Tenants of the Westview Heights apartment tower in central Calgary are waiting in limbo as they have yet to hear when they can return home after flooding in December left the building uninhabitable.
Jaimin Raval moved into the Westview Heights building at 825 8th Avenue S.W. with his parents three months ago after they moved to the city from India. Now, he is bouncing from his friend’s floor to motel rooms after the building flooded and froze in frigid December weather.
“We didn’t expect this to happen here, we don’t have more contacts, so the first two days we lived at my friend’s house on the carpet,” said Raval as he attempted to pick up his belongings.
Hundreds of people were forced from their homes when pipes burst and power failed in the apartment building. Ajay Nehru, a spokesperson for building owners Mayflower Ventures, said that before people can return to their homes, the building needs to pass inspections around power systems, elevators, heating systems and sprinklers.
Nehru said teams have been working steadily and he believes the building could pass every inspection except for one around the elevators, which remain out of order. Overall, he said repairs on the buildings could take months to complete as the freezing in the building thaws, but said most of those repairs would not affect residents.
“From our perspective, right now, the thing that’s holding us up is when the elevators are ready to be inspected,” said Nehru. “It’s not a simple case of changing a piece here, a piece there. It’s a bunch of things that are related.”
Nehru said they are in constant communication with tenants but the situation remains fluid and he does not have a concrete timeline for when residents will be allowed back into their suites.
In the meantime, Raval said the building owners won’t let his family out of their year-long lease. He said payments for hotel rooms have also stopped and they are expected to pay next month’s rent.
“My parents and me do not have anything to eat. We are paying by ourselves for eating right now because all of our things are in the kitchen,” said Raval. “They also refused to give us a compensation. You also have to pay next month’s rent and you cannot break the lease.”
Raval said that they are not being allowed to go into their rooms to pick up belongings left behind.
Nehru said management negotiated rates for several days of hotel rooms for the residents. He said there will be rebates for their rent while they are not allowed to stay in the building and that they have moved payment date from the first of the month to the 17th.
“One of the conditions of renting at this building is you have to provide us with proof of tenants insurance, and this is exactly why we have it. This is what it’s needed for,” said Nehru. “We have some tenants, obviously, who are in financial dire straits. So we’ve been able to sort of work with the city and with the fire department and with the Red Cross, and we’ve directed them to the Red Cross, and they have a program in place to help.”
A GoFundMe set up to help the residents with costs has been established and has raised $3,420.
With files from Jim Wells
dshort@postmedia.com
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