G
Glen Smith
Guest
I'm a member of a model railway club in Sydney, NS, Canada.
For nearly 20 years we have occupied a room in the basement of a city rec dept building. An amateur, non-profit boxing club used the upstairs. We both received the premises rent and expense free.
Recently the organizers of the boxing club threw in the towel and gave it up. Another boxer, from a nearby town heard and contacted the city with a proposal to start a new club.
The city had refused to give either our club or the first boxing club any money for upkeep of the building, citing lack of funds. Since we were rent free, we lived with the few problems.
Once the new boxer took over, the city spent about $5000 on repairs to the building including new roof, doors, showers etc.
Our club was told by several officials that as long as the boxers were making a go of it, the building would stay open and we could stay. After one year, we may however, be required to pay a portion of the utilities. OK.
In the course of the renovations, the building inspector noticed that the only exit from the basement was through our club room. We offered to leave our door unlocked, giving access to the exit, if we could install an alarm to prevent unauthorized entry.
When our club met with the recreation director, we were told that this arrangement was not acceptable and, since the only possible exit was in our room, we would have move out.
We have no where to go. We cannot afford commercial rent and we need a place that would give us a relatively long term (5 years +) lease. Our layout (the permanant model train setup) cost nearly $5000 to build and will be hard to move.
Since many of our club members have died or left over the years, we don't know if there is any written aggreement. We have been told that the boxing club (the new one) does not have a written agreement yet, only a verbal one.
Our questions are:
1 Since we were there for nearly 20 years, do we have any rights?
2 The boxers came long after us and when the building's current arrangement was deemed unsuitable, why don't they have to move instead?
Although we may be in a no win situation and I realize laws vary greatly from place to place, we are trying to find our if we even have a chance.
Glen Smith
For nearly 20 years we have occupied a room in the basement of a city rec dept building. An amateur, non-profit boxing club used the upstairs. We both received the premises rent and expense free.
Recently the organizers of the boxing club threw in the towel and gave it up. Another boxer, from a nearby town heard and contacted the city with a proposal to start a new club.
The city had refused to give either our club or the first boxing club any money for upkeep of the building, citing lack of funds. Since we were rent free, we lived with the few problems.
Once the new boxer took over, the city spent about $5000 on repairs to the building including new roof, doors, showers etc.
Our club was told by several officials that as long as the boxers were making a go of it, the building would stay open and we could stay. After one year, we may however, be required to pay a portion of the utilities. OK.
In the course of the renovations, the building inspector noticed that the only exit from the basement was through our club room. We offered to leave our door unlocked, giving access to the exit, if we could install an alarm to prevent unauthorized entry.
When our club met with the recreation director, we were told that this arrangement was not acceptable and, since the only possible exit was in our room, we would have move out.
We have no where to go. We cannot afford commercial rent and we need a place that would give us a relatively long term (5 years +) lease. Our layout (the permanant model train setup) cost nearly $5000 to build and will be hard to move.
Since many of our club members have died or left over the years, we don't know if there is any written aggreement. We have been told that the boxing club (the new one) does not have a written agreement yet, only a verbal one.
Our questions are:
1 Since we were there for nearly 20 years, do we have any rights?
2 The boxers came long after us and when the building's current arrangement was deemed unsuitable, why don't they have to move instead?
Although we may be in a no win situation and I realize laws vary greatly from place to place, we are trying to find our if we even have a chance.
Glen Smith