Judge gives Okanagan RV park another chance to evict tenants
An Okanagan trailer park embroiled in a long-running dispute with several long-term residents will get another chance to collect more than $20,000 of back rent after a BC court sent the file back to the Residential Tenancy Branch.
According to a Feb. 3 BC Supreme Court decision, Summerland Beach R.V. Park & Campground will get to argue their case again claiming it's owed $23,000 for a decade's worth of back rent.
The case involves Judith McAllister and Linda Snow and Summerland Beach R.V. Park who have been back and forth between the Residential Tenancy Branch and the BC Supreme Court as they argue about how much they should be paying.
McAllister and Snow have lived at the park since 1993 and accuse the RV Park's latest legal challenge as a "12-year campaign to interfere with their quiet enjoyment of their site."
The decision says McAllister and Snow managed the park and signed a lease in 2009 saying they would pay $2,285 annual rent for their site.
However, William Park the president of the company that owns the RV site says another lease exists from 2012 where the rent is $5,100 a year.
In May 2022, the RV park took action giving the tenants 10 days to pay $23,000 of unpaid rent dating back to 2012.
The couple headed to the Residential Tenancy Branch, which ruled the 2012 lease – which was only discovered in 2022 – wasn't valid and the couple didn't owe the cash.
However, the Summerland Beach R.V. Park appealed and took the matter to the BC Supreme Court.
In the decision, BC Supreme Court Justice Karen Douglas notes the parties have a long history of litigation.
The Justice says the company that owns the park, No. 151 Cathedral Ventures, has previously tried to evict other seasonal tenants at the park.
From 2011 to 2016, the company unsuccessfully tried to evict various seasonal tenants, the decision says.
A sticking point appears to be that the tenants don't live there all year round and their units are empty from October to April.
In 2019, the company issued eviction notices to almost all the park's 127 units saying it was terminating their occupancy on the basis that they were common law licensees and not tenants under the Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act.
The matter ended up in court.
"There was a full-blown hearing on this issue, including substantial documentary and photographic evidence, written argument, direct and cross-examinations, and oral submissions," the Justice says.
Ultimately, the Residential Tenancy Branch ruled the residents were tenants under the Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act, meaning they could stay put.
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"Unfortunately, this Residential Tenancy Branch decision did not end the parties’ longstanding dispute," the Justice says.
Following this the company ordered the tenants to remove their manufactured homes from the site six months a year.
More court time followed and the move was overruled.
Sometime in 2022, the 2012 lease was discovered, which included an addendum, and doubled the rent.
While the Residential Tenancy Branch dismissed the 2012 lease and said tenants could pay according to their 2009 agreement, Justice Douglas parsed through the legalese and ruled the case should be sent back to the Residential Tenancy Branch to review it again.
"I am unable to conclude that there is a rational or tenable line of analysis to support the Residential Tenancy Branch decision," the Justice says. "I also conclude that the reasons fail to grapple with the central issue of whether the 2012 lease was valid, and, if not, the reason."
The Justice's move gives the RV park owners another kick at the can to collect the rent or get rid of their tenants, while the residents wait in limbo for their fate to be decided once again.
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