DRUG HOUSE LANDLORD TELLS OF EVICTION STRUGGLE

For rent: three-bedroom home. Large yard, quiet, residential
neighbourhood. Near school, walking distance to town. F/S, W/D.
Utilities extra. No pets. Must not grow marijuana, run a meth lab,
traffic drugs, or deal in handguns. References required.

Doesn't matter how carefully those references are checked. As a
landlord, it's easy to end up with tenants you think are taking part
in illegal activity -- and it's hard to get them out.

"They have more rights than you do right now," said a landlord who
has experienced the difficulty of renting his home to someone and
then having regrets.

He doesn't want to give his name, or too many details, because he's
scared of retribution. But this Oliver landlord has spent months
embroiled in a battle to get his tenants out, and he wants to speak
out to let others know what it is like.

"It took me a full two months, which was absolute Hell. I was sitting
on pins and needles the whole time."

When the tenants applied to move into the Oliver home, he checked the
references, and all looked good. But it didn't take him long to
realize the people who signed the contract weren't the people moving
into his house. By then, it was too late to end the situation without
huge hassle.

"They were in. I ordered them out, because they weren't the people I
thought they were. They were not even the people on the contract. But
even though they were illegal in the house, you still have to follow
the protocol."

The BC Residential Tenancy Act lays out some strict guidelines to
follow when trying to evict tenants. To complicate matters, it was
only a matter of days before he started to suspect there was illegal
activity going on, mostly because of the traffic to and from the home.

But the cops couldn't do anything without more proof, and he had to
deal with trying to evict people he didn't even rent to in the first place.

"You need to get someone to help you through this protocol. You need
to find someone who knows what to do," he said. He contacted a lawyer
from the Lower Mainland who is experienced in dealing with this
matter, and started the legal steps to get the tenants out.

But it wasn't easy. They hired their own lawyer, and threatened a
lawsuit. The process involved proving the tenants were breaking the
rules, waiting on appropriate hearings, and issuing notices at
appropriate times.

In his case, the police became involved, because there was indeed
illegal activity going on.

After the two-month battle, the tenants moved out -- after paying no
rent at all -- leaving the home in shambles. He said there was
evidence of some serious drug activity.

"Everywhere you look it is another, 'Oh my God,'" he said. There were
clothes strewn all over the floors, and junk food containers
everywhere. He had to deal with drug paraphernalia, stolen goods,
structural damage - like burn marks on the floors, and chemical
erosion in the bathtubs -- and the involvement of a police investigation.

"In every single room there was an acetylene torch," he said, adding
he thinks that is used to take drugs.

After two months of stress, the man has a few tips for other
landlords. First, he said never to allow a tenant to move in until
after they sign the contract, and to accept no excuses for delay. He
also said that references should be checked very carefully, and more
attention should be paid to the reputation of the people renting.

His other advice is to keep careful records, including a diary of
suspicious activity. It was his careful accounting that helped keep
the situation to the least amount of time possible before evicting
them, he said.

Ultimately, he said he would like to see more done to allow landlords
the power to resolve such situations.

"There were four parts to this whole thing, and that has to change.
There are no rights here for the landlord," he said, referring to the
red tape to get the tenants out. "We've got to vote in a bylaw to
protect landlords. We need to pass a bylaw so the police force can go
in and make these arrests."