Surrey landlord Gary Parhar had been having difficulties with a tenant, who he said had a troublesome boyfriend who had stayed over.
That was before police descended on his property on Saturday, looking for someone who, he said, had been named on the Surrey RCMP’s 10 most wanted list.
Police captured the man — but let him go. Then he came back to the home.
Erin Norman, 24, was wanted for a failure to comply with a probation order. But he also has a criminal history, including robbery, assault and weapons charges.
And Parhar said he had been staying with his tenant before the police came to pick him up.
Whatever relief Parhar felt dried up on Wednesday, when Norman returned to his home and ended up in a confrontation with him.
READ MORE: Surrey RCMP capture another of its 10 most wanted following raid on home
“He said, I don’t care, you can call the police,” Parhar said.
Police dropped by and apparently spoke to Norman, but they let him go.
And now, Parhar is frightened.
“It’s affecting my family, and I’m concerned about their safety right now,” he said.
Parhar may be learning that, unless he can legally evict his tenant under residential tenancy laws, then the police likely can’t do much if his girlfriend invites him by.
“All landlords need to educate themselves,” David Hutniak, the head of Landlord BC told Global News.
“And as soon as you take a month’s rent, you are doing business.”
Parhar admitted that he didn’t do a background check before taking on his tenant.
Now he has someone recently named among Surrey’s most wanted crashing on his property.
As for the Surrey RCMP’s most wanted, police say they’ve captured two of the people on their list.
- Video report by Paul Johnson; files from Jon Azpiri