A couple of real estate investors in their mid-twenties with big ambitions were recently ordered by the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL) to hand over more than $14,000 to a former tenant who was the victim of a “bad faith” repossession. to Montreal. The owners claim to have learned lessons from this judgment, but housing lawyers doubt it.
Alexie André-Bélisle, a journalist at Radio-Canada, had been living in a 2 ½ apartment in the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough for seven years when she received a housing repossession notices from recent buyers of the three-unit building where she was staying. The two buyers are Justine Audet and Thierry Mailly-Dominique, both in their mid-twenties.
In order to obtain the departure of the tenant against a financial compensation agreement in February 2021, the new owners justified the repossession of this dwelling and another adjacent to the same floor of the building by the desire to house the father of Ms. Audet, whose parents are real estate developers themselves. However, both on social networks and in a newspaper interview Subway held in November 2021, the couple of investors openly expressed their interest in renovating this building to increase its resale value.
“For all the people who have been following us on Instagram for a while now, you know that we bought a triplex a year ago now, in which we are renovating the apartments in order to optimize our rents and increase the value of our building”, indicated the couple in particular on June 30 in a publication on their Facebook page “Our renovation projects”, which was deleted on Tuesday. The couple’s Instagram account went private during the day on Tuesday.
This “completely renovated” building built in 1910 is currently on sale for 1,349,900 dollars on various platforms, noted The duty. The owners thus expect to make resale profits valued at “about $300,000”, indicates a recent decision by the TAL.
Ms. André-Bélisle for her part was forced to relocate to an apartment “a little bigger, but located in another district”, specifies the judgment dated March 17. His rent has also increased by nearly 200 dollars compared to his former accommodation to reach 1050$ per month.
A recovery “in bad faith”
At the end of her research, Alexie André-Bélisle decided on January 10 to start a lawsuit before the TAL against her former owners, whom she accused of having repossessed housing “in bad faith” for the purpose of “property speculation”. According to her, Ms. Audet’s father “did not live” in her accommodation, seeing it rather as “a pretext to evict her for monetary purposes”.
The journalist, who was not represented by a lawyer, then claimed financial compensation totaling 14,438 dollars, including nearly 10,000 dollars for having been the victim of a fraudulent maneuver. The court granted him the entire sum, the latter “cannot grant more than the sum claimed”, notes the decision.
Before administrative judge Karine Morin, the tenant, who was unable to grant an interview to the Homework because of his job as a journalist, also shared the many times his former home was rented out on the Airbnb short-term rental platform. The monthly rental income generated by renting accommodation on this site has also fluctuated between 1,500 and 2,750 dollars, the owners themselves admitted.
The latter, however, assured before the TAL that Ms. Audet’s father “really temporarily lived in the accommodation”, where he went “sporadically”. Arguments that obviously did not convince the judge, who agreed with the former tenant all along the line.
In an email to Homework, the couple assured in writing that they had “always acted with kindness” and “respect” towards their tenants. The couple also assures that they will “respect” the decision of judge Morin. “We are sorry for the turn that events have taken and will learn from this experience. [afin d’améliorer] our way of doing things”, add the two investors.
“Despite the court judgment, they will continue [à effectuer des reprises de logement de mauvaise foi]. I can guarantee it, ”launched in an interview the lawyer specializing in housing law Kimmyanne Brown, of the firm DDC Legal, after consulting this judgment.
The vast majority of cases that come to the attorney’s attention these days, “these are repossessions and it’s very rare that repossessions are founded,” Ms. Brown blurts out.
The spokesperson for the Popular Action Front in Urban Redevelopment, Véronique Laflamme, also affirms that the metropolitan housing committees “receive more and more calls from tenants struggling with fraudulent eviction attempts and repossession under false motives, often from new owners wanting to make as much profit as possible”.
The office of Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Andrée Laforest will comment later today.
Other projects
The two investors also acquired last summer a three-storey, six-unit income building located in the borough of Ville-Marie, noted The duty. Several tenants lived in this building at the time of the sale, according to the real estate broker who sold this building to the couple. The latter, moreover, confirmed to the Homework that the two investors took advantage of this purchase and the departure of certain tenants to carry out renovation work in the building.
The lawyer specializing in housing law Antoine Morneau-Sénéchal is also not surprised that this lawsuit before the TAL has not calmed the ardor of the couple of investors. “It may seem like a big amount, $14,000, but when you think of the owners’ profit margin, it’s not a big compensation,” says the man who is calling for an increase in the compensation paid by the TAL in this type of case.
Véronique Laflamme believes that a TAL decision should be mandatory in cases of housing repossessions or evictions. Quebec could also provide for “an automatic inspection” one year after a decision has been rendered in the matter, she claims.