A tenant’s advocate says those living at a Cowichan Valley campground don’t need to have a written tenancy agreement to be considered tenants.
It’s interesting information for Sonja Mutch whose friends at the Riverside Cabins and RV Park might benefit from.
She’s been preparing to move since June 30, when her neighbours were told their rents would more than double and she was told she had to leave.
“They want to change the Riverside area where I am now to overnight camping and what not, and that there was nowhere in the park for my bus,” Mutch told CHEK News.
Mutch has called Riverside home for the past four years and notes that many of the long-time residents of the park are low-income.
A new owner recently took over the campground and since then, rents for those along the river have increased from $497 to $1200 monthly and washrooms have closed.
Many people at the campground have been paying monthly even though they’re charged a daily rate.
But a tenant’s advocate says although the campground’s long-term residents don’t have tenancy agreements, they still likely have the rights of a tenant and that rents must remain within the provincial threshold.
“Whether or not there’s an agreement in writing and regardless of what kind of structure it is so the act doesn’t discriminate between structures on wheels and structures, not on wheels,” said Robert Patterson, a lawyer with the Tenant, Resource and Advisory Centre.
Patterson says whether the Act covers people depends on the permanence of the housing.
“So the more it looks like someone is renting space as their long-term permanent solution, the more likely the Manufactured Home Tenancy Act will apply. But there are a lot of factors for the Residential Tenancy Branch to consider, and it’s always on a case-by-case basis.”
A numbered company, owned by Dan Johnston, bought the 10-acre campsite for 2.65 million in late 2018. The company took possession of the property on June 2. Johnston, who owns Central Utility Services, did not return CHEK’s calls.
Mutch says she’s glad tenants at the park may be able to stay without unfair rent hikes.
“That’s great if people are going to have some recourse or some assistance in what’s going on, I’d hope for that.”
But with an ill husband, Mutch says she can’t take on another battle. She and her husband are moving in with family at the end of the month.
Kendall Hanson
