Vernon trailer park owner fined $55K for dangerous, neglected electrical system

The province’s rental housing regulator didn’t go easy on a Vernon trailer park owner despite her claims she was saving her tenants money.

Carolyn Goldstone rarely raised the rent at Crown Villa Mobile Home Park over the decades she has owned it, but its failing electrical system is putting its tenants at risk and repairs haven’t been done, according to a Residential Tenancy Branch decision.

“I find that the actions of the respondent have deliberately placed her tenants at significant risk of harm and possibly death in the event of a fire or electrocution under the guise that she is providing affordable housing,” the recently published decision reads.

The tenancy branch levied a $55,000 fine against Goldstone for failing to properly maintain the 11-pad trailer park’s electrical system, either with routine or emergency repairs.

It’s one of many problems at the trailer park, which also has a history of leaky sewage that Interior Health previously replaced before sending Goldstone the bill.

Goldstone told the tenancy branch she couldn’t afford the repairs, which includes electrical equipment that’s exposed to the environment and overgrown trees obstructing overhead wires. She said the government should step in to fund the repairs, but she’s failed to secure such funding in the past.

She has owned the trailer park for 37 years and has only increased the rent when new tenants moved in. Meanwhile, its assessed value has increased by 124 per cent in that time, which BC Assessment pins at $795,000. It’s not listed for sale, but Goldstone said she has tried to sell it in the past, including an effort to sell it to Interior Health in an effort to repay for sewage repairs the health authority imposed on the trailer park.

She told the tenancy branch the fine, which amounts to $5,000 for each of the 11 units, could risk tenants losing their homes. She inherited the property and has no mortgage on the property, while tenants currently pay between $260 and $295 per month for pad rentals, one tenant hasn’t paid for two years, according to the decision.

Her reluctance to incrementally raise rents “in no way absolves her” of a landlord’s legal requirement to maintain the property, the decision said.

The tenancy branch’s evidence largely stemmed from a Technical Safety BC investigation which handed down an April 10 deadline to have the repairs done, while the tenancy branch ordered Goldstone to pay the $55,000 fine by March 10.

Although the investigation spanned alleged rule breaking from 2021 to 2025, one long-term tenant told investigators there have been electrical issues at Crown Villa for 25 years.

The unnamed tenant has done minor repairs at her own expense and supplements her lack of heat with a pellet stove, but she’s concerned about being left without a home if Goldstone doesn’t complete the repairs.