Barely the owner of a new building, the “serial renovicator” Henry Zavriyev threatens to evict about fifteen tenants who do not intend to let it go and leave the dwellings they have occupied, for some, for more than 20 years.
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“I live with my 70 year old mother, my 20 year old daughter and her 6 month old baby. It’s been four generations to replace, who will help us? Even if I accept money to leave, I’m a loser down the line”, drops Marie-Lise Tranquille, who has lived for 21 years in her apartment on rue Poupart, in the Ville-Marie borough, in Montreal.
Two days after the purchase of his building by Henry Zavriyev, Mme Tranquille and his neighbors began to receive visits from the henchmen of the young 29-year-old real estate investor, known for his practices of “renovictions”.
He owns more than 1,000 doors in Quebec and is responsible for hundreds of evictions in seniors’ residences (RPA) such as those of Mont-Carmel, Château Beaurivage and the Seigneurie de Salaberry. In addition to RPAs that he intends to renovate and convert into luxury rental apartments, Zavriyev is also attacking apartment buildings in Saint-Laurent, Anjou, Ville-Marie, Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal.
“In three weeks [un employé de Zavriyev] came to see me three times to encourage me to leave,” says Mr.me Quiet who pays $600 for her 4 1/2.
Since then, she worries daily about receiving a new visit or a call from one of Mr. Zavriyev’s employees.
Same story for his mother, Lise.
“A 4 1/2 in Montreal is $1,500! I don’t even get that amount per month! We are not rich, ”she protests.
The latter also refuses any sum of money from Mr. Zavriyev to push her to leave. The latter would have offered up to $20,000 to certain tenants.
“I don’t want to touch the money that is made on poor people like us,” she added, furious.
Dollars to quit
Mathieu Parizeau-Hamel was also quickly called by an employee of Mr. Zavriyev.
“He asked me directly how much I wanted to leave. Several of us have been called and two out of fifteen neighbors have accepted an offer, ”says the student with a DEP in welding.
Each month, with his roommate, he pays $820 for a 4 1/2. Impossible now to find an apartment at that price in the neighborhood. By doing a quick search, apartments of the same size in the neighborhood do not rent below $1400.
“It would force me to go live with four or five people, and that’s not what I want!” explains the young man of 29 years.
Clara Loiseau / JdeM
Keenan Poloncsak, his wife Maude and their 15-month-old granddaughter Fjord, want to stay in their apartment on rue La Fontaine, Montreal, and are ready to fight against their new landlord who wants to evict them, Henry Zavriyev.
For their part, Keenan Poloncsak and his wife Maude hope to find a way to stay in the 4 1/2 they pay $570 where they have lived for 11 years and which saw the birth of their 15-month-old daughter, Fjord.
“We are not ready to leave, we want to stay in our neighborhood. Anyway, there is nothing or everything is too expensive,” explains the man who says he was able to set up his small bookbinding business thanks to his low rent.
Loss of quality of life
Tenants were also surprised to see decontamination work in their backyard as of March 27.
“It ended up in a two-meter excavation for absolutely nothing. We have a huge hole full of waste that was not there before, no security corridor when it was requested by the Montreal Fire Department, ”explains Maude Poloncsak.
Clara Loiseau / JdeM
The tenants were surprised to see decontamination work in their backyard as of March 27. After being turned over by heavy machinery, the yard has been left in this state for almost a month.
For the tenants, who have seen Henry Zavriyev’s methods used to push his other Montreal tenants out, there is no doubt that this is a technique to push them over the edge.
“They uprooted my entire vegetable garden that I had maintained for three years, without asking. They picked it up with a backhoe,” laments Frédérique, a tenant who has lived there for four years.
After several complaints to the City of Montreal, the court was finally filled with gravel on Friday. According to a tenant, City employees were present to ensure that the work was done.
New rules
Tenants also received an 11-page document listing the 24 new rules they must follow if they renew their lease, The newspaper was able to consult.
In particular, we can read that a tenant with animals will only be able to keep one and only “if he demonstrates by means of a written medical note […] the need to preserve the animal […] for animal therapy reasons.
The tenants however have the right to renew the lease by refusing the new conditions of the landlord. All together, they have also decided to stand so that their new owner does not achieve his ends.
“We know that this is only the beginning, but we will not let it go,” breathes Fabien Collet, who has lived in the building for four years.
Contacted by The newspaperHenry Zavriyev did not answer our questions.