Father and son evicted over noise complaint of toddler

[Presto]

NEW WESTMINSTER (NEWS 1130) – A single father has been left scrambling to find a new place to live after complaints about his two-year-old son causing too much noise led to an eviction notice last September.

A Residential Tenancy Branch arbitrator has given Matt Astifan 10 days to get out, after finding noise caused by both father and son was enough to uphold the eviction.

Astifan and his son, Marcus, moved into their Queensborough apartment in August 2017. The noise complaints about playing in the hall and the building’s lobby started in January 2018.

“I had a soft soccer ball. We would take it all the way to the end of the hallway and go downstairs and play … in the lobby. We did it a few times, and then we got a complaint through email from the manager,” Astifan told NEWS 1130.

He says he addressed the issue and apologized, but then more complaints started from two separate tenants of the apartment below his.

“The manager sends me … a breach notice for noise disturbance. I emailed them a detailed email … trying to showcase for them that I’m very willing to comply with their request and I asked them what they wanted me, specifically, to do to try to reduce the sound. His suggestion was to keep Marcus upstairs,” he said.

“I said ‘I can’t really do that. I’ve got to keep an eye on him. He’s two years old and he’s not going to be very happy if I lock him in a room upstairs.”

Astifan says he added a rug to his living room and re-arranged the furniture in an attempt to reduce the noise.

He said he used to feel he had a good relationship with his landlord.

“Prior to him sending the first breach notice, we were fine … he was very friendly,” he said. “It was after he sent the breach notice that I was definitely upset and the relationship turned turmoil.”

Astifan says he received another breach notice a couple of weeks later. That’s when he says he filed a dispute with the Residential Tenancy Branch, claiming he was being harassed and discriminated against.

The complaint was dismissed and Astifan said he was handed an eviction notice a couple of weeks later in September last year.

“I made another claim with the Residential Tenancy Branch. That was the hearing that we had on Jan. 15. We just got that result in. The arbitrator sided with the landlords to evict us,” he said.

In an audio recording of the arbitrator meeting, both Astifan and the landlord acknowledge he was offered a suite on the ground flood and two townhouses as alternative places to live. But he says he doesn’t want to give up his dream home.

“I live in a loft by the water. I live in, arguably, the best unit in the building. It took me six months to find the unit,” Astifan said, adding during the meeting he pays $2,865 a month rent.

“The last place I lived in, I lived there for like, a decade. I don’t move around a lot. Moving is a headache. It’s hard … If I wanted to move, I would just move into whatever’s available. Why would I only choose three options?”

He said he is shocked he was only given 10 days to leave the suite.

“I always assumed that if I lost the case, I would have 30 days’ notice … I figured the worst-case scenario would be Mar. 1, if I lost the case. But the arbitrator decided to give me 10 days because I’ve already paid my rent for the month of January. So, she gave me until Jan. 31 at 1 o’clock to get out.”

Astifan is worried about what this ruling could mean for other parents.

“This case would set precedence for other families,” he argued. “It would allow other managers to evict people over what you call ‘child noise disturbance.'”

He doesn’t believe there’s anything in the Residential Tenancy Act to keep a landlord from evicting somebody for the noise a child makes. “I think that is something that needs to be addressed, especially for toddlers or children between the ages of 0 to 5 … Imagine you’ve got a baby crying at night and you’ve got tenants complaining about the sound.”

“Marcus is two years old. Of course, he runs around the place. There’s only so much I can do to try to stop him and explain to him to keep it down. Of course, he will listen to me in that moment and he’ll go sit down. I usually suggest he do something else — like, ‘Why don’t you go colour? Why don’t you go watch a cartoon?’ — there’s only so much you can do. So, granted, there’s going to be some noise.”

“The agents testified that they are a multi-family complex and have at least 20 other families with up to four children in a unit, and they do not have the same problems as they have no issue with reasonable noise of children playing,” read the Residential Tenancy Branch ruling.

Astifan feels the arbitrator in his case wasn’t being fair. “During the actual call, the arbitrator started making suggestions to the witnesses, which are the tenants below, that the noise was about me making the noise and that I was purposely making noise — which was contrary to any communication prior to the call.”

He believes the arbitrator ruled against him on that premise.

“The case had always been about child noise disturbance,” he said.

