A Vancouver woman complains about the lack of heat and hot water in her apartment building, which neither her landlord nor her property manager was willing to fix.
Lorena Andrasi told Daily Hive that she and her husband have no heating or hot water in their apartment for entire days during the winter and have had to make major changes to their daily routine.
“I go to my gym after training and shower there,” she says. “It's difficult to wash up when there's oil or grease on the plates, for example. It's just a lot more tedious.”
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The couple moved into their 11-unit building in Kitsilano in the summer of 2022. This winter, the water heater that feeds the heating system and provides hot water for the faucets broke.
Andrasi said she had no heat or hot water for weeks after the tank stopped working in December. Eventually it was replaced with a smaller tank than the old one, and the property manager told her residents they would have to ration their hot water.
In text messages obtained by Daily Hive, Andrasi, the property manager, said the new tank has a 140-gallon capacity and can be refilled within two hours. A U.S. government energy website estimates that one shower uses about 20 gallons of hot water. Seven showers in close proximity throughout the apartment building could drain the tank.
Since the entire building relied on the hot water boiler to heat the living units, showers and dishwashing, the boiler quickly ran out. During the winter months, Andrasi often waited from morning to night for heat.
“When the temperature in the apartment is really low, it's even more difficult to take a cold shower – it was freezing cold,” she said. “We shouldn't be living like that.”
According to Andrasi, the temperature in her apartment dropped to 16 °C during the day last winter. She heard from neighbors that it was even colder in some apartments.
Vancouver's maintenance standards regulations require accommodation establishments to maintain room temperatures at a minimum of 20°C during the day and 16°C at night. British Columbia's Housing Ministry declined to comment on the matter, saying it was limited in its ability to comment publicly during the ongoing provincial election.
Andrasi filed a complaint with the City of Vancouver in hopes of having the problem resolved.
City of Vancouver sues landlord
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The city confirmed that it received Andrasi's complaint on January 15, 2024, and sent an inspector that same week. On January 19, it issued a maintenance order requiring the owner to fix the heating and hot water problems in the affected units.
“Because the property owner failed to comply with the order, the case was forwarded to the City Attorney's Office and a court date was set for October 29,” a city spokesperson told Daily Hive. “Although the property owner has taken some steps to resolve the issues, the actions taken have not met the City's requirements.”
As temperatures cool again, Andrasi is already noticing that her apartment has no hot water. She wants to withhold rent, but not be evicted. She and her husband are currently paying $2,100 for their one-bedroom apartment, including parking, which is cheaper than most other vacant apartments currently on the market.
“It's very frustrating to spend $2,100 a month and still not be able to live comfortably. When you wake up in the morning and you're cold, it's hard to go to work.”
She started a group chat with her neighbors and learned that the problems with the heating and hot water were not an isolated case, but occurred throughout the building.
The building's property manager is KS & SY Hung Holdings Ltd. The company has a business address on Sidaway Road in Richmond. It did not respond to Daily Hive's request for comment.
Andrasi said the property manager who first showed her the apartment told her that the owners of the building were a couple living in China and that they were left in charge of its maintenance.
The property records for the Kitsilano apartment list the owners as Kit Shing Hung and Shuk Yin Hung, a married couple who live at a residential building on No. 3 Road in Richmond. The couple could not be reached for comment.
Landlords are responsible for ensuring that the apartments remain habitable
Robert Patterson, a lawyer and tenant representative with the Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre (TRAC) in British Columbia, told Daily Hive that the Residential Tenancy Act prohibits landlords from terminating or reducing essential services, including heat, hot water and electricity.
Landlords are also responsible for ensuring that units are of a habitable standard and that minimum heating system requirements set out in local city ordinances are met.
If a landlord does not provide heat or hot water, or does so irregularly or sporadically, tenants can contact the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) for assistance, Patterson said.
Tenants may ask the RTB to order landlords to compensate tenants for periods when essential services were not provided and may ask for permission to pay reduced rent until the issue is resolved. Withholding rent without RTB approval may result in eviction.
Andrasi and her husband just want to live comfortably in their home and enjoy their new city. They moved to their apartment from Ontario and say the problems with heating and hot water were a shock when they moved from a colder climate to a milder one.
“It seems like there's no way out,” Andrasi said. “If we leave and move to another apartment, we'll spend a lot of money on the new rent prices. Or if we stay here and struggle through, we'll be very frustrated four to five months out of the year. We just feel stuck in a place we don't want to be.”
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