HE CONTROVERSIAL fractional interest conversion at
West Vancouver's The Bellevue has already been implement-
ed at two North Vancouver rental complexes — Edgewater

Estates and Cypress Gardens.

The lawyer for Bahadur Karin,
the owner of Edvew aler Estates, says
there's “nothing mysterious” about
fractional interests. which allow
numerous Owners lo bus a frtetion
of a condominium comples,

By Kate Zimmerman
News Reporter

“Conceplually Cractional inter
ests) iy identical to a strata citle
development.” Ron Wilson said. “lt
has all of the rights and attributes and
restrictions and limitations of that...”

West Vancouver Mayor Mark
Sager has publicly objected to the
arrangement because municipal
bylaws do not apply to such conver-
sions,

But Wilson said this sort of gon-
version has been going on for years,
“les very well-known in English
common-law jurisdictions. The
whole of Hong Kong is held under
this (agreement).”

Gord Hegg is a renter at North
Vancouver District's Edgewater
Estates, formerly known as
Lynnmore Village. Samantha
Sargent recently bought a unit at
North Vancouver City's Cypress
Gardens, which was marketed by
Blackbridge Estates Ltd. as “undi-
vided fee simple dwelling units.”

Their opinions on the scheme
vary dramatically.

Sargent admits that the set-up of
the Cypress Gardens contract and
that of The Bellevue are different.
But she is frustrated by the whirl-
wind of negative press the fractional
interests arrangement has received
ever since tenants of The Bellevue
began to complain.

Sargent says she’s tired of having
to explain to friends and acquain-
tances that there is nothing shady
about the deal she signed at Cypress
Gardens. She moved into a vacant
unit and is delighted that she could
finally afford to own on the North
Shore.

Hegg has rented at Lynnmore
Village (located at 912 Premier St.)
on and off since 1978. He said in
1979 an effort was made to stratify
the complex, but the district refused
te allow the rental units to be tumed
into condominiums. In 1990 there
was another such move, but again
the district intervened and prevented
it.

Last March, tenants were notified
that the complex was under new
management by the Middlehaven
Group. In August. they were sent
bulletins telling them Lynnmore was
being converted via fractional inter-
ests and a 99-year lease and they had

evento
MEL ty

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F
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NEWS photo Terry Peters

GORD HEGG is a tenant of Edgewater Estates, a complex in
North Vancouver District whicn, tike The Bellevue, was con-
verted from rental apartments to fractional interest condos.

45 days to make an offer, Hegg com-
plained to Mark Bostwick of the dis-
trict’s social planning department
about the conversion but was told
that this time the district could do
nothing to prevent it.

Hegg could have bought his
apartment for $130,000. “That's a
‘discount’ because I’m a tenant,” he
said. ‘

He has no intention of buying a
spot in the place, which he said is
subject to invasions by rats, mice and
raccoons. Hegg said living at the
Edgewater has been “pure hell” since
the new owners took over, with con-
tractors entering his apartment with-
out notice and security guards “keep-
ing an eye on disgruntled tenants.”

But Wilson said the paramount

consideration at the Edgewater is
“the protection of the interests of the
existing tenants.”

New owners have to be prepared
for a “long-term holding proposi-
tion,” he said.

Over at Cypress Gardens, Sargent
claimed that tenants have not been
evicted. She said sales agents there
weren't even showing the occupied
suites. Sargent admitted that buying
into a complex like Cypress Gardens
meant taking a risk because the
building is over 30 years old. But.
she said, the place is well-maintained
by two managers and two gardeners.

As for objections to The Bellevue
by West Vancouver council, Sargent
said, “they have their own reasons”
for objecting to fractional interests.

WV renters remain insecure

RENTERS OF the Bellevue rental suites facing
a fractionalized title scheme de not feel more
secure, despite efforts of West Vancouver
District Council and condemnations of the pro-
posal by other municipal councils.

WEST VANCOUVER
DISTRICT COUNCIL
By Maureen Curtis

“J fee} that the batule has not yet been won.” said
one resident, George Scholonkowsky.

