Derelict apartment shuttered by Kamloops fire department leaving residents scrambling
Dion Livingstone used to help manage a men's housing facility in downtown Kamloops. Now the building's condemned and the tenants, legal and otherwise, may have to fend for themselves.
Nearly six months after a Lower Mainland realtor bought the building, the Kamloops fire department deemed the property unsafe and helped to kick out the tenants.
"That's when it started going downhill," Livingstone said. "They're just playing hardball to get us all out."
Livingstone was one of 11 legal tenants in the building, and the landlord is expected to find temporary housing for them while it's boarded up for repairs.
Firefighters knocked down doors to clear the 91 Seymour Street West apartment earlier this week, where they found multiple fire code issues.
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"I thought, 'Wow, this is military style,'" Livingstone said, describing the banging and commotion of firefighters using sledgehammers to access the building and its units.
There were more than 20 people living in the building and many were squatters, sleeping in shared bathrooms overnight and even the building's mechanical room.
Kamloops Fire Rescue fire chief Ken Uzeloc described the building as the worst he's seen in 20 years.
He described arcing from exposed wiring throughout the building, a propane tank next to a hot water heater and disconnected fire alarms.
"That's a last resort for us to have to put people out, especially if not all the people are being looked after, but it wasn't a matter of if it was when," Chief Uzeloc said of the dangers in the building while speaking at an Oct. 21 press conference.
The fire department has been working with the landlord for months to fix building code violations, and the owner will face steep fines if they aren't addressed soon, he said.
Chief Uzeloc offered no timeline on when repairs should be done to avoid fines, instead allowing the owner to develop a plan with contractors first.
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At the same time, the legal tenants were scheduled for arbitration with the residential tenancy board because the landlord has been trying to evict them, according to Livingstone.
Livingstone said he's received multiple letters from the owner trying get the tenants out. Shortly after the purchase in February, he was told the landlord's family was going to move in, so tenants were to leave.
"We have (arbitration) on the 30th, that's what we've been waiting for," Livingstone said.
Livingstone said he helped manage the building prior to the February purchase and he knew all the tenants, but new people started showing up in recent months. Before the purchase by a company from Surrey transferred the apartment to private housing, it was owned by a non-profit as a men's housing facility and was well-managed until the sale, Livingstone said.
Once the squatters showing up, that's when Livingstone said the building started falling into disrepair.
The landlord tried to get squatters out of the building in the past, especially when they were sleeping in shared washrooms or causing problems, but he often didn't call police.
Livingstone said that police are, however, aware of issues at the building.
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A Mustard Seed support worker tried to help tenants get into landlord-funded hotel rooms while the building is boarded up, but Livingstone said the were turned away.
In the meantime, he's build a makeshift shelter behind the building, but he'll soon be forced to leave as the property is boarded up and bylaw officers take everyone's belongings into storage.
All doors and windows will be boarded up and security is expected to patrol the building and ensure no one, other than contractors or owners, gets inside. No one will live in the house until the fire chief deems it safe again.
The owner is listed as a numbered company, but company directors are named on a letter posted to the building's front door.
Surrey-based realtor Daljinder Aujla is named on the letter, along with four other people.
iNFOnews.ca contacted Aujla but he refused to be interviewed.
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