Tough task for condo owners to shut down brothels

Tough task for condo owners to shut down brothels

December 31, 2007

A B.C. case highlights the difficulties condo owners face when trying to shut down brothels operating in their buildings, Toronto litigator Stefan Rosenbaum tells AdvocateDaily.com.

Rosenbaum, an associate with Shibley Righton LLP, explains that prostitution operations running out of condos present a unique challenge to neighbours because of their legal status.

“The Supreme Court has ruled that prostitution is not illegal, so running a brothel is not necessarily a breach of the law,” he says. “It’s much more straightforward if someone is dealing or growing drugs out of their unit because that’s against the law.”

In the B.C. case, the CBC reports that RCMP officers stepped in on one occasion to remove a young woman following reports of physical violence, but residents’ police complaints were otherwise ineffective.

Instead, fellow condo owners turned to the courts after threats of fines under the condo bylaw were ignored by the unit owner suspected of renting space to prostitutes. And according to the CBC, they won a default judgment ordering their neighbour to put a halt to any prostitution-related activity.

Rosenbaum says many condo corporations prohibit commercial activity in their units, and that this can provide the basis for an action against an owner engaging in prostitution or related activity. Still, he says it’s not always a straightforward task.

“It’s difficult to prove that’s what’s going on. Although the condo has the right to enter a unit, that is only for specific purposes, which may not include checking if a brothel is operating inside,” Rosenbaum says. “Often, there will be circumstantial evidence. It’s safe to assume that when 20 or 30 different men are entering the unit on a daily basis, that something strange is happening.”

In the absence of solid proof, he says neighbours can also take action based on safety or noise concerns, both of which bolstered the case of the B.C. condo.

According to the CBC story, one neighbour managed to record the sound of an argument in the hallway, while numerous affidavits were filed by unit owners complaining of violent fights and screaming women. Another obtained pictures confirming the location of the business after passing themselves off as a potential customer seeking escort services.

The default judgment orders the unit owner to stop using the condo for commercial purposes, restrain from causing unreasonable noise and to pay his neighbours’ legal costs. In the event he fails to abide by the ruling, the CBC story says his fellow condo owners plan to attempt to have him removed from the building.