A condo owner has been ordered to stop using his property for business purposes — including alleged "prostitution related activities" — after his neighbours went to court armed with evidence they put together through their sleuthing.
Court documents say residents of the building in Burnaby, B.C., started raising concerns in August 2015 about visitors and disturbances at a unit owned by Christopher Nino Diopita.
In a petition filed with the Supreme Court of British Columbia, neighbours reported hearing sounds of alleged physical violence and "hysterical screaming" coming from the unit as well as seeing women letting men into the building.
They also found similarities in the decor of a real estate listing for the condo with ads for escort services in Burnaby, highlighting the same wooden pillars on a bed.
The petition filed by the condo board says the property manager spoke with Diopita about the concerns and he said his girlfriend was operating a tattoo business.
Diopita, who could not be reached for comment, did not reply to the petition in any court filings.
The condo board sent Diopita letters asking him to stop the alleged commercial activities and issued fines, but the court documents say he did not respond so in November it asked a judge for an order banning him from the property and forcing him to sell his unit.
The judge issued an order Tuesday that says Diopita cannot use his condo for any kind of business, including "prostitution related activities," and bans him from causing or allowing unreasonable noise in the unit.
He has not been banned from the property or forced to sell the unit.
