Ceiling of apartment above Gibsons cinema almost caved in, mould in bedroom, landlord wants to evict rather than make repairs
(By Newsdesk)
The first eviction notice came on February 26.
“Dear Janice,
Please regard this notice as the termination of your tenancy, being frustrated due to asbestos and mould, effective February 1st 2021.
I have been notified that you dropped off a cheque for March rent at the front desk of the Cedars Hotel. We will not be processing it since we are not able to continue this rental arrangement. As you have been notified a refund cheque for your February rent is also waiting for you.
Please let us know when your belongings will be removed so we can start the asbestos and mould removal.
Sincerely
Mario Laudisio
Agent for the Landlord”
Since then, three more eviction notices have followed.
Artist Janice Williams (70) lives in the apartment above the Gibsons Cinema at 913 Gibsons Way. Well-known in the community as the host of the long-running open mic-events at the Gibsons Public Art Gallery, she also was a fundraiser for St. Bart’s Food Bank and the Gibsons Wildlife Rehab Centre, and is the recipient of multiple awards for community service and contributions to Arts on the Coast.
Her landlord is Mario Laudisio, who says he acts on behalf of a numbered company. With his family, he has operated rundown rooming houses on the Downtown Eastside for many years. In 2006, the City of Vancouver banned him from the Lucky Lodge Hotel on the DTES for not making repairs.
In 2009, the Pivot Legal Society and the Carnegie Community Action Project claimed the Laudisios failed to make emergency repairs in their buildings, threatened tenants, and illegally evicted them if they complained about deplorable living conditions.
It sounds familiar, Williams told The Coast Clarion. After she received the first eviction notice on February 26, “a big man” banged on her door at least thirty times.
When she moved in in 2013, the place was not in good shape. There were problems with the water heater and the drains, the roof above the living room leaked, the sliding doors could not be locked, the railings along the stairs were broken and the intercom did not work. But she was happy to have a place at a difficult time in her life.
When she signed the lease, Laudisio agreed in writing that he would fix everything, but he never did.
The rent was $1050 a month, to be paid in cash. She always asked for receipts.
Last October, the ceiling above the living room almost caved in from the rain. The leaks in the bedroom caused large patches of black mould. She could not turn on the baseboard heaters or the lights in the living room or bedroom for fear the water would short-circuit the electricity. The building has single-pane windows and is cold in winter.
Desperate, Williams repeatedly asked Laudisio to fix the roof and have the mould removed. She had lung cancer three and a half years ago and lost half of one lung; she also has mild COPD.
With the mould in her apartment she has frequent coughing fits with blood, her voice is hoarse and she has bad headaches. The Coast Clarion reporter felt unwell and was coughing after two hours in the apartment, and a piece of the ceiling fell on her head.
“Over Christmas, I was just hysterical,” Williams said. “I was cold, I was sick, and he [Laudisio] did absolutely nothing.”
In January, Laudisio sent roofers who concluded that the roof had to be replaced. They patched it up so Williams could turn the heat on.
Laudisio did not hire them to install a new roof. Frantic, Williams made phone calls to whoever could help make Laudisio make repairs.
First Response, a local fire and flood restoration company, said the 1963 building should be tested for asbestos.
Environmental health officer Chris Morse notified WorkSafeBC, forcing Laudisio to have the building tested for asbestos before any work could be done.
Laudisio sent a handyman who had no certification for asbestos abatement but said he’d done it before and could Google anything he needed to know. Williams showed him the door.
Ken Carson, legal advocate of the Sunshine Coast Community Resources Centre (SCCRC), WorkSafeBC, Solution Based Contracting, the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB), John Hardt, the Town’s building inspector, Sue Booth, the Town’s bylaw officer, Town councillor David Croal, and affordable housing advocate Silas White all became involved, but to no avail: Laudisio did not make repairs.
On February 13, he sent Williams a letter which shocked her:
“Dear Janice,
We have received the results of asbestos test. They are positive for asbestos.
Janice we agree with most of your points and we sincerely want to work with you to find the best possible new housing solution for you.
We do not anticipate this process to be a short term, quite the opposite.
All of the items will need to be removed, before we start anything.
I have already left instructions at the hotel to have your February rent refunded and of course the deposit we have on hand.
Furthermore we would like to help you financially, within reason, with your moving expenses, because of your excellent past tenant’s tenure.
At this point we have decided to remove this unit from our rental inventory altogether, given the possible extent of the asbestos removal and renovation costs required.”
“I was devastated,” she said. “My anxiety went through the roof, this brings back so many traumas. I’ve lived in some horrible places in my life, and this was the first place where I felt core safety. I worked so hard to be in a good place in my life.”
