R E N OV I C T I O N R AG E / F LY I N G F I R E F I G H T E R S / C O N F I S CAT E D CA S H
VA N M AG .C O M/C I T Y
City Lawyer for Rent
This Vancouver attorney practised family law… until he got renovicted. by
Candice Lipski Cynthia Vo
illustration by
“i hate bullies,” says André Duchene. “And this is almost by definition a case of bullying.” In May of last year, each tenant in Berkeley Tower in the West End was given a letter with the news that the building’s new owner, Reliance Properties, intended to proceed with substantial renovations. With that note, the tenants, including Duchene, joined the many Vancouverites facing renoviction. Duchene, a lawyer who has been renting in the 60-year-old tower for five years, believes that while some of the proposed renovations are necessary—replacing windows, upgrading plumbing—others are not. The owners have requested to remove apartments from the second floor to turn it into an amenity space, for example, and to combine the 14th and 15th floors and subdivide them into three penthouses. “I have a hard time imagining that these [renovations] are necessary to improve the quality and lifetime of the building,” says Duchene. Whatever may need repairs, he says, could be fixed while tenants remain in their homes. To that end, he told his landlord that he would do what was needed to accommodate the renovations— which would avoid breaking his tenancy agreement—but the offer was rejected. Reliance Properties offered tenants compensation packages that were higher
VA N M A G . C O M J U LY/A U G U S T 2 0 1 9 15
p14-17_At Issue_JulAug.indd 15
2019-06-20 1:10 PM