4 December 2025: Millions of dollars of repair and modernization costs are being billed to Orchard House lessees, which will likely lead to bankruptcy for at least a few of those who barely survived earlier large billings.
As advance-notice letters from Westsea Construction say some dollar figures are not yet available, and because given figures are usually vastly under-estimated, we can only guess at what more is truly coming. Based on a notice dated 27 November 2025 and past letters, a guess is that $5 million will be billed during 2026 and ’27. In round figures that will mean bills of about $17,000 for studio suites, $22,000 for one-bedroom suites and $31,000 for two-bedroom suites.
The above linked-to letter says that replacement of electrical service to all suites (“electrical meter stack”) and fire alarm replacement will cost $2.5 million. It says there is no price yet for “water supply and sanitary drainage piping” replacement, but one has to guess that will be another $2.5 million, arriving at the best-guess $5M. What an internet search turned up about replacement of a “low-voltage electrical meter stack” can be found here.
Pending-project notices, October 2025 and earlier:
Major expenses for mechanical projects were billed to Orchard House lessees during 2024 and 2025, with another round expected in 2026. One of two letters in August 2024 told lessees to make six monthly payments beginning in October, which per suite total as follows: about $3,600 for studios, about $5,000 for one-bedrooms and between $6,700 and $7,080 for two-bedroom suites, which have three different sizes. The total of almost $1,354,461 includes a shortfall of $297,461 that was billed in June of 2025. The first notice to pay can be seen via the link below, while the ‘shortfall’ letter can be found on this site’s “financials” page.
The phased project was for “boiler replacement” plus refurbishment of the hot tub. It appears that both the space heating and tap hot-water boilers were replaced, which these days should mean more efficient sharing of natural gas-fired heating of the two water systems. Technical note: heating hot water has rust inhibitor added to it and runs in a “closed” system. The flue system to the roof was also replaced.
The second letter dated 19 August 2024 told lessees of further pending projects, such as “water system re-piping” and replacement of “low-voltage meter stack and fire alarm, etc.”, giving no estimate for the first, but $350,000 for the second. It would be safe to guess that water pipe replacement will cost $1M, so ‘best guess is for a 2026 bill equal to what lessees paid during 2024 and ‘25.
Back in November of 2023 lessees had been told of these upcoming projects, which vastly under-estimated the coming expenses to-date. As background, that notice is available via the link below.
Some lessees have not been able to pay these bills, so have sold their suite assignments or moved to lower-quality accommodation (mom’s basement?, a friend’s couch?), so they can rent their suite for the needed income. We have a declining number of resident lessees. An earlier round of such billings and suite assignment sales (sometimes at a loss… bankruptcies?) occured 2010 – 2016. In those years the second phase of exterior glazing replacement, re-roofing, re-decking the parking garage roof, etc., totaled almost $30,000 for studios, $45,000 for one-bedroom suites, and $60,000 for two-bedroom suites.
In September of 2024 I wrote to MLAs and the Ministry of Housing about the impact of these new bills on Orchard House lessees, and also reminded them of the tragedy unfolding at Surrey’s Sun Creek Estates, where wood-frame building refurbishments over several years are costing lessees more than $200,000 each. That letter and appeal for action can be read via the link below.
OrchardHouseLeaseholder.ca 