The services offered at the private residence for seniors (RPA) Mont-Carmel are crumbling and several tenants of the building have chosen to leave the premises at the end of their lease. However, some residents are clinging on and intend to campaign to the end for their right to remain in the premises.
The duty was treated to a guided tour on Saturday of this RPA located on René-Lévesque Boulevard, in downtown Montreal, by some of the members of the residents’ committee which has taken shape in recent months to protect the vocation of it. Certified RPA was acquired for $40 million by 28-year-old developer Henry Zavriyev in mid-December 2021. After purchasing this 216-unit rental building, the real estate investor served an eviction notice to its tenants by warning them that this building will be subject to a change of vocation in order to become a standard rental complex.
Since then, nearly sixty residents have opened a file with the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL) in February to oppose the change of use of their accommodation, since it would lead to the end of the various special services offered in a RPA, such as nursing care and the presence of panic buttons in the rooms. An originating application was also filed in the Superior Court of Quebec at the beginning of April asking that this 16-storey building maintain the services it offers as an RPA, as provided for in the signed deed of sale. by Mr. Zavriyev. This approach had the effect of suspending the files opened at the TAL in this case last month.
The change of assignment was originally scheduled for August 1, but this appeal to the Superior Court should have the effect, initially, of delaying this process. Mr. Zavriyev also responded by going to this same court to try to convince it to decline jurisdiction over this case, which would rather fall under the TAL, according to him. A hearing before the Superior Court is scheduled for September 19 in this case.
Fewer services
However, while this legal battle continues, residents claim that the services offered to them within this building are already crumbling. The duty was notably able to observe during his on-site visit that the chairs which were at the entrance – except for one – were removed and placed in a locked room where they were piled up one on top of the other. These chairs are however essential for the elderly who wait before taking a taxi or even adapted transport, underline the residents met.
“It’s terrible harassment,” says Marie-Paule Lebel, who has lived in this building for three years, while she showed the premises to the To have to in the presence of other residents. In another room, which serves as the entrance to the building’s swimming pool, the table and chairs that were there were also removed. “It’s like an apartment getting ready to move,” says Ms. Lebel.
The management in place in this building since the beginning of the year would also have asked in the last days to the nursing assistants who work in this building to respond only to the urgent needs of the tenants, as provided for in a clause of the lease of these this. These health workers were used to taking pressure from residents, giving them injections or even administering eye drops, which they are no longer authorized to do, according to testimonies collected on site.
“It was another straw that broke our camel’s back,” says Suzanne Loiselle, who qualifies this application to the letter of her lease by the building managers as “completely ridiculous”.
“We want to fight to the end to unmask these people, who have an odious relationship with seniors, who flout the rights of seniors, who create anxiety and mistreat them. For me, it’s elder abuse, ”she insists with a look of defiance.
Members of the residents’ committee have also knocked on all the doors of the building to raise awareness among its tenants and hear from them. This approach has enabled them to observe that approximately half of the dwellings will be emptied at the end of the lease of their tenants, who have made the decision to leave the premises.
“There is an accumulation of everyday things that exasperate people,” notes Ms. Loiselle, who is therefore not surprised that several tenants have chosen to leave this residence.
The duty tried to reach one of the building managers on Saturday, to no avail. Mr. Zavriyev’s lawyers for their part refused to comment on this case because of the proceedings underway at the TAL and before the Superior Court.
“Maintaining the status quo”
For the moment, no new legal proceedings have been initiated in connection with this alleged drop in services. One of the lawyers who represent the residents of Mont-Carmel, Julien Delangie, mentions however that a request for authorization of safeguard could be filed in an attempt to force the RPA to “maintain the status quo” on the services it offers the time for the Superior Court to decide on the merits of this case.
Joined by Le Devoir, the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal for its part indicated that its “courses of action” are “limited” to support the residents of Mont-Carmel given that this RPA “will change vocation over the next few months”.
The office of the Minister of Seniors and Caregivers, Marguerite Blais, recalls for its part that the legislation was revised last April in order to better regulate the changes in vocation of RPAs and thus limit the impact on their residents. The Legault government’s Bill 37 provides for its part new guidelines concerning rent increases that may occur on the sidelines of the change of assignment of an RPA in order to take into account, among other things, the costs associated with the services offered by those -this.