Mont-Carmel seniors' residence tenants allege landlord is renting to younger people
Tenants living at the Mont-Carmel seniors' residence in downtown Montreal say they're concerned their landlord is not obeying a July 26 Quebec Superior Court ruling that states the building must primarily house people of a certain age.
They claim the building's management has been renting units to tenants much younger than 65 years old.
"They're young people, there are even children here, and they're all mixed up with us," said resident Constance Vaudrin.
She alleges these new tenants have not been made aware that their home is in the middle of a legal dispute.
"These people are victims, as we are, because they are brought here without knowing where they're landing," she said. "They're not told anything. They're not given any instruction whatsoever on how we function here."
Marie-Paule Lebel, a member of Sauvons le Mont-Carmel, states a register kept by the Quebec Health Ministry indicates seniors represent just 30 per cent of the building's tenants.
"There is good reason to believe that the landlord does not intend to comply with [the court] requirement as he continues to rent to tenants who are significantly younger than 65," she argues.
According to the government documents, 285 people can be housed in the residence, with 85 in the seniors' portion (RPA).
The portrait outlined that in the RPA section, there are no tenants under the age of 65.
It noted that 23 are between the ages of 65 and 74, 33 are 75 to 84 years old, and seven are aged 85 and older, for a total of 63 residents.
The document acknowledged there are 153 units currently rented out in the non-seniors quarters.
Building owner Henry Zavriyev says he was permitted to admit a wider variety of tenants by the regional health authority (CIUSSS), which oversees seniors' residences.
"We said, 'listen, we have crippling vacancy,'" he told CTV News. "So, something's got to give."
LACK OF SERVICES, TENANTS SAY
In addition to an alleged lack of maintenance in the common areas and reduced nursing services, the tenants claim the reception desk remains unstaffed for hours on end or is occupied by a person who also performs other duties.
"The constant presence of a person at the reception desk is an important security measure for us and is part of the services that must be maintained by the owner," said resident Normand Breault.
Zavriyev admits there were staffing issues for a brief period of time, but insists the required services are now being maintained.
"The nurse was always there and the reception is also there," he said. "There will continue to be a reception and nurse 24 hours until there's actually a decision rendered. I know that, as of now, it should be and is fully resolved."
Some of the hallway furniture was removed because of bedbugs and to make way for renovations, he adds.
Nevertheless, the Sauvons le Mont-Carmel committee says it sent a formal notice to the building owner's lawyers on Aug. 4, and has since received an email asking for a face-to-face meeting with their lawyers "to understand the letter better."
"At least three of the tenants involved in the legal proceedings were encouraged by representatives of the owner to leave Mont-Carmel with the offer of monetary compensation," alleges Vaudrin. "Such behaviour is unacceptable, and we demand that the owner cease all forms of harassment towards us."
Zavriyev says these were above-board, casual discussions that were not meant to coerce, but rather express a full range of options to the tenants.
The case is due back in court on Sept. 19.
-- with files from CTV News' Angela Mackenzie.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report. Of the 15 most polluted cities in the two countries, 14 were in Canada.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
WATCH LIVE As former prime minister Mulroney lies in state, public tributes in Ottawa begin
Members of the public who wish to pay tribute to Brian Mulroney can visit his casket in Ottawa starting this afternoon.
BREAKING Roy McMurtry, former Ontario attorney general, dies at 91
CTV News has confirmed that former Ontario attorney general Roy McMurtry has died.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
Images taken deep inside melted Fukushima reactor show damage, but leave many questions unanswered
Images taken by miniature drones from deep inside a badly damaged reactor at the Fukushima nuclear plant show displaced control equipment and misshapen materials but leave many questions unanswered, underscoring the daunting task of decommissioning the plant.
DEVELOPING Canada's annual inflation rate ticked down to 2.8 per cent in February, defying expectations
Statistics Canada says the annual inflation rate edged down to 2.8 per cent in February.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.