Under the tenancy agreement, tenants have a right to peace, privacy and quiet enjoyment in their homes, according to the BC Residential Tenancy Branch (BCRTB).

“This may include the tenant’s right to have guests, play music at a reasonable level and to allow their children to play during acceptable hours,” BCRTB wrote in an email.

“This right to privacy and quiet enjoyment extends to all tenants in multi-unit buildings and tenants. Tenants must make sure they, their guests and their pets don’t unreasonably disturb other occupants. If there are disturbances like unreasonable noise, excessive second-hand smoke or harassment from a neighbouring tenant of the same landlord, the tenant are encouraged to ask their landlord’s help to address the issues.

BCRTB only receives data on notices of eviction when a tenant disputes the notice, so it does not know if other residents have been evicted over child noise before. A brief search of the branch’s previous decisions found a similar case in May, 2018 where the BCRTB ruled in favour of the landlord who evicted tenants because of noise caused, in part, by their two-year-old child.

Astifan said isn’t sure what he’s going to do, but he is considering an appeal to the Supreme Court.

“When I first got [the decision] I had this whole ‘screw it’ mentality. Why am I fighting this? It’s costing me so much energy. I’ll just leave,” he said. “But the reaction I’m getting from my friends … everyone’s saying, ‘You’ve got to fight this.'”

He said he has reached out to the Community Legal Assistance Society about whether to escalate the issue. In the meantime, he’s been keeping an eye out for a new place to live.

The landlords, Port Royal Village Developments were unavailable for an interview on the matter and Landlord BC declined to provide a comment to CityNews.

Buddy doesn't get any sympathy from me. Says he can find another place, but it's better to be a selfish bastard and screw up other peoples' enjoyment of their homes.

[320icar]

He pays $2900 a month for rent? Lives water front? Has the best unit in the building? Yeah I suddenly don’t feel as bad for him. He can find another roof over his head I’m sure

[GS8]

Facebook suggested I be friends with him because we have 3 mutual friends. I perused his page. He's your typical social media attention craving narcissist.

Considering he was given alternative suites as options, he still denied them because 'muh 5waG'.

[CharlesInCharge]

Your post got me curious...







These toy wheels are typically made of plastic, not rubber...

Spoiler!

[SkinnyPupp]

In an audio recording of the arbitrator meeting, both Astifan and the landlord acknowledge he was offered a suite on the ground flood and two townhouses as alternative places to live. But he says he doesn’t want to give up his dream home.

“I live in a loft by the water. I live in, arguably, the best unit in the building. It took me six months to find the unit,” Astifan said, adding during the meeting he pays $2,865 a month rent.

“The last place I lived in, I lived there for like, a decade. I don’t move around a lot. Moving is a headache. It’s hard … If I wanted to move, I would just move into whatever’s available. Why would I only choose three options?”

What a cunt

[welfare]

Would be nice if they interviewed some of the complainants.
Hear their side of the story.

[SkunkWorks]

Dude sounds *exactly* like the type of asshole who'd have a kid that's stomping around and screaming everywhere and expect that others should just put up with it.

[68style]

Given that the government never sides with owners in disputes in B.C. and not only did they side with the owner but also reduced the tenant’s moveout time I’d say it’s pretty obvious he’s a compete and utter entitled douchebag.

[Badhobz]

But single dads though... I'd give him a break just because he's a single dad.

[SkinnyPupp]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

But single dads though... I'd give him a break just because he's a single dad.

He got breaks, read the article. He refused to take them because he valued having a nice apartment over his neighbours and kid. So he got booted out

[GabAlmighty]

He was given a few chances, and different living options.. Chose his social cred over just swallowing his pride and taking it on the chin.

[trollface]

What's the difference between this and a noisy dog? A noisy dog would have got the same treatment. Noise is noise.

Shut your kid up.

[Hondaracer]

These look like the lofts that line the river in queesnsborough, been in these buildings quite a few times. 4 story wood frame low rise for the most part so sound travels pretty well.

Having that Jeep drive around or kid running up and down the hall would be pretty noisy for surrounding units. If they guy couldn’t address the issue after the first few complaints he obviously doesn’t give a shit about the neighbors etc.

