Vancouver files charges against owners of hotel deemed uninhabitable

Balmoral Hotel Ltd. (Photo: jmv/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

VANCOUVER—The City of Vancouver says it has filed 60 charges against the owners of a decaying hotel for alleged violations of bylaws related to maintenance standards.

It says in a release that infractions at the Balmoral Hotel Ltd., which is controlled by one family, stem from two inspections of the Downtown Eastside building earlier this year.

The city says the breaches include failure to maintain walls, ceilings and floors to adequate standards as well as unacceptable plumbing facilities such as baths and toilets.

City engineers deemed the hotel structurally dangerous in June and about 143 low-income residents were helped to find other accommodation.

Kaye Krishna, the city’s general manager of development, buildings and licensing, says landlords must be held accountable for keeping habitable standards in so-called single-room accommodation buildings.

The city says the charges were filed in provincial court and that each of the alleged 60 infractions carries a potential fine of $250 to $10,000.