Former North Vancouver Airbnb host gets jail time after long battle with strats

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Emily Yu – who has been at war with a North Vancouver strata council for more than seven years over an Airbnb she once ran in her townhouse – has been jailed for 30 days.

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The sentencing decision by BC Provincial Court Judge Joanne Challenger likely ends a bizarre legal battle between Yu and The Beeches strata resort on 13th Street.

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Yu bought her three-bedroom townhouse in 2014 and in May 2016 began using it for short-term rentals through Airbnb, Booking.com and Craigslist.

According to a 2017 Civil Resolution Court ruling, there were sometimes as many as 20 people staying in the townhouse (marketed as the Oasis Hotel). Yu also operated a pet sitting service in the suite.

This flouted Strata’s rules regarding short-term rentals and pets, leading to the court case which ruled in favor of Strata. Yu was ordered to pay $5,900 which was owed to the strata in fines – but did not.

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Yu lost an appeal of the decision and was later ordered to pay the stratum’s $50,000 legal costs.

When the legal fees were not paid, Strata took the case to the BC Supreme Court, which in June 2020 allowed Strata to sell Yu’s townhouse to recoup their costs. .

Yu did not comply, so strata went back to court and on October 23, 2020 received an execution order, meaning the property would be sold with or without Yu’s consent.

Yu was arrested on November 2, 2020 when she blocked the bailiff’s access to the property – and that’s what led to the contempt of court charge filed by Judge Challenger.

“The proceeding related to Ms. Yu’s continued failure to comply with the regulations of a strata development in which she owned a townhouse by using it for short-term rentals,” Challenger wrote.

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Yu was convicted in April 2022 and sentenced on October 14.

In his sentencing report, Challenger said that throughout the proceedings Yu was non-compliant, resistant and paranoid, which led the judge to request a pre-sentencing report to determine the condition. Yu’s psychiatrist.

“Ms. Yu’s conduct during the trial of this case was characterized by disregard for process and the rule of law,” Challenger wrote. “She was often argumentative, accusatory, and defiant. She persisted in pursuing questioning which were clearly not based on reality. In particular, she repeatedly implied that the witnesses, and even the judge who issued a warrant when she did not show up on the first day of the trial, were imposters. She alleged that most of the documents were forged.

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Challenger also determined, based on the evidence at trial and Yu’s psychiatric report, that she was mentally capable during the trial and fully understood the proceedings.

“I also find that despite her problems, whatever they may be, she acted deliberately to avoid responsibility and said and did whatever she thought at the time that would best serve her purposes,” he said. writes Challenger.

“I find that Ms. Yu’s continued defiance has been so willful and deliberate that a long period of incarceration is necessary to meet the need for general and specific denunciation and deterrence.”

Yu was sentenced to 30 days and will be released on November 14. He is forbidden to go within 100 meters of his old townhouse.

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