A Burnaby renter who says he has no options except to park on the street in his neighbourhood is looking at moving after having his car vandalized as part of a petty battle over parking.
Brad contacted me after reading some of my recent articles about neighbourhood battles over street parking.
Brad said that he used to be able to park at the back of the Burnaby house where he rents a basement suite. That, however, changed when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the home’s owner decided to move into the top floor of the house. The landlords have two cars and so Brad was told he would have to park elsewhere.
Brad has been fighting this decision because he says he has a right to park on the property. In the meantime, he’s been parking on the street wherever there is an open spot. But parking is in short supply and many of the people who own homes in the neighbourhood have told Brad to not park in front of their houses.
“Some are polite about it, but there are a couple of people who have been really confrontational,” said Brad. “I’ve had lots of notes left on my windshield with threatening language. One note told me to stop parking on the street ‘or else’ – now I’m starting to understand what that meant after someone keyed my car with the words ‘no parking’ in the door. I think I know which neighbour it is but I have no way to prove it. I now park several blocks away but I’m working on moving because I can’t take this psycho behaviour anymore. It’s hard enough to be a renter without this kind of harassment.”
Some readers have written me lately about how many landlords are not living up to their obligations when it comes to providing parking spaces to tenants. This issue has led to a lot of problems as people fight over parking.
“About the war on parking for rental suites,” wrote June. “The bylaw states that if you have a rental suite, you must provide off-street parking for the rental suite as far as I understand it. Maybe if landlords provided the required parking for tenants there would not be such a problem because I don't think the landlord be keen on parking down the street because there was no parking in front of their own house because someone else parked in front of their house. Just a thought. It might save nasty notes on windshields.”
Some people really need to give their heads a shake.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
