On Wednesday, Nick and Maira Maz stop to look at the place they were supposed to be calling home.
“Really I have no clue what’s honestly going on,” admitted Nick, looking at the Langford apartment complex located on 1060 Goldstream Avenue, called the Hedstrom House.
On Sept. 1, they showed up ready to move into their new rental, but that’s not what happened.
“We were told once we got here with all of our stuff that we couldn’t move in,” said Maira. “Basically they said they didn’t have a city permit yet. They turned us away.”
Instead of moving in, the couple, along with the would-be residents of 30 other suites, were put up in the near-by Four Points Sheraton Hotel.
Their truckload of belongings was packed into storage containers in a gravel lot 3.6 kilometres away.
“Yesterday, I was supposed to be moving into my new place,” said another displaced renter Melinda Hurst. “Now I’m in a hotel with all of our stuff in three different places and my dogs at a friend house.”
Maira says she isn’t surprised something went awry on move-in day.
“I came here about a month ago, and it looked like it still needed a lot of work. They’ve been really unresponsive to my emails in the past couple weeks, they didn’t answer my phones, so I felt something was wrong, but I didn’t think to this extent,” said the hopeful renter.
The development company, Ironclad Developments, says they didn’t know themselves until Monday that the apartments weren’t ready.
The company told CHEK News on the phone that an inspection was done in the past couple of days in order to obtain an occupancy permit from the city.
But surprisingly to Ironclad, the inspection failed. The company simply said some key elements were not completed, as the building finalizes the construction.
“Ironclad respects the city’s requests for information and has every reason to believe that this matter will be resolved swiftly,” said the developer in a statement to CHEK News.
“At this time, Ironclad is accommodating all impacted tenants including providing and paying for alternative accommodations, storage and gratuitous per diems.”
But with no permit, move-in day was cancelled at the Langford apartment, forcing Maira, who is expecting her first child in a matter of weeks, desperate for a place to rest.
“I’m pregnant and I expected to have my apartment at that point and to have a bed,” said Maira. “My bed was still in the U-Haul trailer, so my mom set it up for me so I could lay down for a bit, but it was hot and mucky, but I just needed a place to lay down, and that was the only option.”
Good news could be around the corner though. The City of Langford told CHEK News this afternoon, “The developer has submitted the required documentation and professional assurances as required by the BC building code. The city anticipates being in a position to issue phase 1 of the occupancy permit for the building at 1060 Goldstream tomorrow.”
With their hotel only paid for until Friday, residents, like Nick and Maira, are crossing their fingers, hoping the permit is granted, so they can finally move in.
Rebecca Lawrence
