“Most stratas don’t have bylaws that deal with keys or fobs or security access,” he added. And stratas need to write ironclad bylaws that explicitly prohibit copying key fobs for guests. Whether it’s a property manager or a council member or if the building is lucky enough to have a concierge, someone has to manage the security of the fobs – and it’s a lot of work to manage it. “I’ve probably come across about 20 different stratas in the downtown area where they’ve discovered that people are getting fobs reproduced. As well, he says, realtors who need access to units are copying fobs when buildings don’t allow lock boxes for security reasons. He’s seen fraudulent short-term renters who’ve gained access to buildings for the purpose of breaking into storage lockers, as well as using units for prostitution. As well, stratas need to weigh whether allowing short-term rentals in their buildings is worth the cost in money and time when things go wrong. Gioventu says that with the prolific copying of key fobs for short-term rental use, stratas must now do inventories of all their fobs and strictly manage them. The group that holds educational seminars for condo owners. Management of key fobs is the new reality, says Tony Gioventu, executive director of the Condominium Home Owners Association of B.C. “We are thinking of changing our fob system, but do we want to go through the cost of changing it because we have people who don’t take responsibility?” “But it does make me feel really creepy that people have access to our building. “The worst part was she called me an ‘old man,’” he said jokingly. But the young woman who blew up at him was another matter. He’s encountered these travellers in the elevator and he’s felt sorry for them when they realize that they’re without a place to stay. From there, the visitors had to walk up several flights to the floor with the rental unit, because the copied fob they were given didn’t allow access to that floor. Once they arrived at the building, they were able to use the fob to gain access to a floor that is accessible to the whole building, because it has communal amenities. Hankins says he’s had the unpleasant task of informing confused looking tourists who show up with their luggage, and an unpermitted key fob, that the unit they’d rented on Airbnb was rented illegally. Now, the new security guard for the building asks to see everyone’s key fob and confiscates the ones that have been copied without strata permission. The online business owners often arrange to meet with customers at a coffee shop and are able to make a copy within minutes. He also discovered that guests were accessing the building with key fobs that had been duplicated by one of the many new key-fob duplicating businesses that have sprung up in recent years. It is one of several short-term rentals in the 16-storey building. He searched Airbnb and found the unit renting for $328 a night. She then got off at one of the floors and disappeared. Hankins told her she couldn’t get to the floor without a proper key fob, she grew irate and called him a litany of offensive names. The strata bylaw prohibits rentals for fewer than six months.

Hankins, who is retired, believes the woman was a prostitute who was trying to make her way into one of the units that was illegally being used for nightly rentals. There’d already been efforts to deter short-term rentals that were clearly happening at 1252 Hornby St., but concerns peaked when resident Peter Hankins had an altercation with one difficult visitor in the elevator. When residents of a downtown condo tower in Vancouver recently discovered security keys had been copied and distributed to non-residents, they hired a round-the-clock security guard to check everyone entering the building. She was once referred to in a New York Times story as “the city’s unofficial night owl.” She is a born and bred Vancouverite, and knows her city well. Kerry writes on a range of topics, including the business of real estate, social trends, food, and popular culture. She worked for 11 years as a music critic for the Vancouver Sun, and she has co-written several books, including Michael Bublé’s bestselling memoir, Onstage, Offstage. Kerry Gold is a Vancouver-based real estate journalist whose work appears in the Globe and Mail. She has written for The Walrus magazine, Variety, LA Weekly, BC Business, MSN.com, Best Health, Yahoo!, CTV News, the Toronto Star, and numerous other publications over her 20 year career. This article is posted here on our website with permission from the writer Kerry Gold.

Key fob duplicate