Neighbors to an unkempt home in Kelowna, south Pandosy say they are fed up with it.
In 2016, Lara Poirier and her husband bought their dream home on Park Avenue. Little did they know, however, that they were living next to a nightmare – a house that, in their opinion, had been empty since the 1980s.
“There are squatters; There are homeless people … they are out of their minds trying to get in under really unsafe circumstances with collapsing roofs and collapsing decks. Someone is sure to be injured or killed. It’s getting worse every day, ”Poirier told Capital News.
She said she found used needles on her property and lit cigarettes that were thrown in dry grass. The house in question is on Poirier’s property, where her four-year-old daughter plays.
Poirier isn’t the only frustrated neighbor. Neighbors of the surrounding houses have also called the police and reported them several times. Poirier said a neighbor even put his house up for sale but couldn’t sell it, and the feedback was that no one wanted to live near the abandoned problem house.
The home is a Grade I listed and the Kelowna Historic Society is hoping it will come back to life – but the owner lives in Victoria and rarely maintains the property.
The police have visited the house several times to evacuate, but the squatters keep coming back. That leaves the City of Kelowna Bylaws looking for ways to find a solution.
“We have nearly 11 open files on this particular property,” said Mohini Singh, Kelowna City Councilor. “At the moment we have an active investigation underway, we have spoken to the owner.”
Singh said there are two statutes that the homeowner violates, the Unsightly and the Good Neighbor Ordinance.
“So we asked them to clean up the mess and put in a fence so people wouldn’t get in. It is up to the homeowner to step on the plate, ”added Singh.
In a statement to Capital News, the homeowner claimed she had updated her phone number in accordance with the Articles of Association, but she never contacted them directly. Now that she has direct phone calls and is in town, she plans to clean up the house.
“We’re just looking for proactive versus reactive. We want something to happen before someone is injured or killed, ”said Poirier.
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