Richmond animal charity sues co-tenant for $60,000 in unpaid utility bills

A Richmond animal charity is suing a co-tenant for more than $66,000 for allegedly failing to pay its share of water and electricity costs.

In the civil suit filed two weeks ago at the BC Supreme Court, the Regional Animal Protection Society (RAPS) is claiming Phoenix Perennials has failed, for the last five years, to pay its 50 per cent share of utilities.

Both parties in the law suit are long-term tenants of a rural property on No. 6 Road, just north of Cambie Road.

RAPS has been running its cat sanctuary at the site since around 1995, according to court documents, while Phoenix Perennials has been there since 2004.

The suit claims that on or about Nov. 2, 2015, RAPS entered into a commercial lease agreement with ADX International Investments Ltd. to continue to lease the property with the condition it pays 50 per cent of the water and electricity costs and Phoenix pays the other half.

It also claims that the two tenants had an “oral agreement” to share the utility costs equally.

However, RAPS claims that Phoenix has failed, since 2015, to pay its share, totalling a $27,083.16 bill with the City of Richmond for water and $38,109.00 to BC Hydro, both of which RAPS claims to have paid.

According to the law suit, RAPS has made multiple demands for payment, all of which have been “refused or ignored.”

None of the allegations made in the suit have been proven and Phoenix has yet to file a response in court.