Valerie Maltese, Kelowna landlord, locked out of own house by firestarting tenants
RCMP say Dustin Rhodes-Shanks and Savanna Malone are connected to a wildfire which grew to 17 hectares
Kelowna, B.C. homeowner Valerie Maltese says the tenants living in her secondary suite have locked her out of her property and she's afraid the bonfires they repeatedly start are going to burn her house down.
In March, first-time landlord Maltese rented a suite at her home in the rural Joe Rich neighbourhood to Dustin Rhodes-Shanks, Savanna Malone and Brittany Kreiger.
Maltese said almost immediately she was alarmed by the tenants' behaviour. The trio had parties late into the night that kept her and her 13-year-old son awake, she says.
Maltese also says Rhodes-Shanks' two pit bull terriers ran freely and killed her neighbour's goats.
Then the fires started.
Burning without permission
"I started observing them lighting fires on my property without me giving permission," said Maltese. "I told them, 'I don't have a burn permit. If you are going to light any fires or burn anything, I need to get a permit.'"
The fire department attended two of the fires and issued Maltese with bylaw violation warnings, warning her that if there were any more fires on her property, she would be fined.
Maltese then learned that Rhodes-Shanks and Malone had been recently evicted from a nearby property for starting fires — including a fire last September, which grew to 17 hectares before it was finally extinguished by firefighters.
In a written letter to Maltese for an upcoming Residential Tenancy Branch hearing about the case, RCMP Const. Kevin Hamilton wrote:
"The bill for actioning this fire totalled approximately $29,000, which was borne by the homeowner. This fire had the potential to destroy nearby residences in the neighbourhood."
"It is my personal and professional opinion that the tenants ... pose a significant public danger to Valerie Maltese, her property and the surrounding properties and the occupants in the immediate vicinity," he wrote.
Maltese and her son left their home out of fear for their safety.
"There is something so not right about them. My son and I are simply not safe to stay here and sleep through the night," she said. "They are way too unpredictable."
Since then the tenants have put a padlock on Maltese's front gate, forcing her to jump over the locked gate to get to her house.
"I don't understand. They have locked me out of my own property," she said. "It feels like I am in some kind of a bad dream."
'I just want my home back'
Maltese is trying to evict the tenants, but she is frustrated with how long the process takes.
"I just want my home back and I want legislation to change," she said. "It totally has to change. It is ridiculous."
On March 20, Maltese served her tenants with an eviction notice and is now preparing for a hearing with a Residential Tenancy Branch arbitrator later this month.
David Hutniak of LandlordBC, an association of landlords in the province, said the Residential Tenancy Act in B.C. is very well defined and effective, but has deficiencies in extreme cases such as the one Maltese finds herself in.
"Some of the processes in terms of the required time frames for giving eviction notices etc. don't really allow for that sense of urgency that might be required in some situations," he said.
"So I think there is an opportunity to do a little fine tuning on something like this."
Hutniak said the best way landlords can protect themselves is by screening potential tenants carefully. He said landlords should ask for references and do a credit check before signing a rental agreement with a tenant.
"If they do that process properly then they can avoid many of these situations, because the vast majority of tenants in this province are good, respectful tenants and the tenant-landlord relationship is strong," he said.
Brittany Krieger planning to move out
CBC News was unable to contact Dustin Rhodes-Shanks or Savanna Malone, but tenant Brittany Kreiger agreed to an interview.
Krieger said she does not have a criminal record and has done nothing wrong, admitting that she did put the lock on the gate, to keep her newly-bought puppy safe.
She said she did not live with Rhodes-Shanks and Malone at the previous residence where the fire started.
Krieger also says Maltese sent two men to try and kick herself and her roommates off the property.
"They said, 'Don't play games with us. Go and get Dustin. Why are you here? You're supposed to be gone,'" she said. "I was terrified. I came in the house and I was terrified."
Maltese admits sending the men to the property to encourage the tenants to leave.
Krieger says she's preparing to move out at the end of April.
"Legally we have to and I mean, we wouldn't want to stay here anyway, with someone who is invading our privacy and going through our things when we are not home," she said.
Maltese denied going into her tenants' suite when they were not home.