Burnaby Permit Delays Lead to Unnecessary Struggles

Delays in getting permit are not the only issues that can be encountered during the initial construction stage. There could be more and knowing some of these struggles might help  contractors prepare for the worst. 

The waiting time, even if it is short and quick as six months (five months prior to the Board of Variance + one month Board process), can sometimes feel like it was stretched out to twelve months especially when new problems arise. 

In this blog, we will share with you the struggles we encounter while waiting for the permit to be approved. During the last few days of our journey in getting the Burnaby Permit, someone managed to dump their garbage off at our site in Watling St. even if it was fenced up.

To resolve the problem, the team reported it to the City of Burnaby for wrongful disposal–which is apparently a very common issue faced by homeowners and contractors while waiting for their permits. The city later on cleaned up the garbage and James, our construction manager made sure to lock each and every possible way of entry to avoid possible illegal dumping and squatting while we were waiting for our permit to be approved.

Illegal dumping and squatting is a common struggle faced by most property owners in Burnaby, particularly those who owned or bought properties that remained idle for long periods of time. These properties, known as “zombie homes”, have become a haven for the homeless and a headache for owners who wants their properties renovated or demolished for new construction. According to Burnaby Now, the number of zombie homes went up in the previous years. An alarming statistic that most homeowners believed to impact the price of homes. 

To help decrease the level of zombie homes, we have presented the struggles we faced in hopes of having our variance considered. And thankfully, it was considered! 

But this does not end here.

In our next blog about our experience in getting the Burnaby permit process, we are going to share the four pillars of reasoning that should be included upon submitting an appeal to the Board of Variance. Stay tuned. 

This article was last updated on May 27, 2023