Editor:
I read your recent column about the crazy Burnaby neighbour who took a renter’s hubcaps to teach them a lesson about parking on the street and I had to write in about this terrible behaviour.
Because I can do one better.
My own Burnaby landlord had my car towed from the property where I rented because he’s a terrible person.
I’ll back up for a minute.
I rented a basement suite in a South Burnaby house that had several other renters living in the home. The other renters were already living there when I moved in and the landlord had a kind of seniority list made up in which they seemed to have more rights than I did because they paid more in rent (for a larger space upstairs) and had been there longer.
For example, I was told that I had to do certain things like put out the garbage bins because I was ‘low man’ on the list. I argued against it but when you’re a renter you often feel pressured to just put up with stuff to keep thing peaceful.
Then there was the issue of parking. There was only so much space on the actual property and the other renters were allowed to park there, but there wasn’t space for my vehicle. I was told I had to park on the street, which is of course wrong, but I had to go along with it. But my landlord warned me not to ever park on the property.
The problem is that other homeowners didn’t like me parking in front of their homes and there wasn’t enough spaces on the street. I’d often have to park blocks away and carry my groceries in the rain. It was a frustrating situation.
The other tenants were nice and they told me if they weren’t home they didn’t care if I parked in their spots. I rarely took them up on their offer – just once in a while.
One time they said they were going to be gone on vacation and I could use their spots and so I decided to do that. I went to my car one morning and it was gone. I went back to my unit and there was a note taped to the door from the landlord saying he had my car towed for ‘violating the rules.’
He didn’t just ask me to move my car like a grownup, he just decided to ‘teach me a lesson’ as he would later say.
I gave my notice on the spot and eventually moved out. I get that there are bad renters out there, but there are also some bad landlords who have no compassion.
Phil Greer, Burnaby
