SURREY 鈥� A Freedom of Information Request has revealed there are about 2,400 properties with illegal suites registered at Surrey City Hall.
According to city bylaws, only one secondary suite is legal for properties zoned single family.
However, an FOI reveals there are 2,332 properties in Surrey with two registered suites, 57 with three, and six properties with four or more.
The Now-Leader has learned the city is charging a $568 鈥渕ultiple suite fee鈥� for illegal, yet registered suites. That works out to more than $1 million a year collected from illegal suites.
Selective enforcement is how rolls. Promise one thing and do the opposite should be Hepners motto
鈥� Brian Young (@YoungOneSurrey)
East Clayton resident Greg Garner is one of 175 landlords who have received an order to remove one of their two suites, a move that has proved controversial.
鈥淚n order to register, you have to pay the fee,鈥� noted Garner, who has gone through the process of registering two suites in his home. 鈥淎nd they are framing us 175 as law breakers, yet they allowed 2,500 homes to do this, including six with four or more basement suites.鈥�
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Garner said if the city decided to force all landlords to remove multiple suites, they would be displacing 2,500 families.
鈥淎nd lose more than $1 million.鈥�
Garner wants to know where that money is going.
Although council has spoken about the need to enforce bylaws, at a recent meeting, Garner says if the city is going to act in one community, it must do it city-wide.
| Jas Rehal, bylaws manager for Surrey. |
While Surrey鈥檚 manager of bylaws Jas Rehal didn鈥檛 dispute the figures, he said the fees collected are solely to offset costs for city services.
鈥淭he goal there is to get the fees to ensure there is equity across the city for services people in illegal suites draw,鈥� Rehal said. 鈥淲e have made our position known that the fee does not make the suite legal.鈥�
Rehal said enforcement is based on complaints.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 go out there just looking to do enforcement for illegal suites, it鈥檚 based on complaints,鈥� he added. 鈥淥ur policy is most definitely complaint based.鈥�
What is that, about 10% of all illegal suites?
鈥� Cindy Dalglish (@CindyDalglish)
To Garner鈥檚 comments about treating every landlord the same, Rehal said a 鈥渂lanket enforcement approach鈥� doesn鈥檛 work.
鈥淚n Clayton there, our issue is always trying to resolve complaints. We understand that the suites are directly related to housing so we don鈥檛 have a blanket approach,鈥� Rehal said. 鈥淲ith Clayton, we鈥檝e tried to resolve the parking issues but we couldn鈥檛 resolve those.鈥�
He said that鈥檚 why the enforcement initiative, which is now on hold, began.
| Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner. |
Mayor Linda Hepner said Garner 鈥渋s right鈥� that enforcing the bylaw across the city would displace thousands of families.
鈥淲hile the clampdown in Clayton is in direct response to parking issues, it leaves all the other multiple suites throughout the city to deal with,鈥� she told the Now-Leader.
Hepner said she hopes to soon have a report from staff on broader housing solutions, 鈥渘ot forgetting that single family is single family, and you can ask for multiple (suites to become legal) by way of zoning process. We may need to map those units and give a deadline for a process activation.鈥�
The mayor said to displace 2,500 families in a constrained market would be 鈥渄isastrous,鈥� however expecting an appropriate zone for those areas that wish to be multiple is reasonable and an 鈥渁pplication should be made.鈥�
In the short term, Hepner said the city must still deal with the Clayton transportation issues and awaits a city report that will outline options.
amy.reid@surreynowleader.com
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