He said the company that is buying the apartment
building continues to sell interests in a single shared

Services.

during his meeting Friday with Joan Smallwood,
Minister of Housing, Recreation and Consumer

The meeting did not result in a commitment for
action, Sager said.
Council has since made a number of motions,

including a direction to the municipal solicitor to iden-

tify possible legal action.
North Vancouver City, the City of Vancouver and
Richmond have expressed concern for existing tenants

and potential buyers of rental suites through the new
non-strata title type scheme.

Sager said he would ask the Greater Vancouver

Regional District to make a resolution against the frac-

Uionalized title arrangement.
Coun. Allan Williams maintained that council is not

Bellevue title offer ‘secure’

NA PARTNER in) No. 8S
Seubright Holdings says the
controversy over West
Vancouver's The Bellevue
apariment-to-condo conver-
sion is specious and politi-
cally motivated.

By Kate Zimmerman
News Reporter

“We believe that this purticu-
Jar project is being used as a
plattorm for a totally different
agenda by people waging this
campaign of disinformation.”
said Barry Buydens. 999% of it
is false.”

No, 85 is currently selling
Undivided Fee Simple Interests,
or fractional interests, in the
recently converted building at
2150 Bellevue.

Mayor Mark Sager has
expressed concern about the
fractional interests arrangement.
Friday he conferred publicly
with Minister of Housing,
Recreation and Consumer
Services Joan Smallwood in an

unsuccessful effort to stop the |

development. Meanwhile, one
tenant of the building told the
News that she warned West Van
District (WVD) planning depart-
ment staff of the impending con-
version on a weekly basis begin-
ning three months ago and was
told it would never happen.

The media has been drawn
into the fray by Bellevue tenants
who claim the conversion was
news to them when they got
their first letter about it Oct. 7.

Until now, No. 85 has been
conspicuous by its silence.
Buydens told the News undivid-
ed interests are being offered all
over the Lower Mainland and at
least 300 units have been sold or
are on the market on the North
Shore. He also said there are
other buildings with fractional
interest arrangements in West
Vancouver, but they are not cur-
rently being marketed.

“This is a legitimate form of
title which is being used every
day, commonly,” he said, “I
don’t like being accused of
going through loophoies....”

Buydens said that stratifica-
tion, the usual method of selling
condos, was simply “more main-
stream.”

“If stratification was an
option, we would have strati-
fied,” he said. “But there’s a
moratorium on stratification (in
WVD).”

According to Buydens, the
North Vancouver District devel-
opments known as Cypress
Gardens and Edgewater Estates
were sold under an agreement
which was almost identical to
that of The Bellevue. He said the
difference is that provincial leg-
islation was recently passed to

eliminate the possibility. allowed
by Cypress and Edgewater, of
reversion to other owners Wat
unit owner did nat heep his ot
her parted the bargain.

To Buydens, this means The
Bellevue offers a more secure
uve. “The possibility of rever-
sion in our title doesn’t exist.”

Buydens said about 50% of
the units im the Bellevue have
been sold or are in the approval
process. Tenants have not been
given notice and prospective
buyers have been informed that
they are not allowed to evict ten-
ants, he said. “There’s no mis-
tepresentatic.. with respect to
anything.”

Tenants’ complaints about
the state of the building's eleva-
tor derive from bad timing rather
than deliberate neglect, Buydens
suid. Repairs to the clevator had
been planned earlier in
month but employees of

WEST VANCOUVER Mayor
Mark Sager objects to the
fractional interests being
sold at The Bellevue. —

company holding the service
contract staged a wildcat strike,
leaving The Bellevue in the
lurch.

A tenant stranded once too ©
often then complained to the
Elevator Safety Branch, which
stepped in and condemned the
unit. Buydens said the strike has
stopped and the elevator is cur-
rently “under restoration,”

He also discounted allega-
tions by Sager last week that
new owners of the building
would be liable to pay for eleva-
tor repairs, No, 85 has pledged
to buyers that it will develop and
make certain repairs to The
Bellevue before they take pos-
session and the elevator is
included. said Buydens.

He noted that the company
has also pledged to start the con-
dominium complex's contin-
gency fund off with a donation
of $40,000.

against transactions to convert suites, “as long as they

title. r
play by the rules.”

Several residents accompanied Mayor Mark Sager