With the 2010 Olympics inching closer, so too are anxieties about housing evictions.

Tenants have approached the District of West Vancouver concerned they’ll be kicked out of units while landlords take advantage of lucrative Games rental prices, said Liz Holitzki, West Van’s manager of permits, inspections and bylaws.

West Van council voted in favour of a bylaw change allowing property owners to rent rooms and homes during the Games last week.

Similar to Vancouver, after Aug. 1 West Van homeowners will not be eligible for a licence if a tenant complains they are being evicted to make room for Olympic visitors. But unlike Vancouver, West Van doesn’t have a concerned tenants’ registry, something Vancouver uses to cross reference property owners’ applications. “So far we didn’t look at having an official registrar but our position here is we would always work with (tenants), regardless, to try and resolve (problems),” Holitzki said.

Across Capilano Bridge the city and district of North Vancouver haven’t legalized short-term rentals during the Games.

Councils throughout Greater Vancouver need to take extra precautions to ensure people aren’t displaced, warned Am Jahal, founder of Impact on Community Coalition.

During Expo 86, 1,000 people were evicted from their homes in favour of visitors, he said. Expo ran for six months rather than two weeks, but it doesn’t mean a similar occurrence won’t happen, Jahal said.

“That opportunity for windfall profits tends to mean that people will take whatever steps they can to potentially make a profit and it really violates the human rights of people and their rights to tenancy,” he said.

Although a step ahead of North Van, Vancouver and West Van’s Olympic rental bylaws don’t have strong enforcement mechanisms, he noted.

Mark Szekely, administrator of Rent2010.net, isn’t convinced the market for home and room rentals is as hot as once anticipated.

Currently 1,100 Greater Vancouver properties — 128 from the city and district of North Vancouver and 89 in West Van — are advertised on his site, versus 70 accommodation seeking groups.

“My sense is that there has been active rental activity, but relative to the amount of supply that is out there, the amount of actual rental activity has been quite modest,” he said, adding over a six-month period approximately 15 per cent of property owners found takers through his site.

Visitors are requesting shorter spans of rental than most renters are offering, Szekely noted.

Prices also don’t seem to be matching up. While Vancouverites are asking on average $700 for a two bedroom house per night, visitors are proposing $500, as long as the accommodation is in a prime location.

No matter how big or small the final Olympic rental rush is, tenants should remember they have rights to call on, explained Tom Durning, a senior staff member of the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre.

“You can only be evicted for cause, meaning it has to be for landlord use of property for immediate family or if the property owner sold the condo and wants to move in or do renovations,” he said.

If a tenant discovered they were evicted in bad faith, they can launch a complaint with the residential tenancy branch, he said. Tenants also have the right to dispute any accusations about their conduct, Durning noted.