West End apartment tenants raise alarm on air quality concerns

Residents of an apartment building in Vancouver’s West End are voicing their concerns about the air quality in their home, alleging the building’s owners have failed to fix the ventilation after years of complaints.

Fernanda Amaral has lived at Regency Park since 2018.

“They just don’t respond to anything, any of our complaints, they’re just, whatever,” Amaral said.

“It looks like they don’t even care.”

Tenants say most of the windows in the apartment stay open 24-7 because of the horrible air quality, non-functional HVAC systems, and other health concerns.

“The air quality has been pretty bad,” said Eddie Abbey, who has lived in the building since 2015.

“I’ve gained a lot of allergies in the last ten years.”

Residents say black mold, broken floors, and extensive water damage are just an example of the disrepair they are living with.

“[The first time I realized something may be wrong] was about three years ago when I had the first leak. I ended up getting worried, because the leak wasn’t being repaired and the floor was all damaged, and that’s when I started talking to the other neighbours,” Amaral said.

“And then one of my neighbours told me also the ventilation wasn’t really working in the unit. We also had a machine in the unit that measured and showed us the CO2 levels — it was very high, three times more than what is allowed in Canada. And it’s funny, that’s when I started having headaches as well, and insomnia.”

Resident organizer Aïssa Aggoune gave The Leader Spirit a tour of some of the suites Wednesday, with the nauseating effect of breathing in the stale air apparent within just 15 minutes.

Aggoune says they’re waiting for the court to certify a class-action lawsuit against Larco Investments, which manages the property.

“What we’re hoping is that number one, the repairs are made. And number two, no other tenant in B.C. goes through the hell that these tenants have been through,” he said.

“And that includes potentially putting a hold on permit applications from Larco, or other similar multi-billion dollar companies that get to build new towers, without maintaining their existing ones.”

The City of Vancouver declined an interview with The Leader Spirit but said in a statement that it ordered the property owner to hire an engineer back in 2018. As well, some kitchen range vents were sealed in 2019 along with an upgrade of bathroom fans to provide ventilation.

As for the CO2 levels and air quality, the city said its bylaws don’t regulate CO2 thresholds in buildings.

“There’s no reason why they didn’t repair this while you lived here. That’s what most good landlords do,” said BC NDP candidate Spencer Chandra Herbert.

“I’ve talked to a couple of other councillors about the issue, and my hope is, working with council, they will get staff to treat this seriously, because there are families here, there are elders here.”

Meanwhile, in a statement from Herbert’s BC Conservative opponent, Jon Ellacot told The Leader Spirit in part he has “spoken to residents of this building and would be happy to continue advocating for them in the future, understanding this issue is before the City of Vancouver currently … we should reflect on if building operators/owners are being forced to avoid necessary repairs due to the additional costs of rental controls and other demand side pressures instituted by our current provincial government.”

Larco didn’t respond to our requests for comment before broadcast.