{"id":1473,"date":"2013-01-30T10:39:37","date_gmt":"2013-01-30T15:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/?p=1473"},"modified":"2013-02-22T10:49:19","modified_gmt":"2013-02-22T15:49:19","slug":"tenants-complain-about-insufficient-heating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/tenants-complain-about-insufficient-heating\/","title":{"rendered":"Tenants Complain about Insufficient Heating"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"4626<\/a>
4626 Grand<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cOften these things aren\u2019t handled by a lawyer, but if the landlord tenant relationship has broken down, then they do,\u201d said Justin Demers, who was volunteering with Arnold Bennett\u2019s tenant clinic at the YMCA last Sunday. \u201cI see two or three cases like this a year, and usually the landlord fixes the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

After complaining to the borough of NDG and the city of Montreal to no avail, tenants went to Bennett\u2019s clinic two Sundays ago to find out what else they could do. Demers recommended that they fill out forms for \u201cspecific performance orders,\u201d but he isn\u2019t happy that they can\u2019t get a solution faster. The rental board hears such requests fairly quickly, but the process could still take two months or more. \u201cThe problem is that anything that has to do with a lease is under the jurisdiction of the rental board,\u201d said Demers. \u201cThe rental board is an administrative court and it takes time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Tenants say they are used to being ignored by their landlord, but the building has gone downhill since last spring. That\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Tenants don\u2019t 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\u2019t have the money to heat the building sufficiently.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. \u201cOften these things aren\u2019t handled by a lawyer, but if the landlord tenant relationship has broken down, then they do,\u201d said Justin Demers, who was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-island-report","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2buQs-nL","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1189,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/questions-about-rights-of-low-income-tenants\/","url_meta":{"origin":1473,"position":0},"title":"OMHM versus Danny Palladini Raises Serious Questions About Rights of Low-Income Tenants","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"July 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The next hearing in the case of Montreal\u2019s municipal housing authority (OMHM) versus Daniel Palladini will take place at 9 a.m. on Monday, July 9. It happens in room 2220 of the D wing at the Quebec Rental Board main office in the Olympic Village, 5199 Sherbrooke Street East. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Island Report"","block_context":{"text":"Island Report","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/island-report\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1219,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/low-income-seniors-get-locked-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":1473,"position":1},"title":"Low Income Seniors Get Locked Up","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"October 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"After weeks of complaining about bug infestations and smells, seniors in public housing have been informed that they\u2019ll be getting new locks for their doors. Staff from the Office municipal d\u2019habitation de Montreal (OMHM) met with tenants at 720 and 760 Gamelin in early and mid-September to tell them about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LaSalle"","block_context":{"text":"LaSalle","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/lasalleposts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1512,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/two-tier-justice-at-the-rental-board\/","url_meta":{"origin":1473,"position":2},"title":"Two Tier Justice at the Rental Board","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"March 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Property owners can evict troublesome tenants in three months or so, and yet it takes two years or more to force negligent landlords to make repairs or heat apartments properly. So found two community groups\u2014Project Genesis and POPIR-Comit\u00e9\u2014after examining 14 years of rental board annual reports and conducting an access\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cultural Identity"","block_context":{"text":"Cultural Identity","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/cultural-identity\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"slomodemo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/slomodemo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1222,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/vulnerable-tenants-evicted\/","url_meta":{"origin":1473,"position":3},"title":"Vulnerable Tenants Evicted under Questionable Circumstances","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"October 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A recent study by the Suburban discovered that the OMHM regularly tries to evict tenants for less than $300, while others owe thousands of dollars before being brought to the rental board. It\u2019s not clear why some tenants get more time to settle their debts than others, but the practice\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Journalism"","block_context":{"text":"Journalism","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/writing\/notable-nonfiction\/journalism\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1148,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/who-decides-for-seniors-living-in-low-income-housing\/","url_meta":{"origin":1473,"position":4},"title":"Who Decides for Seniors Living in Low-Income Housing?","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"August 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 Fifty of the hundred seniors living at 760 Gamelin have signed a petition in favour of reinstating their tenants\u2019 association, but a spokesperson for the low-income housing authority that runs their building says their request will be refused. \u201cThey can work in collaboration with us, but they can\u2019t\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LaSalle"","block_context":{"text":"LaSalle","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/lasalleposts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/760chuteAug2011.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1163,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/wo-day-eviction\/","url_meta":{"origin":1473,"position":5},"title":"Two-Day Eviction for Low-Income Senior","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"December 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Lasalle\u2014On Monday, November 28, one of the tenants in the low-income seniors building at 760 Gamelin came home to find an envelope attached the door handle with an elastic band. Inside was a one-page eviction notice in French requiring the apartment to be fully vacant by the end of today\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LaSalle"","block_context":{"text":"LaSalle","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/lasalleposts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1473\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}