Several people have offered her a room, a place to stay. “But am I going to couch-surf at 71? I’m very grateful, but I have a good place: I don’t drive, and it’s right across from the mall. And besides, where would I go? It is extremely difficult to find affordable housing on the Coast.
“The RTB told me Laudisio has to do the repairs. I am going to stick it out, I don’t want this to happen to the next person.”
Contrary to what Laudisio says, it would not take long to do the repairs on the inside of the apartment. First Response provided a written statement that removal of the asbestos and mould would take five days and that the contents of the apartment would not need to be removed from the premises.
Williams is staying in the apartment to make sure nothing untoward happens. She can’t sleep from stress and keeps a can of bear spray next to her bed. She worries about who has keys and piles items in front of the doors. The RCMP have assured her they will come immediately if needed.
Ken Carson of the SCCRC has notified Laudisio that a tenancy cannot be legally terminated because a unit needs repair. He will ask the RTB to force him to make emergency repairs. Williams is hoping for an expedited RTB hearing very soon.
Williams can’t afford a lawyer and is grateful many people have tried to help her.
UPDATE: On March 3, Laudisio had a fourth eviction letter taped to Williams’s door. Williams says she feels “beyond outraged.” The circumstances are wearing on her.
Janice needs a new home. Let’s help her find one and move.
Housing insecurity in B.C. is a disgrace! More and more people are enduring this kind of stress, living in fear of rental increases and “renovictions”, afraid to ask their landlords to do basic repairs (basic repairs are the landlord’s responsibility–they are not renovations). Even people with full-time jobs, at what would once have been considered a good salary, are forced into an impoverished lifestyle by their housing costs and cannot save for a home of their own.
As a low income senior myself, the only reason I don’t have to live with this kind of stress is that I’m a home-owner thanks to my mother’s foresight in buying a place for me to live when real estate was cheap here. She charged me an affordable rent and left me the place in her will. I bless her memory for that!
Good for Janice for fighting back! I wish her success!
This is a very sad situation for a respected member of our community who has made positive contributions to our community life over many years. This kind of ‘landlordism’ is certainly not wanted in Gibsons. Do the current findings mean that the whole building, including the movie theatre are filled with asbestos? Why has no remediation been done before now? Thanks to community agencies and local government for keeping up pressure on this ‘landlord’. The issue has to be forced to a successful conclusion.
Most older buildings have asbestos. It only becomes an issue when they have to be opened up for renovation or repair.
This is unconscionable. How long have we known asbestos and people should not live together? When did the ferries have to remove asbestos? Mould is also incompatible with health and the ceiling should not be falling. Who is the landlord reducing an Arthur Erickson building to a slum? What’s to stop this landlord for doing a minor bandaid job and renting it again. Janice had made this place into a community asset. Is there no justice? What can we do? The theatre should not be allowed to fall into decay. Can we find something wonderful, close by, intact for our beloved Janice and Moose?
This is horrifying. What a terrible man. That said, Janice needs medical attention before anything else. Living in those conditions would make anyone ill and could seriously affect her mental health. It breaks my heart to think of her living in such a place.
A numbered company? What next? Mario Laudisio is a bully with, as you point out, a notorious record running SRO’s on the downtown East Side with disgusting living conditions.
This also points to the desperate need for affordable housing here on the Coast.
I’m not entirely certain I can arrange it, but if Janice can afford to fly to Mexico City (assuming such flights are even allowed at this time), I may be able to arrange a place where she can stay for a month or so (or maybe longer) for pretty cheap rent or maybe even no rent. It would be based on speaking with my acquaintances to see what they may be able to offer. The warm/hot dry weather here may be more suitable for her health issues until she can relocate permanently on the Coast. Going to Mexico may seem scary, but my wife and I are located in a very safe area distant from any cartel activity. I can’t promise anything, but if Janice is interested in this possibility, please have her email me and I’ll see what I can do. Then again, with a little luck, she may quickly find a suitable alternative on the Coast that would eliminate the need for consideration of such a drastic measure.
“I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep trying. I can’t keep doing this, with no end in sight.”
I CAN keep doing this. I CAN keep trying. I CAN keep doing this, even if it seems there’s no end in sight.
Those who are urging Janice to find a new place need to re-read this part of the article: “Contrary to what Laudisio says, it would not take long to do the repairs on the inside of the apartment. First Response provided a written statement that removal of the asbestos and mould would take five days and that the contents of the apartment would not need to be removed from the premises.”
The landlord is obliged to do this repair. There should be no need for Janice to move out for more than the five days. This is her home. She wants to stay. She does not want to couch surf at her age.