A four month long standoff between an Okanagan Falls landlord and non-paying inhabitants of his property has finally come to an end. The squatters abandoned the unit, but not before causing damage estimated to be in the thousands of dollars.

The unit in question is in a complex located at 1135 Main Street in Okanagan Falls.

“It’s tough,” said owner George Peaker (shown right).

He served the tenant the first eviction notice on August 31, 2014. “They changed the locks, blocked our calls, and refused to answer the door. Months went by. We went to the courts.”

When the tenant failed to call-in for a court order, Peaker believed that the ordeal had reached an end, only to find two days later that an appeal to the ruling had been made. Although the hearing was a phone-in court date, the Landlord Tenancy Branch accepted ‘car trouble’ as the reason for the missed hearing. The squatters were allowed to remain in the unit.

Fortis BC eventually cut off the electricity to the unit, telling Peaker that the bill had not been paid in months. With colder temperatures on the horizon and fear of freezing pipes, the owner frantically reached out to police – to be told to put the electricity in his own name and try to collect from the tenant – the same tenant who had not been paying the rent. Peaker said that his frustrations grew.

“There’s no accountability in that tenancy branch office whatsoever,” Peaker said. “The police say they can’t do anything. They told us that we should not come around here because (the tenants) are known to the police and they’re dangerous.”

In an effort to evict the tenant, the building’s strata council contacted the property management company enlisted to oversee the building, Hometime Realty, who also said they had no recourse.

The frustrated strata council visited the Penticton RCMP offices December 29 to discuss the situation, as the RCMP were making an average of one call a day to the building for various reasons stemming from the occupants’ behaviour. According to the strata council, the RCMP explained that if the tenants are not actively committing a crime, the police cannot get involved in the eviction process. The strata owners argued that the squatters were breaking into the locked lobby in order to gain access to the unit, but the RCMP told the strata they believed the entry was to remove belongings and move out.

It was apparent to other unit owners in the building that the squatters were allowing all manner of individuals 24 hour access to the unit. One neighbour, who asked not to be named, called it a “squatter’s free-for-all.”

“It’s not about getting (the tenants) out of here and putting them on the street,” Peaker said. “It’s about the rest of the people (in this complex) being able to live their lives and the building being safe.” Peaker called for reform to the tenancy branch to give more options to landlords seeking to evict non-paying tenants.

“No one’s helping us, so what were we supposed to do?” he said. “It makes good people think bad thoughts.”

Peaker purchased the unit in 2008 as a retirement investment.

Story from OK Falls Daily News