city applying for their permits.”

Fredericks also applied to extend the tenancy so that her son may finish school before moving. This portion of the application was denied by the RTB.

Dhamrait told PAN Friday that he delivered a new two-month notice that day. He called PAN the following day to say he has yet to receive confirmation of the notice.

“We were wrong, we accept it,” Dhamrait said.

Dhamrait told PAN that Fredericks approached him in 2016 and asked to rent the property. He said she was aware that the building was slated for demolition. He said he agreed to rent the house to her because “she needed help.”

“The main thing is, we never had bad intentions,” he said.

Dhamrait took issue with a sign Fredericks put in her window that reads “demoviction families before profit!!”

“She put a big sign in her window. This is ridiculous. She’s dampening my imagine in the community for helping her,” he said.

“Now I know,” he said. “Now I know to never help anybody.”

Fredericks said the RTB process was stressful, and that if she had to do it all over again she would seek support of an advocate.

“Simply because there were some issues that I would like to address more in the moment. It slipped away. An advocate is there to make sure that doesn’t happen.”