5 times homeowners made headlines

While the rental market continues to boom and it is increasingly difficult to find suitable housing at a reasonable price, some owners are daring to maximize their rental income.

However, tenants are increasingly aware of their rights and some are fighting long battles to assert them.

Here are five situations where homeowners have made headlines.

Unmasked by their Instagram page

As revealed in Le Journal on TuesdayThierry Mailly-Dominique and Justine Audet, two investors in their twenties, will have to pay $14,500 to a Plateau-Mont-Royal tenant evicted in “bad faith”.

While Audet took over Alexie André-Bélisle’s accommodation under the pretext that her father would live there, the evicted tenant discovered on Instagram that the couple’s scheme was nothing more than real estate speculation.

They documented all the renovations on their social networks. Audet’s father only lived in the accommodation for one week a month, for a period of five months.

An increase 3.5 times higher than the average

Marie-Jane Albert, who lives in a 4 1⁄2 in the Saint-Roch district, in Quebec, has saved no less than $2,500 since July 2020 after receiving a $100 rent increase.

Brisco immobilier announced to him in February 2020 that his rent was going from $800 to $902, an increase of 12.5%. The calculation of the rent by the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL) proposed an increase of 3.5% for this type of apartment in Quebec.

She refused the increase, judging that a new floor and the addition of a wardrobe did not justify the increase. The company then offered her a $46 raise, which she also refused.

Since the landlords did not open a rent-fixing file in time, she was able to keep her rent at the original price.

“It’s demanding, but it’s worth opposing landlords who lack scruples and who see access to housing as a business before a human right,” she wrote in a Facebook post after her TAL victory.

Renovate… or move

In February, TVA Nouvelles reported that a Montreal couple faced a heartbreaking choice when the time has come to renew their lease: move or renovate at their expense.

According to the renewal clauses, they will have to pay the bill themselves in the event of problems with electricity or plumbing, among others.

The owner, the Hazout Group, maintains that it is not required to “take care of rental repairs”.

However, several lawyers interviewed by TVA Nouvelles say that it is the owner who is responsible for maintenance and repairs in their buildings.

90 reinstatements at once?

A year ago, residents of 90 housing units at Manoir Lafontaine, across from Parc Lafontaine, received a temporary evacuation notice for work lasting a minimum of seven months.

The 14 floors were to be vacated at the end of June. In exchange, the owner Brandon Shiller offered compensation equivalent to three months’ rent.

Quickly, the tenants mobilized: according to many, it was a pretext to get rid of tenants who did not pay enough rent.

The owner denied this assumption, saying that no one would be evicted.

But the Plateau Mont-Royal Housing Committee saw a very different situation on the ground.

“Many will have to move twice, and not everyone has the energy or the resources for that, says community organizer Cloé Fortin. We know them, these owners, and their goal is to renovate and increase rents.

Two months later, in June, we learned that the eviction would not take place on the scheduled date, since a challenge before the TAL was being organised.

“We accept the work, but we refuse the evictions because we know that Hillpark’s attempt is clearly to make us leave,” explained a resident of the building in an interview with TVA Nouvelles.

Strong arms to scare bad payers

“We are four guys [partenaires d’affaires], including three who do intense gym. We are in the process of building a reputation that is a little bit more tough.”

This was launched during a podcast by the president of Gestion Immobilière Knocka company that owns more than 25 units in Shawinigan, at the end of November.

“Without going into exaggeration either, we want […] that our tenants respect us and that[ils] have a minimum of fear of us,” continues Frédéric Côté.

The coordinator of the InfoLogis Mauricie tenant defense organization, Carol-Ann Côté, denounced the comments made by the young owner in this excerpt which has been viewed more than 25,000 times on TikTok.

She argues that cases of intimidation of landlords against tenants are more and more frequent in Mauricie. Some landlords go so far as to remove the front door of certain dwellings, she denounces.

“We are 20 year olds. No one is fat in our gang. There are more tenants who could scare us than the opposite […] It’s not me, at 5 feet 5 inches, who would scare someone, ”defends the president of the group.

– With information from the Journal de Montréal, TVA Nouvelles and 24 Heures.