ACCESS TO VISITOR PARKING, LOADING DOCK AND MOVING ELEVATOR

The loading dock and door to the moving elevator are located at the rear of the building, and accessed through the outdoor parking lot. That lot is also the Visitor’s Parking Lot, and is guarded by a locked gate.

Supposedly, dialing 6 on a landline connected to the intercom system will open the gate. However, that is not possible for those tenants not connected to the intercom, or who are OUTSIDE and not upstairs in their units.

So, to get access to the loading dock and moving elevator, one must go inside and ask at the Resident Manager’s office. If no one is there, one must prowl around the basement and other parts of the building to find a staff person who can both open the gate and put the elevator on service mode.

BUILDING ACCESS SYSTEM

The ACCESS system from the vestibule to individual units, intended to ring in each unit for the purpose of admitting visitors or those without building keys, requires a land telephone line. The increasing number of tenants who have cell phones instead of landlines have no ability to admit visitors to the building or to visitor parking.

It is intended that visitors be admitted by pressing ‘9’ on the land line phone to unlock the downstairs door, and ‘6’ to open the gate to the visitor parking area.

The system is old, and even units with landlines can find that they suddenly do not work or that it is not possible to HEAR what a caller in the vestibule is saying.

This Health and Safety issue has been reported to the president of Hollyburn Properties,

Director Paul Sander

President, Hollyburn Group

c/o B.C. Apartment Owners and Managers Association

#203 - 1847 West Broadway

Vancouver, B.C. V6J 1Y6

and was relayed all the way down the chain of command to the Property Manager here. There is as yet no indication that anything is being done to correct this problem. The police tell us that THEY can always get into the building – and when asked HOW, pointed to the physical strength of police officers. Fire Department personnel can always get in.

However, in the event of a medical emergency, units lacking intercom service have no way to admit responders. In the event that anyone is killed or injured as a result of this GLARING lack of service, PATA has documents proving that Hollyburn was made aware of both the problem and the potential liability, and copies of these documents will be furnished for legal action by anyone harmed.

AIR FILTER CHANGING

There are several filters in each apartment. In some buildings – and in this one in past years – filters were routinely changed twice a year, at the start of the heating and air-conditioning seasons.

Now, it is necessary to fill out work orders to get filters changed. This is well worth doing, because clean filters help both with air flow (and hencetemperature control) and with the control of odors from other units. This is an old building, and it is not possible to close the air vents running through the ceilings, so there is seepage of odors.

AIR FILTER CHANGING

There are several filters in each apartment. In some buildings – and in this one in past years – filters were routinely changed twice a year, at the start of the heating and air-conditioning seasons.

Now, it is necessary to fill out work orders to get filters changed. This is well worth doing, because clean filters help both with air flow (and hence temperature control) and with the control of odors from other units. This is an old building, and it is not possible to close the air vents running through the ceilings, so there is seepage of odors.

LAUNDRY

The Laundry Room is in the basement, adjacent to a room with sofas and shelves where unwanted books, magazines, or small household articles can be disposed of in case anybody else wants them.

There are 8 top loading washing machines, and 8 front-loading dryers. The dryers run for approximately an hour on a single token.

The cost for both washing and drying is $1.75 per load. Tokens are available in envelopes of 10 from the Resident Manager’s office in the lobby. Since that office is not always staffed, it is wise to buy tokens in advance of need.

The filters in the dryers are long, open, and near the front. Thus, clothes being dried often gather lint from the filters, and especially can get linty when clothes are removed. So, even though one is supposed to clean the filters both before and after using the dryer, it is a good idea to ALSO clean them from time to time DURING the drying cycle.

Using one’s fingers to clean lint filters is unpleasant, so one way to handle this is to go into the bathroom off the adjacent room and get some toilet paper to use in cleaning the filters.

MAINTENANCE - WORK ORDERS

To request maintenance in a unit, fill out a dated work order (available from the Resident Manager’s office in the lobby.) Keep the yellow copy, and note the date when the work has been completed. If you do not hear anything about your work order or the work has not been done within a week, notify PATA.

RENT INCREASES

Above-Guidelines rent increases (AGI’s) are becoming almost annual. There is a procedure for shielding landlords from unusual expenses such as drastic increases in utility or property tax costs, or unusual and necessary capital expenses.

There is an impression among 20 Prince Arthur tenants that this process is being distorted and abused. Current rules about passing through capital expenses require that these be Necessary, NOT cosmetic, and NOT solely for enhancement of prestige of the building. But expenses that promote energy conservation or promote handicapped access CAN be passed through to tenants.

Here is a PATA newsletter report of the January 22, 2009 AGI hearing:

“Eight tenants and our paralegal, Kevin Milburn, attended the hearing with 60 proxies from other tenants. After several hours of negotiation, the AGI increase was reduced from 1.94 % to 1.65 %. Because the portion related to construction of the decking outside the building only applies to tenants who resided here when the work was complete, tenants who moved in on or before July 1, 2008 will have an increase of 1.65 % plus the guideline of 1.8%, or 3.45 %. For tenants who moved in after July 1, 2008, the increase is 0.90 % above the guideline, or 2.7 %. Increases will go into effect on each tenant’s lease anniversary date, beginning February 1, 2009.”

Tenants are being asked by PATA to be observant about activities in the building, and LOG or PHOTOGRAPH EVERYTHING in preparation for fighting the NEXT AGI.