I've Been Renovicted!

A year ago my landlord died suddenly & left his wife with no pension, no insurance, two kids in university & two kids still at home. At the time I wondered how she would survive. I helped with some paperwork, gave her the best advice I could & started to think about moving. I hate moving!!! I should've could've moved several times over the last years but was too comfortable in my spot. I've been in the basement suite for almost 20 years. I've watched the kids grow up, the neighbors move in & out. In all that time the furnace has never been serviced nor the ducts cleaned. I've had a stove replaced only when it became a fire hazard, bought my own fridge, had three major floods from failing pipes, installed my own kitchen hardware & made do. I've been cold in the winter, listened to screaming & fighting upstairs, been refuge & go-between in marital disputes & put up with her cheap & chintzy ways - she unscrews my patio light if I leave it on. But I could afford it, it's good most of the time, he didn't raise the rent for years, I had two bedrooms, I had my own drive & patio just outside my door, pretty convenient to buses, shopping, the hospital & three coffee shops!! But, times have changed & I've often wondered how she makes ends meet without his paycheck.

Two scared 20-something kids came to talk to me yesterday with papers that say I have 4 months to move. I wasn't surprised to see them. The kids told me that their mother refuses to sell the house but she's willing to use some of the equity to do some major repairs & upgrade the basement suite. We all know the plumbing & wiring was bad when I moved in. I suspect they talked about doing some work when I moved out but I never did. I had a very frank talk with the boy a couple of months ago about a lot of other problems in the suite that will need fixing as well. If they do gut it & do all the things they're supposed to, there should be no problem getting $2500 or more a month for it in the current Vancouver rental crunch. And that's totally out of my league.