Emily Yu, the owner of a North Vancouver townhome that was once converted into a hostel, was led away from her home in handcuffs Tuesday after reportedly refusing access to a bailiff, a realtor and a potential buyer.
When the interested parties showed up to view the home Tuesday, the gate was padlocked shut. When they cut off the padlock, Yu answered the door but reportedly refused access to her home. That was when the police were called.
The townhouse property, known as the “Oasis Hostel,” hit the market with a list price of $965,000 after a B.C. Supreme Court judge ordered its sale in June.
The order was the end result of a three-year legal battle between property owner Yu and her strata council.
Yu had been listing the three-bedroom unit as a hostel that could sleep 15 people through several online platforms, prompting numerous complaints from neighbours. Short-term rentals were allegedly in violation of strata bylaws.
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She was found in contempt of court in 2018, and later ordered to pay about $95,000 to the province and more than $50,000 in fines and legal costs to the strata.
Yu has until the end of November to vacate her property but she has argued she was the victim of identity theft and court file fraud.
When asked by Global News outside court in late October if she would leave by the end of November, Yu said, “I’ll let God make his magic hand.”
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