Who would I report these bylaw infractions my landlord made to?

Question

I am living in a shared house with the lease holder. I suspect the lease holder has broken several laws. He has

1. rented out a storage space as a bedroom. It has no windows or door and I believe this is a violation of applicable Building Code. No one currently is living in the area now but on a regular basis he rents out the area for extra money.

2. tries to only rent to Christian men. This is a form of discrimination.

3. replaced the locks on the doors without permission from the home owner.

Who would I report this activity to? I am moving out due largely to point 1.

Answer 1

You would report unpermitted lock replacement to the home owner. The building code regulates new construction and renovations, and is not a requirement of any and all residences. This seems to correspond to a "secondary suite", which is supposed to be registered with the city (if it is allowed in your city). Here is a link for Vancouver, for instance. Such suites are supposed to be registered and inspected, the inspection being carried out by Development, Building and Licencing: By-Law Compliance & Administration (a division of the city government). This article discusses some of the legal problems that can arise from an illegal secondary suite, however the penalties would land on the property owner, and he may not have approved of this subletting or the basement suite. A less-nuclear first step would therefore be reporting it to the property owner.

Answer 2

For the religious issue:

According to this BC Governmetn web page :

A landlord cannot refuse to rent to a tenant based on their race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, gender, sexual orientation, age or lawful source of income. (emphasis added)

...

There are some exceptions that include:

• The rental unit is a building or development reserved for people age 55 or older
• The rental unit is designated for people with disabilities
• The owner of the accommodation will share a bathroom or kitchen with the tenant

The page says that violations can be reported to the BC Human Rights Tribunal

As for the locks that is a matter between the tenant and the landlord. A sub-tenant could report this to the landlord.

The building code issue could be reported to the local municipality's code enforcement officer. The municipal clerk would know exactly where to report.