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Tuesday night at council, Valerie Farina shared the story of her 23-unit Kitsilano apartment building, called Manoa Yew, which a Coltric-related company bought in September and immediately began offering cash to tenants to entice them to leave. Green Coun. Pete Fry asked questions of Farina, seemingly surprised that out of all the complaints he’d received recently about Coltric and VS, Farina’s building wasn’t even on his radar.

“I’m adding it to my list of reports I’ve got on VS-slash-Coltric,” Fry said. “It’s not even on my list.”

Since September, Farina’s new landlords have offered tenants three escalating buyout offers, with the latest coming Monday night. “It is a pleasure for us to inform all tenants. To help them in this transition be easier for you, we made a new offer,” the written offer states, before outlining what’s on offer: a $5,000 “buyout bonus,” three months’ rent, $500 for moving expenses, the security deposit returned, and a reference letter.

Farina has told the property manager she’s willing to move out temporarily to allow renovations to be carried out, so she can return afterwards, she said, but she felt she was being pressured to take the money and leave to allow a new tenant to move in.

“Their focus is completely on pushing people toward a buyout,” Farina said. “There’s just been this real push and this constant arguing to get us to leave.”

But when Postmedia News contacted VS Rentals on Wednesday, vice-president Christopher R. Evans said he planned to let Farina and other tenants know they could either stay during renovations or return afterwards.