A CLOSER LOOK
/PARK BEACH MANOR TENANTS ACCUSE LANDLORD OF HARASSMENT AND ABUSE
by John Streit
(click images to enlarge)
A bitter dispute including resident accusations of surveillance, harassment and abuse against their landlord continues to simmer in a West End apartment building and appears headed for the courts.
Park Beach Manor at 1925 Nelson Street.
Park Beach Manor at 1925 Nelson Street is a rental property which was purchased this year by Plan A Real Estate Services Ltd of Vancouver.
It’s a classic Vancouver 1950s-built three-storey walk-up with 21 suites shaded in the front by several trees. As of publication, ten apartments were listed for rent including a furnished 540-square-foot one bedroom/one bathroom for $2,690.00 a month.
Residents say their problems began on day one of the takeover by new ownership in March.
Jon Petrov is a professional pest management technical consultant who’s been a renter in Burnaby and Vancouver for 12 years, including about a year-and-a-half at Park Beach Manor.
PARK BEACH MANOR RESIDENT JON PETROV (Photo Courtesy of JON PETROV)
“I’ve connected with a community of neighbors and friends in and around my building and I've made some important relationships that have started to root me to the neighbourhood, which I consider a privilege and a joy. I love the West End for how much I’ve seen all the different little pockets of community-built places, like the sporadic courtyards where people congregate to chat, share stories, play chess, walk their dogs etc.”
Petrov says Plan A began its tenure by installing surveillance cameras throughout the building, including in common areas and hallways, with some pointing at units, making people feel uncomfortable.
“We were surprised because we were not given proper notice, and we had not given consent to be recorded and monitored. Through emails and letters, we expressed our concerns about the sudden and unexplained change; many tenants had lived in the building for years and even decades, and no one had ever experienced issues with building security like break-ins or theft. The new cameras felt invasive and there were implications for our privacy rights, as Plan A didn’t have a Camera Policy prepared,” Petrov says.
Petrov claims residents later discovered a camera in the laundry room was designed to look like a smoke detector.
LAUNDRY ROOM AT PARK BEACH MANOR (PLAN A PHOTO)
“Presumably to covertly surveil tenants, since no one had any knowledge of its presence. We also discovered that footage from the cameras were being submitted as evidence to the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) in attempted evictions, including dozens of photos tracking the personal movements of a tenant and their partner. This is a gross violation of privacy rights and is a form of harassment. In the dispute hearings for this eviction case the RTB ruled that the landlord’s allegations had no ground for an eviction,” Petrov says.
Anoop Majithia is managing broker for Plan A Real Estate Services Ltd. and tells TWEJ he takes issue with these accusations because they don’t fairly characterize the actions of his company.
“So, when it comes to surveillance, it’s our policy to have cameras in the common areas of all our buildings. It’s a pro-active security measure. These buildings are mostly small, so they don’t have concierge desks or live security staff. Research confirms that having cameras in common areas is a good idea to protect tenants and protect properties. It’s something that we do everywhere in all our buildings. That’s totally in line with all legislation because there’s no expectation of privacy that tenants have in common areas. At the time we put the cameras in place, we gave a copy of our privacy policy to all the tenants at Park Beach Manor, letting them know what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and where the cameras would be. There are signs throughout the building indicating that areas are being monitored. I think that’s very much in line with what a responsible landlord does,” Majithia says.
For Petrov, things went from bad to worse at Park Beach Manor. “Plan A has filed three different applications to end my tenancy so far. In the original two notices, the landlord was alleging causes for eviction on multiple grounds. The cited allegations include theft of common area property which included 20 pieces of art from the laundry room, theft of landlord’s money in the form of $12 dollars for running the dryer without paying, mischief for breaking the dryer, and defamation,” Petrov says.
PLAN A MANAGING BROKER ANOOP MAJITHIA (LINKEDIN PHOTO)
Plan A’s Majithia claims the company found out that a significant number of tenants had been stealing from the landlord. “They have basically been rigging the coin operated dryer to use it in a way that they don’t have to pay to use it. This has been going on for quite some time. So we went to the Residential Tenancy Branch and in every case the RTB has ruled to end those tenancies for theft. There was a police investigation, and the police asked us to work through the RTB,” Majithia maintains.
