A judge has ordered the demolition of a fire-damaged West Vancouver home after one of the home’s co-owners argued unsuccessfully to save the property.
The 6,000-sq.-ft. waterfront home at 2668 Bellevue Ave. was bought in 2003 by Rosa Donna Este and her mother, Mina Esteghamat‑Ardakan. Este lived in the home until 2015 when a fire caused extensive damage to the structure, according to the Supreme Court of B.C. decision issued Dec. 24.
No one has lived in the house since the fire. It is in a state of disrepair, prompting complaints from neighbours about safety and trespassers. In 2020, the District of West Vancouver council ordered the home demolished.
Este opposed the city’s demolition order. She argued that it is a beautiful house, that the demolition order is invalid, and that she had the legal right to obtain permits to restore the house without her mother’s consent, the judgment states.
Esteghamat‑Ardakan did not oppose the demolition. The judge noted that Esteghamat‑Ardakan had also been in a separate legal battle with her daughter over control of the property.
Este’s ex-husband, Mehran Taherkhani, also fought the demolition, arguing he had a stake in the matter because of divorce proceedings set for trial in 2026.
But Justice Francesca Marzari said many of Este’s arguments had already been ruled on by the court.
The judge found that Este, in her legal battle with her ex, argued in 2013 that her mother was the sole beneficial owner of the house. Then Este sued her mother in 2015, claiming she was the sole beneficial owner of the Bellevue property, not her mother.
“Este wished to design and build a new house on the property using insurance proceeds, but Ms. Esteghamat‑Ardakani did not, refusing to sign an authorization to secure the appropriate building permits,” the judgment said.
While an initial court order was granted allowing Este to act on behalf of Esteghamat‑Ardakani to secure building permits, the B.C. Court of Appeal reversed that decision in 2020.
Este later attempted to secure building permits without her mother’s consent, which the District of West Vancouver rejected. A court upheld the district’s decision that all owners must agree to and participate in the permitting process.
The lack of permits did not stop Este from proceeding with construction in recent years. The court heard Este had gone ahead with demolishing damaged parts of the house and “spared no expense in her efforts in the last year to rebuild it” — including installing a front door worth $10,000.
Este also did not dispute that she had ignored stop-work orders issued by the district.
“When asked whether she went ahead without the permits, she acknowledged doing so, but argued she did so openly and ‘disclosed to them that I’m going to do this,’” the judgment said. It said she argued that permits she sought without her mother’s consent were wrongfully withheld, and that her breach was not an intentional one nor one that broke the law.
Este said if the demolition were to go ahead, she would then have to comply with current building codes and bylaws and would not be able to continue with her previous design nor rebuild the current house without significant modifications.
Marzari wrote that Este’s “objections to the enforcement of the demolition order are an impermissible collateral attack on the existing orders of this court.”
Marzari also found that it would be an abuse of process to allow Este to change her legal position and again make arguments that had already been ruled on in previous legal proceedings.
The judge also found the district was not to blame for any delays Este experienced in seeking building permits, pointing instead to Este’s dispute with her mother as the reason.
The judge ordered the demolition to proceed and banned Este from interfering with stop-work orders or the demolition, from continuing any construction, and from being within 30 metres of the property until the demolition is complete.
The court also ordered Este to pay the district’s legal costs.