一场大火摧毁房东发财梦

 

对那些想踏上房东致富捷径的人们来说，近期发生的那场让大陆留学生命丧黄泉的大火以残酷现实烧醒了他们的发财梦。

For those who believe that being a landlord paves a shortcut to prosperity, they may get slapped with a cold cruel reality when a Chinese student recently died in a rooming house fire. 

在利息极低，出租房一屋难求之际，靠购房出租挣钱比起那些固定职场的工作来说可谓一本万利的买卖。没有数十载的辛劳汗水， 早9晚5的打工仔们别想付清那沉重如山的房屋贷款。而房东们呢？他们只需付上一笔首期，然后就可悠闲自得地静观出租房屋价格一路飙升，梦想着几年后抱回一个聚宝盆。

At the time when interest rates were a historic low and when rental homes become rare commodities, being a landlord looked like a far easier way to make money compared to a 9-to-5 job which would need decades of blood, sweat, and tears to payoff mortgages. It seems a down payment is all what landlords need. After that, they can simply sit back, relax, and watch their rental property value soar while expecting to walk away with a bonanza.

自古华裔爱地产，认准房东这一行当油水颇丰，大批华裔人士纷纷踊跃入市，不尝到当房东之甜头不罢休。从买2栋，3栋一直买到5栋，6栋，这些多套房产主们在租房市场一掷千金，掀起华社前所未有的房东热潮。市政房价估值记录显示，至2016年大约12万多伦多人士购置多栋房产，这些房屋大多被出租。

Driven by a passion of becoming a landlord and attracted by the most lucrative games in the city, a flood of Chinese Canadians dove into the market, eager to taste the sweet nectar of the landlord life. They’ve become the homeowners of second, third and sixth homes, creating a landlord frenzy that has swept through the community. According to MPAC property assessment records, by 2016 over 120,000 Toronto homeowners own multiple dwellings – with majority of them being rented out. 

那名死于士嘉宝出租房大火，来自中国大陆18岁的女学生的房东就是这一房东潮中的一份子。据《多伦多星报》报道，周及其妻子在多大士嘉宝校园附近拥有整整六套房屋，栋栋占地面广，适于家庭居住的独立屋。几十名租客算下来，夫妻俩可每月捞到一笔可观收入。

Among those were the landlords of the 18-year-old foreign student from China who died in a horrific fire at her rental home in Scarborough. According to the Star, Zhou and his wife own six properties near the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus -- all being large, detached, single family homes. With dozens of renters occupying the multiple properties, they could rake in a handsome sum of monthly income. 

但当房东并非是发财致富的捷径，这一具有着光鲜外表的行业，将不时露出其狰狞之面目。而作为一名到处购房出租的房东，则更是险情丛生了。出租房屋除了所需的经验和技能外，更需要的是房东了解并遵循各项法律法规，否则一不留神则有灾难之风险。违反安全法规的房屋很可能成为死亡陷阱，可怕的事故则将难以避免。一旦房客在事故中殒命，房东的好运也就到头了。

But being a landlord is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It is one of those professions that mostly look glamorous from the outside but hideous from the inside, and the truth of being a multiple-property landlord could be even uglier. Apart from landlords’ experiences and skills, it mostly requires remarkable efforts from the landlords to understand and comply with the law in order to stave off a possible disaster. When safety code violations turn a property into a death trap, fatal incident would be imminent and inevitable. Once a tenant’s life perishes, the landlord’s world falls apart. 

多伦多火警队在对那场吞噬了大陆留学生的火灾进行初步调查后发现，大陆留学生居住的10 Haida Court 火灾现场出现多项安全违规，其中一项明显的火警违规为地下室仅仅有一个出口。《多伦多星报》在火灾后立即奔赴周的数栋物业，他们的调查发现，周夫妇的三栋物业被割划为多家出租房，而在士嘉宝这类出租房是违法的。

In their initial investigation of the fire at 10 Haida Court where the student died, fire investigators had allegedly found multiple violations in the property, including a basement with only one exit — a clear breach of the provincial fire code.  At least three of the couple’s properties visited by the Star reporter right after the accident appeared to fit the city’s definition of a rooming house — which is illegal in Scarborough.

《星报》的调查还称，周所拥有的其他物业也出现了明显安全违规。在3321 Ellesmere Rd，他们发现有16名租客共同栖身于该屋檐下，而楼下的一个烟雾报警器已过期，而另一个在厨房的报警器也明显毁坏。地下室住了八名学生，共用两间霉菌丛生的洗澡间和两间厨房，一间厨房没有自来水。《星报》在地下室发现了至少两个破损或过期的报警器。周否认上述所有指控。

The Star investigation alleges that apparent safety hazards appeared in other properties owned by the landlords, including the property at 3321 Ellesmere Rd.  Sixteen people lived at property, where one smoke detector downstairs passed the expiring date, and another in the kitchen appeared visibly broken. In the basement apartment, they found eight students sharing two mould-filled bathrooms and two kitchens — one of which did not have running water — and at least two broken or expired smoke detectors. Zhou denied the allegations. 

但显然这场大火让房东吓出一身冷汗。惊恐状态下的周下令其余房客立即搬出并自行安排住处。但他却有所不知，作为房东他没有权利驱赶房客，而在出现安全违规的情况下，只有市政府才能向房客下逐客令。

The fire that took the life of the Chinese student left Zhou in a panic and frantic mode. The freaked-out landlord ordered tenants to move out and make other living arrangements on a short notice. But he seemed unaware that he as a landlord has no authority to evict a tenant, and that in case of safety code violations, only the city has the power to issue eviction orders. 

在多伦多住房万分紧张的今天，对许多国外留学生来说，廉价的多间出租屋是他们唯一住房选择，而房主的确可趁多伦多的这一租房困境捞上一把。但当房东没有你想象的那么简单，也不是每个人都能在该行业中游刃有余，从中获利。一旦恶性事故发生，小心这一看似油水颇丰，只等坐收渔利的行当向你翻脸，让你眼睁睁地看着辛勤投资在熊熊大火中化为灰烬，而百般无奈的你却只能望火兴叹了。

With rooming house becoming the only affordable accommodation for many foreign students, landlords are cashing out on the growing housing affordability crisis in the city. But it isn’t smooth sailing to be a landlord and not everyone is cut out for it. In the event of a fatal accident, their lucrative, deemed sit-back-and-watch game would turn instantly into a haunted nightmare, as they hopelessly watch their investments burn in a vicious fire.