Fake landlord takes cash from international students

A B.C. condo owner is fighting to get her downtown Vancouver property out of the hands of a convicted criminal who posed as a tenant and leased her suite, then turned around and rented it out to several students from Japan and Korea — while not paying rent to her.

"He rents it to like five people at a time," owner Elisabeth Fox said. "He puts two people in the den, two people in the bedroom and one person in the living room. And he's not living there."

"It's a terrible situation," she added. "I don't get paid. I have to pay a mortgage out of my pocket, and these young students ... live like rabbits in this place. He keeps on showing it to other people, and he keeps on stuffing people in there."

'Tenant' ordered out in November

David Messina, 37, was ordered to vacate Fox's suite by B.C.'s Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) in November, but he appealed that decision.

RTB records show that earlier last year he was evicted from two other downtown condo units for not paying rent — where he had also been subletting to several people. The two other condos are owned by Su Hua Lee, who lives in China.

'Why would I pay her? She's tried to kick me out. I never started this.' — David Messina

Under B.C. housing rules, landlords aren't supposed to forcibly remove tenants without a final court order.

Messina has a criminal record of fraud and other convictions. He boasted to CBC News that his sublet "operation" is lucrative, netting as much as $1.2 million a year, and that he treats the foreign students well.

"I supply the services," he said. "I give people what they want. The students, they get everything that they want."

However, surveillance video from the lobby of Fox's building on Dec. 14 shows Messina arguing with a young East Asian woman. Another tenant called police, and Messina was charged on allegations he threatened and assaulted the woman, who was trying to get money back from him. Messina was to appear in court Tuesday.

"The police were called four times already," Fox said. "Everybody's really scared of him."

Messina said he doesn't pay rent on suites when landlords like Fox hassle him.

"I've been doing this for years," Messina said. "The landlords, they are getting a little bit too aggressive," he added. "Do you understand? They are getting too aggressive."

When asked why he hasn't paid the $1,500 rent to Fox for several months, he answered, "Why would I pay her? She's tried to kick me out. I never started this. She brought this all upon herself … by renting to me."

'It will come down to proving that a fraud occurred, proving that there was intent there to defraud.' — Vancouver police Const. Jana McGuinness

Messina advertises on the internet classified ad site Craigslist. In late December, he posted ads for spaces in three downtown Vancouver condos, including Fox's but not Lee's, with rents ranging from $400 to $900 a month. 

"Great for international students," one of Messina's ads read.

He allowed a CBC News camera into the suite owned by Fox. There were mattresses in the living room and one in the small den. Four tenants were living in the 570-square-foot, one-bedroom unit, including student Hyojin Jang, who said he came to Canada from Korea in October.

'We don't know about our rights': student

"We are international students and we are not good at English," Jang said. "We are not strong in this city.... We don't know about our rights in this city, and so this is a little bit hard."

Jang said he worries that if he has to leave, Messina won't give his deposit back. He said has no other money and nowhere else to go.

"I have no choice, because I already paid him," Jang said.

Twenty-one-year-old Kazuki Tsukahara of Japan also rented a room in Fox's condo from Messina in November, along with three other ESL students. He said Messina kicked them out before the end of that month and kept the $560 they each paid for rent, plus their $350-per-person deposits.

"I didn't have any money and I couldn't find a new apartment," said Tsukahara, whose mother sends him money from Japan. He said he had to move in with a friend.

"I didn't go to the police because they can't do anything," he added.

"I just couldn't believe that somebody would be so mean to other people," said Fox, who lives in Lions Bay, northwest of Vancouver.

"You know what? I would almost like to bring [the international students] up to my house. If I lived in Vancouver, I would actually have them in my house."

Fox said she tried to get the Vancouver police to investigate Messina's operation, but said they told her it is a civil matter, and that she must go through the RTB to evict him. That process has taken four months so far, and he's still not out — and still renting the rooms.

"You get a letter and then you are being served or you are being phoned or you have to call in for a conference call," she said. "It is all time which allows him to make money. He knows he is going to be evicted."

Messina "is an artist at working the system," she added.

"It took us six months to get rid of him and cost the owner $30,000," said Brian Lee, who represented Chinese landlord Su Hua Lee, who rented her two suites to Messina last year.

"The problem lies mainly with our justice system," Lee said. "Terrible. There should be a faster method to deal with people like this. It left a really bad taste."

Cases like this 'complicated,' police say

Vancouver police media liaison Const. Jana McGuinness confirmed police generally don't take on cases like this, because proving intent is difficult.

"It will come down to proving that a fraud occurred, proving that there was intent there to defraud," McGuinness said. "It's fairly complicated. These can be lengthy investigations."

When asked by CBC News whether he feared the police would look into what he is doing, Messina answered, "Why would the police get involved? It's a civil matter."

"They say every block has a dope operation," he added. "I think that sounds like it's a little bit worse than what I'm doing."

Messina later said his biggest concern about publicity is that others will learn how his business operates, and he'll get unwanted competition from copycats.