BCBusiness

19 B C B U S I N E S S . C A S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 5 apartments—older buildings in the West End, one in Mount Pleasant on the day I looked— are the vestigial remains of ancient real estate history, it turns out. When the brash new NDP government was elected in 1972 with a promise to establish rent control, a few apartment owners trying to avoid that dire fate converted their buildings to leasehold, according to Douglas Harris, a UBC law professor who has extensively researched the his- tory of apartment ownership, and Mike Walker, a Vancouver lawyer from the blue-chip firm Miller Thomson who specializ- es in unusual real estate issues. That move by those 1970s owners also helped them avoid the cost of converting to strata—the form of owner- ship most of us are familiar with. Had they gone the strata route, they would have had to spend a considerable amount to upgrade the buildings, as required by strata legislation. As a result, approximately 2,500 apartments in about 20 buildings across the province, most in Vancouver and Victoria, aren't regulated by either the Residential Tenancy Act or the Strata Property Act. Those 99-year-lease buildings are about halfway through their lives, with terms expiring in 2073 or 2074, according to various listings. And... there's a wide range of opinions on how all that is working out. Realtor Angie Kirk, who has, by chance, sold a few leasehold apartments among her other listings, says that the purchasers "love them," though she acknowledges that many buyers are hesitant at the thought of the lease ending in 50 years (even though those units are now being sold for higher prices). They have one advantage in that they're not subject to Vancouver's Empty Homes Tax, but Kirk cautions that very few banks will lend on them and those that do require a 25- to 35-percent down payment. "And you have to have your own contingency fund," she says. Another realtor, Dwayne Launt, had a leasehold apartment himself for a while in a building in Mount Pleasant. "I'm a big believer in leaseholds," he tells me in a pleasantly long, meandering conversation about the state of Vancouver condos and lease- holds. But, he says, buyers need to be aware that they will be responsible for maintaining the common areas to keep the building in reasonable shape and there won't be a strata council that can scrutinize or veto expenses. That means repair bills will come along that need to be paid. Also, the price of regular amenities can change. When his building was sold by the former owner to one of Vancouver's big landholders, Deecorp, the cost of doing laundry went from around 50 cents a load to near- ly $3; parking rose from about $7 a month to over $100. For the price buyers are paying, though, he thinks it's worthwhile. You get an A HEFTY CATCH At the Lee Building at Main and Broadway in Vancouver (left and below) you can buy a condo for a tidy price, as long as you can buy it outright. D a r r e n S u t h e r l a n d / S n o w c h i m p C r e a t i v e, d i g i t al s t a g i n g : B e ll a V ir t u al S t a g i n g

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