‘Gruelling circumstance’: Surrey motel renters without hot water since mid-January

Dawn McKay has lived at the Cedar Lane Motel for 11 years. She said the pipes froze on Jan. 14, but around nine people have been living in the cold for much longer than that.

A handful of renters at a long-term stay motel in South Surrey have been without hot water for just over a month and without regular heat for about two years, Global News has learned.

Dawn McKay has lived at the Cedar Lane Motel for 11 years. She said the pipes froze on Jan. 14, but around nine people have been living in the cold for much longer than that in a building in general disrepair.

“It’s a really gruelling circumstance,” McKay said Monday.

“It’s extremely difficult, in fact, even dangerous for some of the tenants who are disabled and can’t carry large pots of hot water to and from their sink to wherever they need it.”

McKay said she bought an expensive infrared heater and “huddle(s) in one room” to keep warm when it’s cold out, but she’s aware of neighbours using space heaters, an oven — even a toaster oven — to do the same.

She’s bathing with buckets of boiled water, she added, but not everyone in the building is physically able do the same and she’s worried about hygiene and illness.

McKay took her concerns to the Residential Tenancy Branch and a hearing was held on Feb. 12, she said.

Meanwhile, tenants have been served a four-month eviction notice, McKay added. She claimed the property owner determined it would be more expensive to fix the building than demolish it.