'I'm exhausted': NDG father still dealing with mice problem after landlord's repairs

A father in NDG is exhausted and at wit's end after his apartment is infested with mice.

One of his children has cancer and his leaking ceiling that was finally fixed just two weeks ago is leaking again.

Adil El-abbar has had enough of the water pouring through his bathroom ceiling — a ceiling that was supposedly fixed just two weeks ago.

"I'm exhausted," says El-abbar. "We've been living with this problem for a long time."

CTV News first reported on this apartment last month after the hole opened up in his bathroom ceiling in April. The ceiling collapsed after his neighbour's shower started leaking. He said debris came crashing into the bathtub and mice were coming through the hole.

It's a major concern because his three-year-old has leukemia and her immune system is weak.

"It's inhumane," he says. "We can't continue like this."

The owner of the building on Walkley Avenue in NDG sent a plumber and the hole was patched but El-abbar believes the work was not done properly because this week the leak started again.

"This proves that the problem wasn't really solved," El-abbar said.

He's worried the ceiling will cave in and fall on one of his four young children. He says he texted his landlord videos of the leak asking him to repair it but he never replied.

Reached by phone, he told CTV News that he will be sending someone.

"He has a legal responsibility to take care of his property," said Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough city councillor Despina Sourias of the landlord.

Sourias says the city will be increasing the pressure on the landlord to fix the problem properly, adding they can go as far as putting a lien on the building.

"We're going to do whatever we can to push him to do it and if he can't, we will be doing the work ourselves," she said.

City inspectors have already been to El-abbar's unit and Sourias says they will soon check each apartment for mice.

"It depends what has to be done. But the idea is to try to do whatever needs to be done with the people in place," the councillor said.

El-abbar says he isn't sleeping. He says either the landlord or the city has to step in and fix the problem so his family can live in a safe and healthy home.