SURREY (NEWS1130) - An advocacy group is afraid older apartments in the core of Surrey will get left behind while the city tries to revitalize.
ACORN feels a new by-law is essential to protect renters.
Mold, bugs, and leaks are just some of the problems renters in older Surrey apartments have been dealing with for years. Sue Collard is the organizer of a rally today -- she says a new by-law would affect a lot of people.
"There are a large number of buildings where tenants are basically getting abused by a system that is not serving them well because landlords aren't doing repairs."
She has started an online petition and plans to take the issue to City Council when the time is right.
They say the city needs to step up and protect renters who are being neglected by lazy or irresponsible landlords. Collard believes the by-law would help the new image of Surrey's core by keeping the area safe, clean, and well-maintained.
"We're hoping that standards of maintenance by-law would ensure that where there are major issues, the properties can be properly inspected and these inspections can go forward to the
Residential Tenancy Board."