Jon Petrov tells TWEJ, several other tenants have received eviction notices for bogus allegations. “The landlord has made multiple harassing phone calls to tenants and/or sent threatening text messages, some at late hours.”
Majithia at Plan A disputes this claim. “Accusations of harassment and abuse are not true. All the emails sent to tenants concern legitimate tenant matters. One of the tenants in an appeal with the Residential Tenancy Branch sent a copy of all these emails to other tenants claiming harassment. And the arbitrator actually said, ““no they’re not, all of these concern legitimate tenant matters.”” Things like laundry, building rules, illegal activities in the building or there’s an investigation by the VPD. We rarely text or call a tenant. 99 percent of the communication is done by email or through our online portal,” he said.
Soon after the issues arose, Petrov began to reach out to fellow residents to solicit their stories. “I’ve been shown so much love and support from my neighbours which has meant the world to me. Without that, I don’t know that I would have stuck through all of the administrative shenanigans with RTB applications and legal documents etc. I have a lot of wicked smart and compassionate neighbours and all together with our different backgrounds and points of view we make an amazing team!” Petrov says.
Tenants also reached out to the Vancouver Tenants Union (VTU) for help in what they anticipated would be a new, long and complicated process. The VTU is described as a “collective of over 3,000 tenants across Vancouver who have united to fight their rights as tenants and to demand housing justice for all.”
Kate Davis is with the tenant union’s West End Chapter and has lived in the neighbourhood for four years and offered some more samples of what residents say is happening in Park Beach Manor.
“A long-term tenant was residing with her partner who has lived in the unit for over ten years. Her name was added to the lease in 2020. When Plan A purchased Park Beach Manor in April 2024, upon changing the locks, they refused to provide keys to this tenant, claiming she was not an “authorized tenant” Davis claims.
Anoop Majithia at Plan A describes this as a total mischaracterization of what happened.
“Marie is not the tenant, it’s her partner Pete who’s the tenant. Marie was always listed as an occupant of the unit. Occupants don’t have the same rights as tenants and we’re not supposed to deal with occupants the same way. Pete had moved out of the building several years ago. We bought the building in March and the previous landlord had not made Marie a tenant. What we said to them was “we’re happy to give you keys and fob, but we have to give them to Pete. We can’t give them to Marie. He has to come to our office to get the keys for both of you. She was never locked out. There was never a day she did not have access to the building or her unit,” he says.
Kate Davis at the VTU had more examples.
“One tenant of a few years was served an eviction for having their partner stay over more than 14 nights per year, accusing them of harbouring an illegal tenant in their unit. This tenant lives with a disability and depends on their partner staying with them during certain periods. This tenant fought their eviction at the RTB, but ultimately decided to move out of Park Beach Manor to preserve their well-being,” Davis says.
Davis describes another long-time tenant who was served an eviction notice for living with a small dog.
“This was authorized by the former property management company, yet proof was not accepted by Plan A. While fighting this eviction, the tenant was served a second eviction notice while the first was still ongoing. The second eviction notice focused on an outstanding amount on the landlord's payment portal,” says the VTU rep.
FOR RENT SIGN PARK BEACH MANOR.
Majithia with Plan A maintains no landlord on their own can evict a tenant. “You can’t just go there and change someone’s lock because you don’t like what they’re doing. That’s illegal. We don’t operate that way. What we do is when we feel something has happened that we can’t resolve with the tenant, then we issue a notice and ask the RTB to arbitrate the matter,” he says.
The VTU also claims three tenants also received something called an Order of Possession – enforced through the BC Supreme Court. Davis claims the order was issued without them knowing they were served eviction notices. “Therefore, missing the window to begin the dispute resolution process at the RTB. Plan A claims to have sent eviction notices via registered mail, yet the tenants received nothing and continued to pay rent until Orders of Possession arrived at their doorstep weeks (and in one case, months) later. Orders of Possession cannot be fought at the RTB and must be dealt with at the Supreme Court of BC, a process that is confusing, stressful, costly, and time consuming,” Davis says.
Jon Petrov says an arbitrator cancelled his two original eviction notices because Plan A was suing him and others for defamation.
“On the basis that the claim of defamation was in reference to an active proceeding at the BC Supreme Court (BCSC) which had yet to be resolved. Since the BCSC is a higher jurisdiction, it presents a conflict for the arbitrator’s ability to further assess the eviction dispute case,” Petrov says.
