A landlord who owns several dozen apartments will ultimately have to pay for having neglected the problems of a young family of tenants who are fed up with living in a house in Rigaud filled with vermin, mold and excrement fumes.
“It’s hell! We would like to leave, but we cannot find another house at this price for three children, two dogs and four cats, ”says Emmanuelle Viens-Juillet in a choked voice, on the verge of tears.
Last week, THE Log visited the house she rents in Rigaud, in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges sector, to see the extent of the damage to her home.
Video Francis Pilon
Rat as big as a cat
According to Mme Viens-Juillet, his exterminator has killed, since 2019, at least 300 mice that lived in his attic.
“In the evening, we hear them in the walls and the ceiling, explains with a grimace the mother of the family. I have already sent a photo of a mouse caught in the house to the owner. He even accused me of having taken it pet shop and put myself in my kitchen.”
Worse still, in February 2022, in her basement, she found a rat the length of a cat, or about a foot long.
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Emmanuelle Viens Juillet has lived for years with the smell of excrement, vermin, mold and many other problems in their unsanitary house.
Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin -
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Emmanuelle Viens Juillet has lived for years with the smell of excrement, vermin, mold and many other problems in their unsanitary house.
Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin -
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Emmanuelle Viens Juillet has lived for years with the smell of excrement, vermin, mold and many other problems in their unsanitary house.
Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin -
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Emmanuelle Viens Juillet has lived for years with the smell of excrement, vermin, mold and many other problems in their unsanitary house.
Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin -
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Emmanuelle Viens Juillet has lived for years with the smell of excrement, vermin, mold and many other problems in their unsanitary house.
Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin -
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Emmanuelle Viens Juillet has lived for years with the smell of excrement, vermin, mold and many other problems in their unsanitary house.
Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin -
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Emmanuelle Viens Juillet has lived for years with the smell of excrement, vermin, mold and many other problems in their unsanitary house.
Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin -
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Emmanuelle Viens Juillet has lived for years with the smell of excrement, vermin, mold and many other problems in their unsanitary house.
Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin -
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Emmanuelle Viens Juillet has lived for years with the smell of excrement, vermin, mold and many other problems in their unsanitary house.
Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin -
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Emmanuelle Viens Juillet has lived for years with the smell of excrement, vermin, mold and many other problems in their unsanitary house.
Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin -
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Emmanuelle Viens Juillet has lived for years with the smell of excrement, vermin, mold and many other problems in their unsanitary house.
Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin -
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Emmanuelle Viens Juillet has lived for years with the smell of excrement, vermin, mold and many other problems in their unsanitary house.
Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin -
“All this gives me insomnia. I had a burnout and a lot of stress. I also worry about the health of my children. But I continue to fight for my rights and for all the tenants who have to confront their negligent landlord, ”denounces the Rigaudienne.
Unsafe and negligent, judge says
The mother of the family has indeed been fighting for years. She first sent, in 2019, a formal notice for her owner, Serge Bédard, to carry out work at her home and repair her house.
She finally won her case last month. Mr. Bédard was sentenced by the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL) to reduce his rent from $1,400 to $1,000 per month, “as long as he has not carried out the work provided for in this decision”.
Video Francis Pilon
In all, he will have to pay her around $15,000 for the damages suffered. “The Court considers that it is neglecting its obligation to provide safe accommodation to the tenant,” reads the judgment.
Unbearable smell of excrement
The owner will also have to change the windows with traces of mold and the balconies of the house at the end of its life. The court also ordered him to plug the holes allowing the vermin to access the dwelling.
The Rigaud family is delighted that the judge requires Serge Bédard to repair the septic tank after so many years of ordeal.
“It smells so much of excrement, we can’t eat or let the children play outside in summer,” laments Emmanuelle Viens-Juillet.
Photo provided by Emmanuelle Viens-Juillet
A rat of about thirty centimeters found by Mrs. Viens-Juillet in her basement.
According to the tenant, her landlord is doing everything to make her leave her apartment and increase the price of her rent to the next occupants. The TAL partially proves him right.
Photo provided by Emmanuelle Viens-Juillet
Traces of mold found in the sockets of the house rented by Emmanuelle Viens-Juillet.
“We cannot therefore conclude, according to the preponderant evidence, to continuous and repeated conduct or to systemic measures in order to restrict the enjoyment of the premises or to obtain the departure of the tenant”, writes the judge.
Photo provided by Emmanuelle Viens-Juillet
Poorly insulated windows in the house rented by the family of Mme Viens-Juillet.
Proprio, warm, in the South
Our representative contacted the owner of this neglected house in Rigaud. Serge Bédard told us that he was on vacation for at least two months in the Dominican Republic.
“Wait a minute, I’m not talking to the Montreal Journal for real there?” launched Mr. Bédard, under the shock of our call made during his stay in the Caribbean.
Photo taken from Serge Bédard’s Facebook
Serge Bédard, owner of the house rented by Emmanuelle Viens-Juillet in Rigaud.
He later alleged that the judgment against him in this case was “bad” and that the facts mentioned by his tenant were lies.
It should be noted that, according to documents consulted by THE Log, Serge Bédard owns dozens of homes in Quebec and Ontario. He owns, among others, the Camping Trans-Canadien de Rigaud.
“She just wants me to spend, and spend, and spend money. […] I don’t know if I’m going to appeal the judgment. I’m still thinking about it,” he said.
Fight not over
Despite this decision by the TAL, the family of Emmanuelle Viens-Juillet is not at the end of its troubles. Serge Bédard sent him a housing repossession notice last December. She will therefore still have to appear in court to contest the takeover.
“It took all my courage to fight this fight. I have seen so many tenants abandon their recourse in judgments. I will continue to fight until the end, but I tell myself that we should have more laws to defend ourselves, ”concludes the mother of three children.