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Chilliwack man finds nest of cockroaches in apartment as he’s signing rental contract

Discovery came as he was signing rental agreement for $1,000-a-month suite

Dayne Finley thought he found a nice place to live in the downtown Chilliwack area for a rental price he could afford.

He decided to take the place for $1,000 a month and he was filling out the rental agreement at the kitchen counter.

That’s when he saw what he thought was a large pile of dirt between the refrigerator and the counter. He decided to take a closer look by moving the refrigerator, and he was shocked.

“I could not believe what I was seeing,” Finley said. “What I thought was a pile of dirt was a square-foot pile of thousands of cockroaches.”

He took a video of the scene before taking off.

The little creatures are seen scurrying up the falls in all directions in the 20-second video.

Finley didn’t want to share the video to shame any particular landlord and he didn’t want to identify the building. But he says he’s heard there are many low-rent buildings in the city with similar problems.

“They wonder why people can’t afford rent, are forced to live on the streets, but these are the kind of things we run into when we’re already paying way too much in rent.”

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Finley said since he’s shared the video on social media others have told him of similar issues in other apartments in surrounding areas.

“This is part of the reason there is such a rental crisis in B.C., because of over priced living situations like this,” he said.


@PeeJayAitch
paul.henderson@theprogress.com

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