A Vancouver city councillor confirms one apartment building has been illegally subdividing its rooms — and still nothing is being done.Pete Fry, confirmed to the Western Standard Ocean Park Place (OPP) in Vancouver has been subdividing one-bedroom apartments into three separate rental rooms with makeshift walls, without the necessary permits.OPP is owned by CAPREIT, a publicly traded real estate investment trust, and has been posting these rooms on Harrington Housing, which advertises them for students and young professionals.Reported by CTV News, long-term tenants at OPP say transient residents have been renting short-term accommodations..The tenants say the state of these apartments is "being converted almost instantly with fake walls, no living space, just bedrooms.”“Three or four people crammed into a one-bedroom apartment that’s been converted into a three-bedroom apartment," an anonymous tenant said."That’s got to be a fire hazard. The long-term tenants are feeling marginalized, isolated, discriminated against and not wanted.""There have been no permits for subdivision at 990 Broughton [OPP], nor do I believe these subdivisions meet the standards of the Vancouver Building By-law or Standards of Maintenance By-law," Fry told the Western Standard..According to Vancouver bylaws, permits are required for any changes to the use or number of dwellings, unit layouts, or the moving of walls.Fry says he flagged the building in early December for inspection, which he claims was acknowledged by city staff.However, he has not received any updates, and tenants have told Fry there has been no meaningful action taken by the building."From past requests, I do understand these inspections typically involve advance notice for scheduling an inspection with the property," Fry stated..He claims these time delays can actually benefit landlords, which, "gives the property owners enough time to remove the partitions, which are otherwise non-structural and temporary in nature," Fry pointed out.According to the city's permit address search engine, the last time OPP had any permits whatsoever expired back in 2023. Fry recently introduced a motion to the city to strengthen tenant protections against these types of landlords by introducing new kinds of business licenses for multi-tenant landlords.The motion also targets unlawful short-term rental activity in multi-tenant apartment buildings.."Be it short term rentals, bad faith evictions, or unpermitted subdivisions with unsafe partitions rented by the week, these offenses aren’t being inspected and enforced rapidly enough, and appeals of the Residential Tenant Agency (RTA) through the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) are burdensome for tenants and typically on a case by case basis," Fry explains."The City of Vancouver’s Licence By-law 4450 assigns conditions on the licensing companies to do business in our city.""Any provider of a long term rental in Vancouver must already apply for a long term rental business license, under 4450.""The intention of this motion is to create a specific category for multi-unit landlords, and apply conditions specific to that category."Also, Fry stated this mandates "more timely inspections by the city, with the intent to enhance the ability to levy fines and enforce compliance on the small minority of landlords that violate the rules.".Responding to CTV News, CAPREIT made a statement claiming they have been working with Harrington and OPP, "to serve an important yet underserved segment of the population: Students and young professionals seeking affordable, furnished housing.”"Leases for these units have a minimum term of 31 days and are therefore not short-term tourist rentals. In practice, most units are rented to students or working professionals for the duration of a school year or work term,” they stated.It says that Harrington "is required to comply with all applicable municipal bylaws, including obtaining permits for any in-suite work and adhering to the City of Vancouver’s regulations related to short-term rentals, which include business licensing and provincial registration requirements.”CAPREIT did not respond to the Western Standard for comment by the time of publication.
