Long-term tenants at Summerside hotel can stay, for now

The new owners of a hotel in Summerside, P.E.I., where tenants received eviction notices at the end of August, have cancelled those orders. 

About 60 people were told Aug. 30 they had 30 days to leave the 106-room Causeway Bay Hotel since new owners had take over and wanted to renovate it, creating first-class tourist accommodations, not long-term rentals. 

But tenants awoke Thursday to another notice on their doors from the hotel, telling them the eviction notices had been cancelled and that the owners have asked the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission not to enforce the evictions.

"It was a big weight off my shoulders, I was pretty happy with it," said tenant Robert Wall. 

However, he said he believed that the owners would try again to evict him and other long-term tenants. 

Tenants are supposed to get at least 60 days' notice of eviction under existing P.E.I. legislation, not the 30 days they received. 

The group P.E.I. Fight for Affordable Housing also pointed out the new owners were not acting in accordance with the provincial moratorium on evictions due to renovations, which will stay in place until the long-awaited new Residential Tenancy Act is brought in.

"I think they're going to attempt it again with a different approach," Wall said. 

Wall said he plans to stay at the hotel as long as possible while looking for other accommodations in his price range. He said the cheapest apartment he has seen is renting for $1,300 per month heated, "and that's way out of my price range. I don't know what we're going to do." 

Wall said he has a meeting with officials from the City of Summerside next week to discuss the situation at the hotel. 

His said his approach to any eviction will be "fight it till you can't fight anymore."