REVscene - Vancouver Automotive Forum

yameen · 10-28-2013, 12:15 AM

i have people next door renting the basement of our neighbor. they are causing emotional distress to my parents and since the house owners don't have a permit/license to rent, how do i go about getting rid of the basement renters? city hall?

since it was a legal matter i just posted in the police forum but i'll post there too. the downstairs neighbours throw garbage on our property and has rear ended our car once. also, they purposely let their cats out that shit on our lawn...srs. further advice welcomed! thanks in advance!

BrRsn · 10-28-2013, 06:56 AM

good luck!

dinosaur · 10-28-2013, 09:06 AM

When you say permit/license to rent, do you mean it is an illegal basement suite? How do you know this?

If so, call the City.

Have you talked to the owner?

Gridlock · 10-28-2013, 10:04 AM

World War III.

That's what you are igniting when you don't bother to contact the owner of the house and instead go to the nuclear option of involving the city.

One, document everything free from emotion, but photos and written documentation.

Two, have a meeting with your neighbor. Chances are, as a landlord of a basement suite he doesn't know what the sweet christ he's doing and is turning a blind eye to the situation.

Don't fuck him over on his apartment. When you talk to him, and he tells you to mind your own business and there are 15 things you are doing wrong as well, then nuke the bitch!

But give him a chance to clean up his own mess.

yameen · 10-28-2013, 11:46 AM

thanks for the input. it's not an apartment but just a house with a basement. we spoke with the city and they said we can file a complaint and the government will issue someone to inspect the place and see if it's an illegal suite. we spoke to the home owners several times and they basically told us to take care of it ourselves, so we'll be speaking to them once more. then if not, we'll file a complaint.

just out of curiosity, what are the consequences if the government finds out that the home owners are renting an illegal suite? will they have to declare missed income from the previous years? renovate their house to follow acceptable renting structure? any penalties?

Lomac · 10-28-2013, 03:10 PM

Well, you can't really fault the cats for taking a crap on your parents property. A leashed dog, yes, but a cat that's free to roam the neighbourhood can't be blamed. An option for garbage is to have a security camera pointed in the places where it occurs most often and just leave it on record day and night. At least if you get physical proof of who's doing it (who knows, maybe it's not the neighbour but simply a visitor they have over once in a while), then you've got more options.

nma · 10-28-2013, 03:46 PM

Step 1: try to reason with neighbours. If fails, proceed to next step.
Step 2: Go to the city. If city tells you to fuck off. Proceed to next step
Step 3: Get some footage, call the cops. If no one really cares....
Step 4: wait a bit, takes some planning... then

Probably wanna avoid 4th. Having shitty neighbours sucks. Good luck

Gridlock · 10-28-2013, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yameen

just out of curiosity, what are the consequences if the government finds out that the home owners are renting an illegal suite? will they have to declare missed income from the previous years? renovate their house to follow acceptable renting structure? any penalties?

All of the above.

Literally, its the nuclear option.

Missed income? Yes, they can check, but probably not. You'd have to report right into the feds for that one. Levels of government aren't directly tied into each other.

City wise though, that's where you can run afoul of building codes in terms of fire separation, number of exits, size and location of windows and egress points and all that type of stuff.

Penalties? Sure.

If I were sitting on top of an illegal suite in my basement, I'd be damned sure that my neighbors didn't have an issue with it. Especially as Canada seems to be going more "turn on your neighbor, comrade" for zero reward. Nothing like a nice anonymous phone call to make life difficult for people you don't like.

Myself? I'd have a pretty blunt conversation with the neighbor. I like to call it the "Ermentraut" (ps, I updated this to keep up with the times, and the popularity of Breaking Bad, but this is the same conversation I previously called 'the Wilfred Brimley')

"Here's what's going to happen in short order. We've had this conversation before, but the last time, there weren't any, shall we say, consequences attached to our decisions.

Clean up your mess, or we will do it for you. You know the old saying, "good lines make good neighbors"? We will have our "good lines" back."

And you hand over the print out of all the places you've contacted with the conversations you've had. I call this guy, and this happens for you. I call this guy, and this happens for you. Reinforce that you are trying to help, but at the end of the day, its affecting your life.

We're having the same problem with a dope of a tenant in the building across the street. It's not enough that we can involve the police, and the manager of that building won't handle it. I'm going to have the same conversation with her.

"Are you going to clean up your mess, or am I? Would I still contact the owner of this building at xyz enterprises at 604-555-4444? Would I still ask for Ron? Yeah bitch. Internet. Chock full of information."

dinosaur · 10-28-2013, 03:55 PM

If it is an illegal suite, the owners will have a specific amount of time to make it legal.

I can't tell you if they need to renovate as it depends what it looks like, etc. Cities have different guidelines and requirements for suites. Some require specific fire grade doors, insulation, etc. Other require specific amounts of windows, windows sizes, junction boxes, electrical panels, etc. To be honest, none of which is your concern. Once you phone the city, they will take care of it.

I am going to go out on a limb here and assume that you are soliciting this information (taxes, income, penalties, permits, etc) as a means to blackmail your neighbours...ie: "Get rid of your tenants or I'll call the city and then you'll be in real shit because of 'x,y,z..'". Am I right?

The City doesn't give a shit about your federal taxes...that isn't how it works. Tbh, it is none of your business...same goes for penalties. Don't play dirty.

The car issue is one thing, but this really can't be all because of a fucking cat....emotional stress?

yameen · 10-28-2013, 04:38 PM

yes our intention is to just hand it over to the city and let them take care of it. it's been an ongoing bickering for the past 3-4 years between them and my parents and even 3am arguments. i won't get into any depth with it but yes, we would like to get rid of them. no it's not just the cat, but mainly for safety reasons. thanks for everyone's input! good advice here

Spidey · 10-28-2013, 04:48 PM

Don't post it in the police forum because tenancy issues are not police matters. It is a civil matter. I am a bit confused. Are you trying to say that your neighbours who live in the basement suite are bad tenants who are making life hell for your parents/yourself? And how do you know they are illegally renting the basement from the landlord? Technically it is the landlord that is responsible for making a suite up to par. So at the end of the day, the landlord will be the one that would be screwed... If their suite does not meet standards, and they do fix the issues, you are back at square one.

I know you don't want to get into details, but it takes 2, for an argument to ensue. Try to be the "adult" in the situation. Anything they do that is illegal, regarding bylaws etc, let the authorities deal with it as dealing with them personally has already led to arguments. It sucks you can't choose neighbours.

Gridlock · 10-28-2013, 07:33 PM

I would really exercise caution in these matters. You guys are neighbors, and that is a situation that is difficult to solve by "walking away".

You start calling the city for this, and he in turn starts calling about something for you.

You say, "but I don't have anything"

Bullshit. Even if you are clean as a whistle, its still people knocking on your door. Mystery damage to your car...who knows.

Be careful, these things rarely work out well once they've escalated.

Soundy · 10-28-2013, 08:23 PM

Hang a bunch of pie plates from your trees.

subordinate · 11-01-2013, 01:38 AM

What Gridlock said, talk mono to mono with the Neighbour. Be firm, direct and stern.
Maybe suggest to the neighbour to up the rent, or nosy crap like Landlords do. Stop maintenance, etc.
So they get fed up and move?

If you are going to go the illegal suite route, again, I suggest putting cameras and good lighting on your parent's property. & cars in the garage.