Delta homeowner loses privacy fight over illegally built rooms
A man who illegally built rooms in his home will have more municipal inspectors going all over his place.
Brian Stevens argued before the B.C. Supreme Court that his privacy rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms will be breached if examiners from the Corporation of Delta enter his cellar.
But Justice John Savage wasn’t persuaded. Borrowing from another court decision, Savage ruled that “building inspections involve a minimal intrusion into the privacy of a person”.
In his oral reasons for judgment on February 12, 2014, Savage stated that “if conducted in a reasonable time, there is no stigma associated” with inspections.
Although Savage didn’t grant Delta’s request for the court to declare that Stevens should allow inspectors to examine his cellar upon receipt of a day’s notice, the judge pointed out that the municipality doesn’t need one in the first place. Savage said Delta has the authority to make building inspections under the Community Charter, which is provincial legislation.
The municipality initiated the suit against Stevens after a crawlspace was converted into habitable rooms in violation of building bylaws. The court ordered Delta to tear down the partitions in the crawlspace.
The illegal construction in the crawlspace presumably got inspectors wondering what’s in the cellar as well. They’ll find out soon.
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