Petrov then says Plan A filed another eviction notice over a Google Review. “My eviction is currently in dispute proceedings and the final decision is pending further hearings.”
Majithia says he’s suing because of actions the tenants took after aligning themselves with the VTU, which he describes as a “radical tenant group.”
“They (VTU) basically manipulated the tenants to do illegal things. I have audio recordings from one tenant who didn’t like what was going on and giving us insider information of what was going on in the building. I’ve heard audio recordings of the VTU telling them to do illegal things. In this case, they created and put up these posters of my face deranged saying “”do you need pesticide”” or “”do you have insects?”” Another one depicts me as the devil and calling me a slum lord. So, I have every respect for freedom of speech, and they have every right to peacefully rally and express their opinion but they went too far. You can’t just go around blatantly insulting people that way. It was offensive. We sent a cease and desist letter when they started these actions through our lawyer and they continued. So, they’re being sued for defamation,” he says.
Kate Davis with the VTU says the blame for these types of tenant/landlord issues needs to be shared with the provincial government.
“While Anoop Majithia and Plan A Realty is particularly predatory, this abuse is the direct result of the current housing system in BC where the incentive to kick out long standing tenants outweighs any penalties associated with fraudulent evictions and harassment. The RTB as it is currently set up functions more as a way to control the displacement of tenants, rather than prevent it. The RTB does not adjudicate based on context and precedence - this allows bad faith actors like Plan A to carry out an onslaught of flimsy evictions against tenants without penalty, often leading to tenants self-evicting to avoid further time, stress, and money spent fighting at the RTB and in the courts,” Davis says.
She says the VTU has been reaching out to their longtime West End MLA - now BC’s Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport.
“Spencer Chandra Herbert, despite pledging his support for Plan A tenants over a decade ago, has failed to make any changes to the Residential Tenancy Act (RTA) that would protect tenants like those at Plan A. Tenants from Park Beach and representatives from VTU met with him on November 25 and he implied that he has no power to stop the current evictions, but that he could ask the Ministry of Housing to look into Plan A and make a claim to the Residential Tenancy Branch’s Compliance and Enforcement Unit (CEU),” Davis says.
TWEJ reached out to the Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs Ravi Kahlon about the situation at Park Beach Manor who called the story “extremely concerning.”
ONE BEDROOM suite FOR RENT AT PARK BEACH MANOR. (PLAN A PHOTO)
“I have confirmed that the Residential Tenancy Branch’s Compliance and Enforcement Unit is looking into this matter to ensure that the tenants’ rights are being protected. Cases like this are exactly why our government brought in the Compliance and Enforcement Unit and continues to take strong action to get tough on bad faith evictions. While I won’t be commenting further on an active investigation, I will say, any tenant who believes their landlord is harassing or attempting to illegally evict them should contact the Residential Tenancy Branch.”
We asked Anoop Majithia at Plan A what he feels would be the best resolution to this dispute at his building.
“I think it’s important to keep in mind that there’s only five tenants out of the 21 units that we have issue with at this moment. Several tenants part of this very active group that had collaborated with the VTU have left the building. Mostly by way of being evicted by the RTB, others voluntarily. Seventy-five percent of tenants live there happily. We have issues with a few remaining tenants, and those issues will have to be resolved one way or another. I do think the relationship is broken with many people, but we respect their right to continue their tenancy as long they follow the lease and don’t steal from us and commit criminal acts against the landlord. It doesn’t have to be a chummy personal relationship between a landlord and a tenant. Generally, landlords have obligations to maintain the building and deal with tenant requests. Tenants have the obligation to pay their rent on time and everything else should kind of fall into place. You shouldn’t be dealing with tenants putting up posters of you in the West End. That’s not normal, right? So, I’m just kind of hoping the situation settles down,” he says.
For Jon Petrov, this battle with Plan A has taken a physical and mental toll.
“I’ve taken a lot of time off work to attend hearings, spend hours doing research, collect paperwork for applications etc. Friends and neighbours have frequently extended themselves - to give me a meal or a metaphorical and literal shoulder to cry on. That’s fuel for me and those gestures inspire me to show up for my friends and community members too. I’m fortunate to have great people in my corner. and ultimately love wins out.”
