After weeks of suffering in the cold, some of the tenants from the 13 apartments in the circa-1939 building at 4625 Grand Blvd. in NDG are speaking to a lawyer.
“Often these things aren’t handled by a lawyer, but if the landlord tenant relationship has broken down, then they do,” said Justin Demers, who was volunteering with Arnold Bennett’s tenant clinic at the YMCA last Sunday. “I see two or three cases like this a year, and usually the landlord fixes the problem.”
One of the tenants has a bladder problem and has complained about low winter temperatures since 2010; but this year, people throughout the building are uncomfortably chilled. During the frigid temperatures last week, conditions were almost intolerable. Last Thursday night, a thermometer placed at the warmest spot a reporter could find in one apartment indicated only 16% Celsius. The rest of the apartment was considerably colder.
After complaining to the borough of NDG and the city of Montreal to no avail, tenants went to Bennett’s clinic two Sundays ago to find out what else they could do. Demers recommended that they fill out forms for “specific performance orders,” but he isn’t happy that they can’t get a solution faster. The rental board hears such requests fairly quickly, but the process could still take two months or more. “The problem is that anything that has to do with a lease is under the jurisdiction of the rental board,” said Demers. “The rental board is an administrative court and it takes time.”
Meanwhile, another tenant has also visited the local fire department with photos of sheets of gyprock blocking the hallway. A fire inspector will visit the building sometime this week.
Tenants say they are used to being ignored by their landlord, but the building has gone downhill since last spring. That’s when Marialex got the right to divide two buildings, 4625 Grand and 4645 Grand, from one another. The move was the first step necessary for turning 4645 Grand into an undivided proprietorship. The March 2012 decision rendered by rental board commissioners Claudine Novello and Daniel Laflamme appears under number 31 111123 027 W.
Tenants don’t know whether the owners are now trying to get them to move out so that they can sell parts of 4625 Grand as well, or if they just don’t have the money to heat the building sufficiently.
Nicolas John Kallis, the owner of Les Investissements Marialiex Investments Ltd. might know the status of the building. Or Bruce Robertson, the owner of 2765853 Canada Inc., which co-owns a company called Marialex et Jumeaux (Marialex and Twins) Ltd. with Kallis. Robertson has told tenants that he is one of the owners of the property. Neither person returned calls.
