YOUR COMMUNITY WSPAPER SINCE 1969 PESTS eee CWO AE May 17, 1987 News 985-2131 Cool comfort other Denise into the stitl-chilly waters off her last week allowed residents a sunny opportunity to enjoy their local “fe f good weat ek allow onetully’ that eal prove true for this holiday weekend, too. CTHREE-YEAR-old Erika Devries coaxes her m VOLUNTARILY subscribe to the North Shore News for one year and be eligible to win thousands of dollars worth of prizes. In return for your $25 subscription you will receive two free classified ads valued at $18 plus a chance to win an Alaskan cruise. See details on page 30. FEN. Ambleside Boras AEE erat “ Beis pene ae a WEST VANCOUVER District Council will be presented later this month with a report on a business ficence applica- tion from a man who has left a trail of damaged rental res- idences, rubber cheques, eviction notices and furious fandlords behind him in the municipality. The district’s licensing dcpart- ment will present the report to council May 25 outlining the ap- plication by Hugo Hector Rousseau. Rousseau, 43, and his wife and two sons and a daughter are cur- rently living in Vancouver after be- ing evicted from three residences in West Vancouver and one in North Vancouver. “‘It has been a living nightmare,’ Alana Schroeder said of her experience with the Rousseaus, ‘‘Just unbelievable.”’ Schroeder, a psychologist, said she and stockbroker Phil Mawani decided last year to rent their Caulfeild-area home for a year while they lived in an apartment. They hired a professional residen- tial management company to find suitable tenants. Three days after the home was rented to the Rousseaus on Feb. 1, Schroeder said she was called by a concerned neighbor to ask if she was aware her new tenants were being sought by U.S. officials in connection with a series of alleged bank frauds involving loans worth more than $1 million. The second month's rent cheque for $1,600 subsequently bounced, Schroeder said, and she and Mawani gave the Rousseaus a 10- day lease termination notice. Under provincial law, tenants then have five days in which to pay the rent owing. Payment in that time voids the termination notice. Schroeder said the Rousseaus paid within that period, but the same thing happened the next month. The Rousseaus were given a one-month notice of eviction, which the Rousseaus appealed. That appeal was denied, but the family refused to leave. Schroeder hired Christopher Kay. After the family refused to comply with a Residential Tenancy Branch order requiring the house be vacated by the end of April. Kay applied for a court writ of possession effective May I. Schroeder and Mawani subse- quently hired a B.C. Supreme Court sheriff, at a cost of $1,000, who arrived with support from three West Vancouver Police squad cars to remove the lawyer ‘on behalf of Schroeder Rousseaus at !1 a.m. May t. They found walls, of what Schroeder said had been a perfect home, kicked in, food on its ceil- ings and dog feces on the rugs. The two have since filed a civil suit against the Rousseaus seeking $6,000 in damages, lost rent and other expenses. Prior to renting the Schroeder-Mawani home, the Rousseaus rented an apartment in a condominium at 1485 Duchess Ave. from June 1986 to January 1987. The Rousseaus, who are well known to the West Vancouver Police Department, were evicted following numerous complaints from residents about the family. From August 1985 to March 1986, the Rousseaus rented a Lynn Valley home from businessman Robin Sadler. In a written affidavit, submitted and Mawani in their action against the Rousseaus, Sadler states that $1,250 monthly rent payments from the family were initially delivered late and stopped altogether at the beginning of 1986. After finally regaining posses- sion of his property March 9, 1986, Sadler states he found dam- age to his property estimated at $1,000 and various household arti- cles missing. Sadler, who estimates the episode cost him about $2,500 in lost rent and property damage, has since secured a $1,000 judgment against Rousseau. From August 1984 to August 1985, the Rousseaus rented another British Properties home through property manager Jorn Weiss. The family abandoned the home following a series of ‘ate and bounced rent cheques and efforts by Weiss to have them removed. Weiss said he and the home’s owner found an estimated $2,000 damage done to the property and approximately $3,326 worth of household items missing, including bicycles, tools and a television set. The Rousseaus are currently liv- ing in Vancouver.