Tenants denounce the “nightmare” they have lived for years in an imposing rental complex in Longueuil owned by the real estate giant Hazelview, based in Toronto, which has more than 3,100 apartments in the Montreal area alone. The duty has also noted that more than 4,000 files have been opened at the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL) in less than 10 years by the owners and tenants of the buildings belonging to this company.
Water damage, the presence of mould, faulty heating, repeated water cuts and the triggering of the fire alarm at all hours of the day are among the problems noted by at least five Longueuil tenants of the Port de Mer real estate complex, located a stone’s throw from the Longueuil metro station. It has two buildings totaling 386 apartments. According to TAL documents, the average rent there last year was $1,275.
This real estate complex, built in 1972, has long been considered a prestigious place on the South Shore. However, in recent years, the departures of tenants before the end of their lease are linked for various reasons, which motivates the owners to have recourse to the TAL against their former tenants in order to claim damages rising regularly to several thousand dollars. They thus wish to compensate for the months during which the deserted dwellings remained vacant, as the law authorizes them to do.
323 files have been opened to the TAL since 2013 concerning this real estate complex purchased in 2007 by the investment and property management giant Hazelview, formerly called Timbercreek.
” A nightmare “
“It was a kind of nightmare, all the problems related to water damage that I experienced,” says Pierre-Luc Morissette, who lived for about five years in one of the Port de Mer towers. His rent amounted in 2019 to 1340 dollars per month.
One of the water damage that occurred during the term of his lease in this building “broke his floor”, on which “he cut his foot”, he says in an interview. Exasperated by the building’s lack of maintenance, Mr. Morissette left his apartment in October 2019, several months before the end of his lease. He claims to have signed a written agreement confirming the termination of his lease.
Nearly three years later, Hazelview sued him before the TAL and claimed the sum of 2287 dollars, or nearly two months’ rent. The company claims that this amount was due to it when the tenant left. “I don’t owe them anything,” he replies.
From a legal point of view, the termination of the lease is only effective if it obtains the agreement of the owner, who is otherwise authorized to claim the rents due to him until the end of this contract. A landlord is however under the obligation to provide safe and healthy housing to his tenants, mentions the Civil Code of Quebec.
Ahmedgé Al Rubai recounts a similar situation. In October 2021, he left his accommodation, the lease of which had however been automatically renewed. “Even though I told them several times that I was leaving, they contacted me saying that my lease was renewed and that therefore I would be charged,” explains the former tenant.
The Hazelview company is now asking him for six months’ rent, or $7,184 with costs, to compensate for the losses linked to the fact that this accommodation was not re-let to a new tenant until April 2022. Ahmed Al Rubai, who case with a lawyer in this case, plans in reply to sue the owners for damages, in particular for the water and electricity cuts that he suffered on many occasions while he was living in this building. “It was the worst year of my life,” recalls the former tenant.
Jordan Lee Jérôme-Pitre claims to have lived for several years in an apartment in this building, despite the fact that he faced major mold problems on a daily basis that the owners allegedly “ignored” for years. years, content to repaint the walls to camouflage this problem. “I was sick, I was vomiting because of that”, says the tenant, who was finally relocated to another apartment in the same building, of which he denounces “the maintenance problems”.
Many complaints
In an email to To have to, the City of Longueuil also indicates that 29 requests have been made since 2009 by tenants of this building complex “in connection with the safety” of it, while three others concerned security issues. “To date, four requests are being evaluated,” adds the City by email.
The real estate company, for its part, claims to have invested approximately $14 million over the past seven years to carry out maintenance and repair work in this building complex. “This includes critical work on building infrastructure such as roofs, balconies, garage restoration, fire systems, elevators, electrical and plumbing,” Hazelview’s publicist adds via email.
The heating has not been functional since September in a portion of this building complex due to work of an electrical nature, confirms Hazelview. The company specifies that tenants who are affected by this situation can have access to heaters while waiting for the resumption of heating, scheduled for November 12.
The company also acknowledges that power and water cuts have occurred in recent months due to work in progress, “which can be difficult for residents”. But this work is essential to ensure their safety, she argues.
Massive use of TAL
Hazelview, one of the largest landowners in the country, is headquartered in Toronto, but the company owns 19 buildings in the greater Montreal area. Since 2013, 4,038 files have been opened at the TAL concerning these buildings, which totals 3,109 rental and residential dwellings, according to the count of the To have to. Of the 19 buildings identified, 8 were however acquired by Hazelview after 2013, which means that some court cases were acquired from the former owners of these same apartment towers.
In at least three of the Montreal buildings owned by Hazelview, cases of tenants being sued by the company for leaving their homes before the end of their lease have accumulated by the dozens in recent months. Joined by The dutyformer tenants of two of these buildings indicated that they had left their former accommodation due to nuisances, such as the frequent setting off of the fire alarm and water damage.
“You try to go back to bed at midnight [après avoir été réveillé par une alarme] and at 5 a.m. you have another alarm that wakes you up before you go to work,” says Miguel Quesnel Formenton, who left his apartment last month in a large apartment tower on rue de la Left-handed and owned by Hazelview since 2010.
Hazelview also acknowledges that files concerning its housing often end up before the TAL. However, she notes that “the vast majority” of them are linked to cases of “non-payment of rent” by tenants.