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Cayla Naumann feels like she spent the better part of this fall “screaming into the void.”
One night last September, water started pouring into her bedroom from the ceiling of her downtown Vancouver rental apartment—the second leak in just a year and a half.
When Naumann got hold of her landlord, she expressed her concerns about finding and repairing the source of the leak, as well as the need to replace any wet insulation.
“The landlord’s response, which has been a response related to other repairs, was just that it was too expensive,” Naumann says. “I immediately knew this was not going to be something that she was going to jump on top of to try and remediate.”
Naumann is among many in Metro Vancouver—where, according to Statistics Canada, 57 per cent of private households are rented—who depend on landlords for repairs.
Naumann’s landlord did eventually send a handyman to fix the damage in her bedroom. But since the repairs involved scraping off the room’s textured ceiling, Naumann asked to have the room tested for asbestos—another request she says her landlord dismissed, even after two environmental testing companies identified the building as high risk.
Before 1990, asbestos was commonly used in construction for insulating and fireproofing, but it was banned after it was found to cause cancer and lung scarring if inhaled. Left undisturbed, asbestos has no health risks, but actions like scraping can release toxic fibres into the air. To avoid potential exposure, the Government of Canada recommends that residents of older buildings hire a professional to test for asbestos before renovating or remodelling.
Once the repairs on her bedroom began, Naumann encountered another problem: a large, black stain on her ceiling that she suspected to be black mould. The handyman merely painted over it.
According to Health Canada, when mould is found underneath paint, the drywall needs to be removed and replaced. Mould exposure can cause or worsen respiratory issues like asthma, bronchitis, and other infections.
Concerned over the lack of asbestos testing and mould remediation, Naumann contacted the City of Vancouver, Vancouver Coastal Health, and WorkSafeBC.
They all redirected her to the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB): the provincial government department that deals with tenancy law in BC. But navigating the RTB process requires time and money—luxuries that many Vancouver renters can’t afford.
Vancouver remains Canada’s most expensive city for renters, with—according to Rentals.ca’s November 2024 Rent Report—an average asking price of more than $2,600 per month for a one-bedroom.
“I think that’s what landlords bank on, is that tenants don’t want to deal with all the time and energy it takes,” Naumann says. “I have a Master’s in science. I worked in environmental consulting. And even I’m struggling to really understand the RTB process.”
Robert Patterson, a lawyer with the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre (TRAC), says Naumann isn’t alone in this struggle.
“It’s a feature and a bug of our legal system that tenants really have to be their own champions,” Patterson explains. “No one else is holding landlords to account. And that absolutely needs to change.”
Landlords are obligated under the Residential Tenancy Act to repair and maintain rental units in compliance with local health, safety, and building maintenance bylaws. When a landlord fails to do so, a tenant can file a dispute resolution with the RTB—but it’s completely up to them to provide evidence that their housing is unsafe or has mandatory repairs.
Naumann’s RTB case ended with a mutual agreement for compensation for the period her room was uninhabitable due to the leak. But because she has since moved out of the unit, there was no order for repairs issued for the mould—meaning whoever moved into her apartment after her probably has no idea it’s there. It’s a common problem that Patterson says illustrates the gaps in the RTB process.
That’s why Jessie Greene, who is using a pseudonym to protect their identity, still lives in the apartment that has been giving them symptoms of mould illness for over four years.
Greene first experienced an influx of symptoms including digestion issues, hot flashes, and rashes when they started working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic. In their search for a diagnosis, they took a urine test that revealed high levels of mycotoxin ochratoxin A—a type of toxin produced by mould—in their system.
Two at-home air test kits also found hazardous levels of mould in their apartment, according to Greene. After over a year of ineffective repairs and repeatedly ignored requests for proper mould remediation, Greene is pursuing RTB arbitration.
“I think a lot of people would say, ‘Well, if it’s so bad, why haven’t you left?’” Greene says. “I really feel strongly because of how corrupt the rental market is. If we left, what would happen? They could just continue repeating this pattern of letting people get sick, getting frustrated, moving out, raising the rent over and over and over again. And I just in good conscience could not let that happen.”
Patterson says the TRAC regularly receives calls from tenants with concerns related to asbestos and mould. He argues that municipalities like the City of Vancouver could take a more proactive role in enforcing bylaws and regulating landlords to reduce the burden on individual tenants.
“There are so many close connections between your housing situation and your expected health outcomes,” he says, “that there needs to be tighter, better regulation and oversight.”
According to the BC Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs, the RTB does not communicate directly with municipalities and health authorities unless a case is escalated to its Compliance and Enforcement Unit (CEU). The CEU investigates serious or repeat violations of BC’s tenancy laws and can issue fines to those found in non-compliance.
David Hutniak, CEO of Landlord BC—a non-profit association representing landlords, owners, and managers of rental properties—argues that the CEU fulfills the role of catching egregious health and safety violations, most of which he claims are found in single-room occupancy (SRO) buildings.
When it comes to regulating purpose-built rental buildings, Hutniak disagrees with the idea of municipalities getting more involved.
“With the RTB, both landlords and tenants have access to justice,” he says. “With bylaws, there’s no one we can appeal to, so we have no legal recourse.”
Hutniak explains that while he respects municipalities’ rights to enforce building maintenance and health and safety bylaws, he hesitates to encourage cities to get involved in tenancy issues that he says are outside of their jurisdiction.
“One of the challenges we have is that you’re layering more regulation onto the Residential Tenancy Act, and what it inevitably means is just more cost,” he says. “The net result is that it’s just making it more difficult for folks to be landlords—to provide that housing.”
But Patterson argues that the limited regulation of landlords leaves tenants in an already precarious rental market vulnerable to health and safety violations that local governments are failing to penalize.
“They really need somebody to be able to come in, like a municipality,” he says, “who can say, ‘We’ve set our rules, landlords. You have to abide by them, and if you’re not going to abide by them, there’s going to be consequences.’”
As for now, tenants like Naumann and Greene are being left to fight their own battles.
“A lot of this has just become about trying to hold landlords to account,” Naumann says. “Nobody is forced into being a landlord … And part of being a landlord comes with certain responsibilities to protect tenant health and safety.”
