Rundown Regent Hotel ordered to repay tenant for lack of heat, hot water

During bitter cold snaps this past winter, Jack Gates sat shivering in his Downtown Eastside hotel room with no heat and no hot water.

Now he's basking in the warmth of a legal victory.

"I'm ecstatic," said Gates. "This has made me very happy."

Gates, 54, was the subject of a CBC News investigation last December that revealed frigid conditions inside the 102-year-old Regent Hotel on East Hastings Street.

• Vancouver Regent Hotel tenants fight for heat, hot water
• City of Vancouver orders Regent Hotel to 'correct deficiencies'

A short time later, Gates took his landlord — Pal Sahota and Triville Enterprises Ltd — to the provincial government department that deals with landlord-tenant disputes, the Residential Tenancy Branch.

After hearings held over several months, Gates has been awarded a rent refund of $1,675 by the RTB – $1,425 "for being without a properly-functioning radiator and $250 for being periodically without hot water," according to the order obtained by CBC News.

He will also receive an additional rent reduction of $75 dollars a month until his room radiator is repaired, and an additional $50 a month rent refund pending "evidence from a qualified professional that the hot water in his rental unit meets local building standards."

Gates normally pays $475 rent each month, most of that a taxpayer subsidy for housing.

He says he's been without regular heat and hot water since he moved into the Regent Hotel 19 months ago.

'A victory for everybody at the Regent'

While the rent refund is not a lot of money by some people's standards, it's a major windfall for Gates — a reformed addict trying to scrape by on a disability pension.

But he says he didn't launch the fight for the money.

"It's a victory for everybody at the Regent without heat and hot water," Gates told CBC News, "I'm just hoping it opens the door for the rest to get their money back for things they paid for but didn't get."

Contacted by CBC News, landlord Pal Sahota said he was not aware of the RTB decision against him and would need time to respond.

Sahota owns a number of problem properties throughout the Lower Mainland.

'No weight' given some landlord claims

The decision handed down by the RTB "placed no weight" on several claims made by the landlord, including testimony "that the rental unit should be kept sufficiently warm by the pipes running in the ceiling of the rental unit" and that "he personally inspected the tenant's rental unit … and determined that the heat was functioning properly."

The RTB decision also criticized management at the rundown hotel, finding "'Manager M' acted in an intimidating manner" toward Downtown Eastside advocates who tried to independently check Gates's complaints.

Evidence included CBC investigation

Last December, CBC went into the Regent Hotel undercover, because tenants said management can often ban visitors.

At the time, an electronic thermometer showed the daytime temperature inside Gates's room dipped as low as 12 C.

The RTB decision awarding Gates compensation says the CBC investigative report helped form some conclusions in the case.  

In addition to the repairs ordered by the RTB, the Regent Hotel features prominently on the City of Vancouver's list of buildings with health or safety issues.

It faces outstanding orders to make repairs and upgrades involving fire and safety issues.

More claims possible

Gates says the next step is to get other Regent tenants without heat and hot water — perhaps as many as 30 — to pursue the landlord for compensation.

He believes they all deserve to get $75 for every month they've been kept in the cold.

"I hope I've opened the doors for others," says Gates.

CBC News Investigates

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