Tenants without heating and hot water for more than a month no longer know where to turn so that their landlord can finally take care of his neglected building in the Lachine borough, in the southwest of Montreal.
“It’s completely inhumane. We bought small heaters, but in February, it won’t be fun,” rages Catherine Hamel.
The 50-year-old woman has lost count of the problems in the 47-unit building where she has lived since May 2022 with her partner, Thomas Shedrick.
The couple will live their second winter without heating.
And, to make matters worse, there has been no hot water either since November 4. In the kitchen, the faucets are broken and the water is leaking so that mold is accumulating under the kitchen sink and the bathroom sink, observed The Journal.
Infested with mice
“It’s infested with rats and mice. Trash is not collected outside in the back. This has been going on for two years. It’s just hell,” says Mr. Shedrick.
The latter does not have the courage to find other accommodation during the holiday season, especially in a housing crisis.
“We got a bargain here, at $800. We are not rich,” adds M.me Hamel.
The kitchen sink faucet is broken, illustrates Thomas Shedrick, exasperated by the problems in his building.
Photo ANOUK LEBEL
However, the building is completely abandoned. In the entrance, the post office boxes are open and their contents are spread out on the ground.
Photo ANOUK LEBEL
There is a putrid smell and the only elevator in the four-story building is out of service.
“It’s been a year since the elevator broke. The heating and hot water have been going on for seven weeks and it’s a recurring problem. We also have cockroaches and bedbugs,” says Vera Nikolajew, who has lived in the building for eight years.
His neighbor Rashid Gizitinov claims to have called the owner at least fifteen times in a month and a half and never received a response.
He will address the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL) on January 15. “I hope it will change something,” he said.
Known to the District
The owner, Thi Lan Nguyen, is a regular at TAL. In total, 174 files have been opened for its building in Lachine since 2013.
The 4-story, 47-unit building located in the Lachine district of Montreal has been abandoned for months.
Photo ANOUK LEBEL
The building also seems well known in the Lachine Borough. Its municipal teams intervened in November 2023, to collect the trash that was overflowing from the containers.
“The owner does not react to the fines sent to him,” wrote Mayor Maja Vodanovic in a Facebook publication.
“It is obvious that the building has deficiencies and will be inspected to force the necessary repairs,” she added in a publication a few days later.
It was not possible to obtain further details from the District, which was closed for the Holidays.
Reached by telephone and at her home, the owner, Thi Lan Nguyen, did not respond to our interview requests.
