All Mo wants is to be able to get his mail in his own building.
Oh, and to not have to look at holes in the ceiling that are filled with mould and falling dust.
That doesn’t seem much for a Burnaby renter to ask.
So Mo had finally had enough when he contacted the NOW about his building on Telford Avenue. Mo (who can’t use his real name for fear of retribution from the landlord) sent the now a notice from Canada Post that said carriers would no longer deliver mail in his building because it was deemed unsafe.
“A notice was left on the front door of our building telling us that we now need to go to the Canada Post depot on N Fraser Way to receive our mail, which is inconvenient for several tenants in this building with disabilities and mobility issues,” he said.
For Mo, Canada Post has just confirmed how much the building has been allowed to deteriorate for people in the building who pay more than $1,100 per month.
And instead of fixing the problems, like open holes in the ceiling, the landlord just started decorative changes.
“So the landlord currently has people painting here in one of the hallways that you can see stairwells that you can see from outside. While doing nothing about the giant hole upstairs.
“There's been such bad flooding in the crawl space that our floor is buckling. No one is under the illusion that this building is in pristine condition. Since the new owners took control of the building just a couple of years ago, nothing but the essential maintenance is done. We have suffered from random power outages, the water being shut off without notice, flooding and the fire alarm being pulled in the middle of the night. The part that I'm confused about is that if our building is deemed unsafe for mail delivery, how is it safe for us to live here. There are several families with children living in this building, as well as elderly couples with compromised immune systems. If the building is not safe for mail how is it safe for us?”
Mo thinks this is all by design to push out the current tenants so new ones can be brought in at a higher rent.
“They have been making life so miserable for people here that the building is under half capacity currently.”
