A dozen years ago, when George Sun bought his double-wide mobile home at Shady Acres in West Kelowna, B.C., it was in dire need of repairs.
“Some parts of the floor, it was ruined, so I break, use the hammer and break it by hand. I had friends help me lay the plywood, ” Sun said. “And painting and I changed all the windows.”
Sun used all his money and borrowed the remainder from friends to buy the badly neglected mobile home.
However, the 64-year-old man on low income is now at risk of losing it all because of those renovations.
“I’m so scared, I could not sleep day and night, sometimes two or three days in a row I did not sleep at all, ” Sun told Global News. “It hurts and is painful.”
The mobile home park he lives in is being redeveloped, and the development company is demanding Sun bring the home to current B.C. building code standards — even though it will be demolished — otherwise, he will receive nothing for it.
In a letter sent to Sun, the developer, Kerr Properties of Langley, stated that the renovations Sun undertook were unpermitted.
The developer has given Sun until July 31 to comply with the building code standards.
If not, the company stated it would charge Sun for the demolition of his own home, saying in the letter that it would “seek the removal of this structure and reimbursement of any costs associated with this matter through all available rights and remedies under applicable law.”
Kerr Properties has not responded to requests for comment.
Sun, who escaped the Cambodian genocide that killed his parents and siblings, has been having an especially tough time navigating his crisis due to a language barrier.
“When I am alone at home and then I cry,” he said.
Sun said he doesn’t know where he will go or where to turn to.
Jim Carpenter, who also owns a unit in the park, said “this property that we are sitting on is worth multi millions of dollars, and when their project is done, it will bring in tens of thousands or more revenue a month.”
Carpenter added, “The development company is here to do business, but they certainly don’t show any heart or empathy.”
A Kelowna lawyer has now stepped up and taken on the case to help Sun.
The lawyer has written a letter to the developer, demanding the company not pursue its current course of action and apologize to Sun, but says, so far, the company hasn’t changed its position.
An online fundraiser has been started by a concerned resident to help alleviate some of the financial stress Sun is suddenly facing.
“It’s so wrong or painful that I come to Canada, and Canada is a wonderful country that I am able to think of,” said Sun. “And then they come to me, it hurts.”
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