Winston and Gisele Peddle turned up on Dec. 1 excited and ready to move into their newly built rental apartment in Langley City.

But when they arrived, they were shocked to find that their new apartment wasn't finished, and they were told that they could "move in" but not sleep there.

"We're hanging in there. We're still pretty well stressed out," said Winston.

He and his wife are both in their 80s, and had three generations of their family with them on the first of the month to help with the move from their old place.

Winston explains that he has COPD, a lung condition, and when the elevator in their older building broke down, they decided to move rather than face the uncertainty of having to climb several floors of stairs.

"This new place was only a block from us," he said.

The new building is the Park Vista Apartments, a 62-unit purpose-built rental project under construction at 56 Avenue and 201A Street.

When the Peddles secured a unit and put down their damage deposit, they were told they could move in on Nov. 1. That was later pushed back to Dec. 1.

When they turned up that day, ready to get their key and with their rent in hand, they were given a letter from a manager with Crossroads Enterprises, the building's owner.

The letter, dated Nov. 29 and addressed to "the new tenants of Park Vista Apartments" said that residents can't fully move in.

"When we changed our opening date from November 1 to December 1, all of the parties involved were confident we could deliver a completed building by that date. I'm truly sorry that we fell short of that," said the letter signed by Crossroads president Micheal Guiel.

It blames labour shortages and "a few unforeseen issues" but said they were still ready to have tenants start moving in on Nov. 30.

Moving in does not mean living in the apartments, however.

"While all safety and fire suppression systems are up and running, we still do not have our final occupancy permit from the City of Langley," the letter said. "What this means to you is that, while you can move into your suite you, technically, are not allowed to sleep there."

In practice the Peddles and their family were told they could move their things into the building but would then have to leave. They were also told to pile their belongings in the middle of the floor because painters were still working in their suite.

"The room was filthy," said Winston.

They got it cleaned up and put most of their belongings in the new apartment.

"There was no heat. The fridge wasn't even working," their daughter Mimi Silva said of the state of the unit.

Silva said they've had difficulty getting back into the building to get items like clothing out, despite the fact that they've supposedly "moved in."

Silva said her parents are now living with her family. This is less than ideal, and she's worried about the impact of her family's three pets on Winston's COPD.

"My father's getting frustrated. We've almost had to take my mother to emergency," Mimi said.

The family is doubtful that they'll be able to move in before mid-December at the earliest. Silva noted that there were a number of other tenants who also tried to move in on Dec. 1, some without local relatives to help them out.

"You don't do this to people in December," Silva said.

The letter from Guiel said that Crossroads was going to only charge new tenants half their December rent.

In an email to the Langley Advance Times, Guiel said Crossroads was sorry for the trouble to their tenants.

"We weren't informed that tenants wouldn't be able to occupy the units until November 28; once we found out about this we started making calls to tenants to make them aware," Guiel said.

He said that tenants with nowhere else to go were being provided suites free of charge at other Crossroads properties.

"We believe that, barring anything unforeseen, we will have occupancy this week and tenants will be able to move in permanently," Guiel said.

Outside the building on Saturday, Dec. 7, the Peddles were skeptical, worried that final approvals from Langley City would take at least another full week. They had come to the building to retrieve some personal items they needed that had been left there since Dec. 1.