Renters of campers on a Kelowna property forced to find new homes

When the rural property Ron Berthelette had been renting for the past decade sold, the new owners increased the rent by 75 per cent.

To offset the cost, Berthelette came up with of a plan.  He’d rent out two campers and a motorhome on the land.

He hired a company to take care of sanitation needs.

“All of the trailers are being serviced on a regular basis by interior portables,” Berthelette said.

But somebody made a complaint to the city.

The property is situated in the Agricultural Land Reserve and not zoned for multi-unit rentals.

Berthelette’s landlord was fined for his tenant’s infractions. Berthelette was then told by the City of Kelowna bylaw department to give the tenants 30 days notice to vacate.

A tough situation in a city with a vacancy rate last reported at point two percent.

“These people are devastated,” Berthelette said.  “They said ‘what did we do wrong?’  I said nobody did anything wrong. It’s just the situation.”

The City said it had no choice but to act in order to protect property zoned as farmland.

“What this does is, it safeguards our agricultural lands so they don’t become trailer parks,” Bylaw Officer Ken Black said.

Berthelette says he’d like the city to give him until the end of the summer to evict his tenants, but bylaws have already made a deal with the landowner to reduce the fines in exchange for full compliance.