Being lucky in their misfortune is a bit like what happened to the three tenants of the triplex in the Saint-Henri district that partially collapsed on August 26. The residents were at work, avoiding the worst. More than a week after the tragedy, they are trying to recover from their emotions and deplore a lack of communication from the City of Montreal.
Martin Emery and his partner, Dean Eckmann, had lived in the building on Rue Cazelais for 10 years. A friend alerted them to the incident after seeing a photo of the ruined building on social media. The two men rushed to the scene.
“I was overwhelmed with emotion [en arrivant sur place]Dean said. I sat down on the ground because I was about to pass out.” He asked firefighters for water. As soon as he regained his senses, a police officer asked him to move away from the security perimeter. “The neighbors offered me something to eat, a beer and water.”
There was no Red Cross or social worker in sight, he explains. A building inspector from the city eventually showed up to liaise with the Red Cross, which pays for three nights of hotel accommodation in the event of a disaster. With a tight network, Dean and Martin instead spent the night with friends.
A “very vague” path forward
That same evening, they received an email from the South-West borough. “It was to tell us that the building was too damaged [pour y demeurer]but which still specified that we still had our lease with our landlord despite the fact that our accommodation was no longer habitable,” says Martin.
“This is the only contact we had with the City. No one was there to [expliquer] “What happens” in such circumstances, Dean laments, feeling left to his own devices. “It’s all very, very vague and there’s no one who has any answers.”
“We tried several times to contact the TAL [Tribunal administratif du logement] and the POPIR [Projet d’organisation populaire, d’information et de regroupement, un organisme d’aide juridique pour les locataires]but we were never able to get in touch with anyone. No one referred us to an agent or a contact person either,” Martin adds.
The South-West district clarified to the Duty by email that in such situations, three types of support are possible: by the owner, by the Red Cross and, in certain circumstances, by the Montreal Municipal Housing Office.
“In the case of the building on Cazelais, all the tenants of the affected buildings have been relocated either by the owner or by the Red Cross,” the district specifies. “The rest is a matter of private law between the owners. This is why the insurance companies involved are taking over.”
More than a week after the collapse, the couple has moved into a temporary apartment. They are also hopeful that they will sign a lease on a new place, but with a higher rent than they were paying before. In the meantime, they were able to confirm with their landlord that they would not have to pay rent in September. Which should have been obvious, according to them, since what was left of the building was demolished last Tuesday. They were unable to salvage anything from the rubble.
Dean and Martin were also able to get an appointment with POPIR on Thursday. They hope to find answers to the many questions that remain unanswered, particularly regarding their obligations under their old lease.
The TAL declined to comment on this specific case, but indicated in an email to Duty “that a disaster that causes the total or substantial destruction of a dwelling results in the termination of the lease. The parties are then released from their respective rights and obligations. Where applicable, the tenant must relocate by his own means and at his own expense, and the lessor is not obliged to rebuild the building. If the rental property is rebuilt, the owner is not obliged to grant a lease to the former tenant.”
Causes to be determined
Beyond the legal considerations, seeing your life fall apart involves exorbitant costs. Clothing, furniture, kitchen accessories: everything has to be redone. A crowdfunding campaign launched by a friend raised nearly $22,000 to help the couple. “Friends and family really knew how to lift our spirits despite everything. The words of encouragement, the moral support, the accommodation, the food… We were really pampered by those around us,” adds Martin.
Another crowdfunding campaign that raised nearly $3,000 was organized by a neighbor to help them, as well as Nongyao Truadmakkha, the tenant of the apartment at 3e floor of the building (the last unit in the building was vacant). After three days in a hotel at the owner’s expense, she is now paying out of pocket. She is looking for a new apartment, but expects to pay much more rent than her previous one.
“I haven’t received any help from the city,” she laments, eight days after the collapse. She watched the demolition on Tuesday, sadly watching her last belongings being crushed under a mechanical shovel.
For the moment, the causes of the collapse have not been established. However, a building was under construction on the adjacent land and the foundation was being built. The Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST) is investigating the possible link between the construction site and the collapse, but it is too early to establish the causes beyond any doubt, explains spokesperson Nicolas Bégin.
The Montreal Fire Department confirms that it responded to a structural collapse, but is unable to comment on the causes of the accident.