Someone recommend me a lawyer
 

Hey guys, long story short I'm hoping someone can recommend a lawyer that deals with property law or along those lines.

Recently received a letter from FVSD planning and development regarding a rock that is precariously perched above my parents cabin. The letter states that there was recently a rock that fell off the cliff and nearly missed a couple cabins down the way. After the rock fell, FVRD had the area surveyed and determined various issues and deemed the whole area a safety issue and recommends no one use their property.

FYI the rock is on crown land, and we outright own our property and cabin.

Among the issues, we've been told it's no longer "recommended " that we use our beautiful vacation property anymore until this rock issue is dealt with, as it is a genuine safety concern it may fall potentially any time. The letter lists various options to rectify the issue, all of which fall on the owner to cough up the $$$.

Now as you can all imagine my mom is horrified and upset by this news, as this is my family cabin my dad built when I was a kiddo, and now that he's gone, it's one of the few things we have to remember him by.

Without going into too much more detail of the whole scenario, I'm hoping someone can recommend a good lawyer that would deal with something like this, or point me in the right direction of someone to speak to regarding this issue as I have no clue where to start....

Any other advice or comments are always welcome.

Will the rock destroy cabins if it falls?

Maybe make it “fall” on its own one day?

I don't know a ton about the law in this area but if I were you'd I'd start by replying that because the rock issue is on Crown land, you demand that FVRD rectify it immediately without delay as it poses a safety risk to your personal property. Worst case, they'll reply and say it's your problem and cite whatever regulation or Act they are using to base that on.

From there, you can take it to a lawyer if you choose. But I wouldn't start with a lawyer yet, until they present to you whatever laws they are leaning on to say that it's your problem, not theirs.

Also you may want to consider posting this to reddit under /legaladvicecanada. Lots of jackasses there, but also some people who might be more of help than what you'll find here.

I've thought about taking a hike up the mountain to see for myself, but I do believe if the rock comes down it's taking out someone's cabin, whether it's my parents or maybe the neighbours.

Eff-1, they may have stated the law, or perhaps bylaw in the letter, I'll have to re-read again, it's quite long and a lot of fluff in it. The letter does clearly state that it is owners responsibility to deal with the rock and the crown is giving us all the middle finger. They list a few options in the letter, all of which falls on the owner to pay up.

I just don't understand how the crown can determine this is a safety issue on their land, which I'm not allowed to do anything on, and then tell the owners affected, sorry it's your problem, even though we know about this and and is a danger to all in the area. What a huge middle finger. That just doesn't sit right with me.

sounds like you need to make sure the cabin is fully insured and some tannerite will help solve this issue with the rock...

That’s very odd. If you live in the city and there’s a big tree in the park, it’s the city’s job to take down that tree. You don’t get a letter in the mail saying “hey this tree in the park is dangerous. If it falls on your house, yolo lol”

i mean the guy said it was sentimental to him as it's something his late father built, and you guys are saying he should try to have the boulder demolish it to collect on insurance money..

That's exactly what I don't understand.... Its not on our property so how can we have liability???

As far as comments saying blow it up, definitely considered it however I don't want to be the guy responsible for taking out a handful of cabins. It's unknown where the rock will actually fall, in the letter it shows a map with potentially the rock hitting up to 5 or 6 cabins. And don't need another insurance claim, we just got thru a 2 year fix from a tree smacking of the front of the roof.

How big is said rock and how accessible is it? We had a boulder at our Sunshine Coast cabin we needed to get rid of. It was about 2m in diameter. We literally just started a fire under it, kept feeding the fire, and the fire would crack the rock and we would remove chunks bit by bit.. Took a couple days but we got it done.

If you are having trouble translating what the letter says, post it up here or DM it and someone can help you from there. There must be a justification in that letter that explains why it's your problem and not theirs. That's the first step in figuring this out.

At the same time it might be worth starting to explore the cost to you (or if you share the cost with the other homeowners) to remove the boulder and then weight that cost against the cost of hiring a lawyer and potentially ending up in court over it. Removing it yourself might be less expensive.

What are they suggesting you do as an owner?

Never EVER use your cabin again?

Move your cabin to the right 50 feet?

Install a laser-guided missile system to blow that rock into dust if it falls?

This is them passing the buck in terms of either installing support on that rock, or demolishing it.

They're probably hoping that the rock falls on its own, and then because of the letter they sent, no one is there and and then it'll be the owners insurance company left to handle the issue if there is any property damage.

Didn’t this just happen with that little town up north on the lake or whatever?

They did a land survey and said the ground above the houses was unstable, said land turned into a landslide after heavy rain, wiped out houses and even killed a few people I think

After that they basically said either abandon your house for nothing or continue living there at your own risk?

this actually happened in Mission, four or so houses found to be build on an unstable surface next to city property and people were forced to abandon their homes. Yes that is different but still messed up.

I've tried contacting the other owners affected and some have replied that they're going to put their heads in the sand and continue to use their cabins others, I'm still waiting on responses. In a sense I get that doing nothing might just be best option as who knows how long this rock has been sitting there. Maybe it's been there thousands of years no issue.

I've decided to contact FVRD planning and development and start there and see what they say. I've re-read the letter and it more or less just states that they are just offering this letter to owners in the affected area as a saftey notice/precaution that there is potential for a rock fall. They state any issues are to be brought up with BC ministry of forests.