I don’t think that we will ever get rid of monster homes with multiple suites in them as long as the city allows houses to be built as large as they are today.
What the city needs to do is tax these homes for what they are – apartment buildings, then pass the info on to Revenue Canada so that they can get taxes from these people as well. Our schools are overcrowded and wait times at ERs are long.
Maybe with new revenue we can rectify some of these problems. Also, no more street parking. All residents must park on their property.
Sherry Jung, Surrey
Get tough on law-breakers
Re: “59 owners have applied for permits” (The Leader, June 30).
Am I reading this right? Of the 20,000 suites, only 59 have applied for permits?
And in Delta the municipality has “sweetened the pot” by offering suite owners a $300 reduction in their secondary suite utility fee when they legalize. Delta is also waiving the permit fee to the end of this year. What the heck?
We just paid our utility bill and we have had a legalized suite since moving here in 2001. Where is our reduction? And why is Delta rewarding such bad behaviour? This is a slap in the face to all homeowners who respect the law and already pay for their legalized suites. It’s time to get tough with these law-breakers.
Lyn-Nell Lousley, Surrey
Unfair to families
Re: “Surrey’s got a suite scam” (Leader letters, June 28).
My son, his wife and two small children and myself bought a house five years ago because it had a legal suite. They live upstairs and I, downstairs. This year we were charged $280 for the suite.
I phoned the bylaw office and told them that it is only the owners, us five, who live here and I felt there should be an exemption for people where the owners are the only ones living in the dwelling. I was told if we took out the appliances we wouldn’t be charged. They suggested I contact the mayor and council which
I did and explained the same to the mayor. The reply I got was that that is the bylaw and from time to time they are reviewed.
We are only five persons and I can’t understand how whether or not we have a stove puts any additional work or burden on the city. Maybe if other people in the same situation as us wrote to the city and explained their situation also, they could come and check if they want to and we could be exempt. So many illegal rented-out suites in Surrey go unchecked and yet people like us get charged, I feel unfairly.
V. Davis