Evicted for renovations: tenants in Verdun saying that’s not the case

MONTREAL (CityNews) – In January tenants of an apartment complex in Verdun received calls from their landlord evicting them for renovations.

After a hard fought battle, only one stands, André Savard, and he wants to serve as an example to know your rights and stand by them.

“They call up everybody, preferably they want to stay by the phone cause when there’s a written trace you know it’s less good for them. So they call up everybody 15 days after buying the building and they tell us they would have to renovate all over that it could be very noisy, there would be no electricity for hours that it would be unbearable and we would have to consider to leave,” Savard explained.

Savard claims he was offered money under the table and told to call the office de l’Habitation de Montreal to advise them that he would no longer be living there.

In order to evict tenants for renovations, rules need to be followed, to which Savard claims they weren’t.

“The first step and the main information would be: do not accept, do not sign anything directly right away. This is very important to understand the intention the landlords project whether its verbal or written and I’m gonna take a moment, a few days, a few weeks to think about it and in the meantime the ideal would be to contact the housing committee,” explained Laurence Delaunoy, Comité d’Action Citoyens Verdun.

After demanding a letter in writing proving that there’s a need for renovations, Savard was given one that he says did not adhere to regulations.

According to Savard, a City of Montreal inspector confirmed no permits were requested for renovations by Gestion Immobiliere Montreal or 12367467 Canada Inc.

He claims this was an excuse to evict tenants and sell the property at a higher price.

“I was aware you know that when an owner buys a building, he’s also buying the obligations that come with it. But that’s why Karim Ouellet, he’s making money because he’s freeing the building of any obligations,” claimed Savard.

According to the Verdun housing committee the tactics used by the landlord are recurrent and widespread.

“Oh my gosh every week we have to face these issues, yeah every week you know as I told you before it could be very different. But yes intimidation, harassment, gestures, this is very common in the process unfortunately, without advising the tenant you take the person by surprise, this is very common to push,” explained Delaunoy.

“The landlord at the time talked about it being unfit for habitation but also spoke about the fact that he would plan to do major repairs so right away I was think this is a [renovation eviction] case.”

CityNews reached out to Gestion Immobilière Montreal for comment but didn’t hear back.

Savard says he wants his story to be a teaching lesson to others in similar situations.

“If I would have any advice to say is that if a new owner calls you, first say to this owner that you need a written trace and that you need some official form exists for any form of renovation because if not it will be easy for him to not renovate, to deny your rights, to let you believe that you have no rights,” explained Savard.