Did you know that if you live in a strata area like the one along 168 Street between 60 and 64 Avenues, you can have a suite in your condo and not have to pay any extra for, fire, police, hospital, etc.?
They set their own rates – one water meter for the whole complex and split the bill. Some of them have suites, which the strata allows as long as they follow the rules. No thermostat in the basement suite, no key for mailbox. No fire escape door.
There are thousands of these suites in Surrey. Why should any group be allowed to do this when the average homeowner cannot do this?
Surrey’s rules are if the home has a stove and sink in the basement, it is a suite. Not so in a strata, where it is not considered a suite because it is controlled by the strata council.
The same rules have to apply to everyone. You move your mother into the basement and give her a stove, it’s a suite. There is something wrong with this picture.
The person in the strata that rents out a basement suite gets $8,000 to $9,000 a year of rent. I would love to have all that extra money to live on.
Arnold Eichhorst
Surrey