THE City of Vancouver has filed 60 charges against Balmoral Hotel Ltd., controlled by members of the Sahota family, in the B.C. Provincial Court alleging violations of the City’s Standards of Maintenance By-law.

The charges address infractions of the Standards of Maintenance By-law that were identified during proactive inspections of the building. Eighteen infractions relate to an inspection on January 31 and a further 42 were identified on April 19. The breaches include failure to maintain walls, ceilings and floors to an adequate standard, as well as lack of maintenance to plumbed facilities such as baths and toilets.

“The City of Vancouver is committed to holding landlords accountable for maintaining habitable standards in Single Room Accommodation (SRA) buildings,” said Kaye Krishna, General Manager of Development, Buildings and Licensing, on Thursday. “It’s critical that we protect this housing stock, which provides much needed affordable housing to some of the City’s most vulnerable residents.”

A summons will be issued to Balmoral Hotel Ltd. to appear in court to answer to the charges. If the owners are found guilty, each infraction carries a potential fine of $250 to $10,000.

The Balmoral Hotel is currently undergoing a complete review by a contractor hired by the owners to assess the work that is needed to rehabilitate the property. After an inspection to assess the shoring and stabilization of the Balmoral Hotel on July 14, it was announced that the City’s Chief Building Official deemed the building to be stabilized to the City’s satisfaction. The City anticipates that a significant amount of work will be necessary to return the building to SRO housing stock.