While some people are obviously dicks and report everything, when you’ve been reported 3+ times (and seemingly from different people) you’re probably being an inconsiderate asshole.

[asian_XL]

I have a kid and always check with my neighbours if my daughter makes noise in our place. However, the family who lives upstair at my parents apartment is apparently an asshole, they move chairs or table in the middle of the night, obviously they have wooden floor and all the toy dragging noise is coming down to us. My dad did went up there and bang their door like a mad man a several times, but that never stop the noise. Some people deserved to be kicked out.

[68style]

I own my place and don't rent, but recently a unit somewhere above me has been running their laundry machine pretty much 24/7 and we are unable to figure out which one it is as the guy directly above us is adamant that it's not him.

I am super curious what would make someone do that though? Any guesses?

Literally thinking you need to launder money?
Washing linens constantly from a self-owned/operated restaurant?
Brothel washing bedsheets and towels constantly?

That's the only ones I've been able to imagine lol...

[68style]

Originally Posted by SkinnyPupp

He got breaks, read the article. He refused to take them because he valued having a nice apartment over his neighbours and kid. So he got booted out

Psst... badhobz was being facetious

[winson604]

Originally Posted by 68style

I own my place and don't rent, but recently a unit somewhere above me has been running their laundry machine pretty much 24/7 and we are unable to figure out which one it is as the guy directly above us is adamant that it's not him.

I am super curious what would make someone do that though? Any guesses?

Literally thinking you need to launder money?
Washing linens constantly from a self-owned/operated restaurant?
Brothel washing bedsheets and towels constantly?

That's the only ones I've been able to imagine lol...

lol if a condo could be a whore house where they are constantly doing laundry to wash new towels and such

[Eff-1]

I recommend people read the arbitrator's decision. There is so much more to this story that wasn't reported in the media.

The tenant testified that they do not feel that they have to police their child, as their child
does need to burn of energy as their child is two (2) years old.

The tenant testified that they did tell the occupant that they could move, only because it
was the landlords’ responsibility to tell the occupants that a child lived above their unit
and they could expect noise of a child.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ECS...byufw4skX/view

Up until this point, he admitted on his FB that he believed an eviction for being noisy simply wasn't possible.

Now that he's learned he was wrong, he is upset he only has 10 days to move and calls the media. But the eviction notice was originally served back on November 27. He's only in a jam now because he simply didn't think he could lose the arbitration.

EDIT - he updated the link with more of his own evidence and the recording of the entire call. I haven't listened yet, will check it out later.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...UpNfy3fR8hC6ss

[68style]

Originally Posted by winson604

lol if a condo could be a whore house where they are constantly doing laundry to wash new towels and such

Hey man... 2 bedrooms... new guy every 30 minutes... that's a lot of towels and cleanup for a non-industrial sized washing machine!!!

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by 68style

I own my place and don't rent, but recently a unit somewhere above me has been running their laundry machine pretty much 24/7 and we are unable to figure out which one it is as the guy directly above us is adamant that it's not him.

I am super curious what would make someone do that though? Any guesses?

Literally thinking you need to launder money?
Washing linens constantly from a self-owned/operated restaurant?
Brothel washing bedsheets and towels constantly?

That's the only ones I've been able to imagine lol...

It’s only my wife and I in our home. We go to the gym 3-4 times a week and then underwear and whatnot we honestly have an insane amount of laundry, like we are doing a load almost on a daily basis

So it wouldn’t be uncommon to run a load daily, but all night is a little excessive

[68style]

^ Yah I don't want to eat up too much of the thread, but it's all night... and all day... it never stops, I've gotten so used to it I can predict exactly when it's about to change modes between agitating and draining water lol

[unit]

short term rental, washing sheets and towels every day?

[yray]

so these rental buildings don't require a strata?

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by yray

so these rental buildings don't require a strata?

There’s different types.

You’ve got the mixed buildings with a full time-strata and a mix of renters and owners where you usually have a building manager/strata member on site available during working hours

Then you have the management companies who manage for the strata, who may or may not have somone on site

Then you have the full blown, 100% rental buildings who sometimes hire a resident to manage the affairs, OR they manage everything off-site and are only available as per request etc

[fliptuner]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

But single dads though... I'd give him a break just because he's a single dad.

I'm a single dad. Boo hoo. Not special.