At a time when real estate speculation is wreaking havoc in Montreal and elsewhere in Quebec, many works carried out in buildings without the required permits remain unpunished. In one of the largest boroughs of the metropolis, only one complaint in twenty in this regard has led to a fine in recent years, we learned The duty.
As part of this report, The duty contacted all of Montreal’s boroughs, as well as the cities of Longueuil and Laval, to obtain the number of complaints received and fines issued annually since 2014, concerning renovation or construction work on housing carried out without a permit. Almost all of Montreal’s boroughs declined this request for access to information, as did the City of Laval.
The borough of Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension provided data on requests received for work without a permit that occurred in all types of buildings, residential and commercial, since it is “impossible for our systems to output the information as requested for complaints concerning only housing,” it said by email.
The response obtained nevertheless allows us to note that 286 complaints have been made annually, since 2014, by residents who had noticed that work without a permit was underway in a building in the borough. However, these complaints have led to the issuance of barely 16 fines on average annually, in the last decade, shows the analysis of the Duty.
“There is a tendency at the borough level not to go as far as issuing a fine. They will try to engage in a process with the owner until they obtain an out-of-court resolution with him,” notes Céline Camus, community organizer with the Villeray Tenants Association. Other calls from tenants concerned about illegal work being carried out in their neighbourhood have not received any response from the borough, she laments.
“On June 25, I called the borough’s permit department. I was told I would get a call back, but so far, I haven’t heard back,” says Christopher Lessard, who suspects that the owner of the 22-unit building where he lives, a few blocks from Jarry Park, is carrying out work for which he did not obtain the required authorizations. “It’s the far west ” says the tenant, who feels helpless in the face of this situation.
By email, the borough assures that each construction site that is the subject of a report is “systematically” visited by one of the borough’s building inspectors. The latter specifies, however, that maintenance work and certain renovations do not require a permit. Owners who circumvent municipal regulations are asked to pause the construction site in question while they obtain a permit. It is only if they contravene this ordinance that owners will receive a fine, hence the low number of reports issued annually for work without a permit, explains the borough.
In the City of Longueuil, an average of 72 complaints for work without a permit in homes have been recorded each year since 2018, while 8 fines amounting to a few thousand dollars each are handed out annually for this reason. “It is important to note that complaints for work without a permit can also turn out to be unfounded after verification,” the City reminds us.
Threat of prosecution
The Ville-Marie borough, for its part, issued a “cease work order” on June 19 to the owner of an 84-unit building on rue du Fort, which was acquired by a company owned by Henry Zavriyev last December for $16.8 million. A borough inspector issued the order after finding that work without a permit was being carried out in the 15-storey building, several of whose tenants have vacated the premises in recent months.
However, this order has not been respected, notes tenant Awatif Mahdi, who claims that “despite the restriction, work continues” in this building. The mother feels “psychologically pushed” by her landlord to leave.
“We have not received an order to stop work from the City. The City has given us a deadline to apply for a permit and is allowing us to continue work until then,” Henry Zavriyev said by email, contradicting the information provided by the borough.
Relaunched by The dutythe Ville-Marie borough confirms that the “majority of the minor work” carried out in this building “does not require a permit”. “However, work to add partitions in some dwellings has also been continued and these require a permit to be obtained beforehand”, which Mr. Zavriyev failed to obtain. The borough is therefore asking him to stop this work.
“Failure to comply with the notice may result in legal proceedings being brought against the owner without further notice or delay, for each day of violation,” the borough said in an email sent to Duty The 4th of July.
Henry Zavriyev, for his part, denies having subdivided housing in this building.