The tenants of Manoir Lafontaine, who refused to be victims of a renoviction, did well to fight. They won their case and will be able to stay in their accommodation, in addition to being at the origin of a legal decision which could help others to assert their rights.
• Read also: Renovictions: the tenants of Manoir Lafontaine in front of the TAL
• Read also: Eviction postponed at Manoir Lafontaine
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“In the current circumstances, with the housing crisis, more and more tenants are defending themselves because they have no choice: it is almost a matter of life or death to defend their accommodation, otherwise they will not ‘will have nowhere to go’, mentioned to the 24 hours Me Alexandre B. Romano, the lawyer who defended the fifteen tenants.
He was pleasantly surprised to receive the judgment of the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL), which has just ruled that it was illegal for the owner of the building to ask the tenants of Manoir Lafontaine to vacate their accommodation for works, mainly because these aimed to change the shape of the dwellings.
The law does not allow tenants to be evacuated for this reason.
Even if the work had been in accordance with the law, the evacuation notice given to the tenants was not because it was “imprecise and incomplete” and did not allow the tenants to fully understand the nature of the work, perhaps we also read in the long decision of about forty pages.
This includes some very incisive passages, notably emphasizing that the landlord (a company owned by real estate investors Brandon Shiller and Jeremy Kornbluth) shows “little consideration” towards “its tenants and their rights”.
The tenants of Manoir Lafontaine quickly became a symbol of the housing crisis in Montreal, after receiving a temporary evacuation notice in the spring of 2021 for work.
Joel Lemay / QMI Agency
For fear of seeing their modest housing transformed into luxury apartments, several of them had hung banners denouncing the situation on their balconies.
As the building of approximately 90 units is located on Papineau Avenue across from the very busy Parc La Fontaine, their struggle did not go unnoticed.
Joel Lemay / QMI Agency
Given the great media coverage of the case, this judgment will show tenants in the same situation that it is possible to win a case and avoid renoviction.
It comes in addition to the already existing jurisprudence in connection with the modifications of dwellings, and is particularly provided with regard to the details which must contain a notice of evacuation for repairs.
This decision could for example be cited on the need to clearly specify the nature of the work in an evacuation notice so that the notice given is understood by the tenant, and not only professionals, explains Me Romano.
About fifteen tenants made it through to the end of the process: dozens preferred to leave before, by signing an agreement with the company that bought the building.
The tenants still on site preferred not to speak to the media for the moment, but said on social networks that they welcomed this judgment in their favor first and foremost as a great relief.
“You will understand that we are currently going through a lot of emotions, but would like to take a few moments to thank you [sic] everyone for the support you have provided and displayed throughout the past year,” says Pascal Lavoie, one of the spokespersons for the cause, on a page in support of the Manoir tenants.
Courtesy
Pascal Lavoie
“But this news is proof that standing up and standing up for these rights is still possible and important to do,” he adds.
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Reference-www.tvanouvelles.ca