[PHOTOS] Infested with fungus and mold: her owner has deprived her of her accommodation for… two years

An Estrie owner was ordered to pay $26,000 to his tenant because he refused to decontaminate his home, which had been devoured for two years by fungi, mold and insects.

• Also read: Around twenty false documents filed in court to force rent increases

“I’m really discouraged. He does everything to kick us out. My home is moldy to the point where we can’t even breathe the air because it stinks,” sighs Ginette Laramée, 62 years old.

The Journal went on Monday to his apartment in Farnham, located in the basement of a building on rue Laguë. Ms. Laramée deserted her home in August 2022, which was declared “unsanitary” and “dilapidated” by the authorities due to a flood. The tenant decided to sue her owner, Guy Poulin, since he disdains to adequately decontaminate the premises.

“His negligence, his carelessness and his carelessness as an owner caused the accommodation to become unfit for habitation and constituted a risk to the health and safety of the tenant, which was recognized several months later by the Management of public health in Quebec,” criticizes judge Serge Adam.

Too expensive, according to him

In his recent decision rendered to the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL), we learned that Poulin, 89, cut corners by carrying out work on his tenant’s home.

“He refused and still refuses to provide public health with a document attesting that corrective work was carried out by a specialized company in order to decontaminate the housing concerned and the corridor impacted by this flood, as the latter requested,” reveals the document. of court.

And why did this owner not submit the said document allowing Ginette Laramée to return to her apartment without endangering her health? “The cost of such a certificate is too high,” retorted the octogenarian when questioned by the judge.

Magistrate Serge Adam finally ordered Guy Poulin to pay nearly $26,000 to his tenant for the damages suffered and the rent overpaid following the abandonment of his home. The court also granted him 60 days to provide public health with a document attesting to the decontamination of the premises.

See a report where tenants of Guy Poulin complain about the unsanitary conditions of his building in 2022:

Not out of the woods

Ginette Laramée, forced to live with a friend, now fears that her owner will never make the renovations required by the TAL.

“He doesn’t care! He has already filed a challenge to overturn the judgment. It’s time for our politicians to wake up and tighten the screws on owners like him,” thunders the sixty-year-old, out of breath.

Guy Poulin confirmed to our representative that he plans to appeal the TAL’s decision. He assures that he carried out the work at his tenant’s house in due form.

“She didn’t want to cooperate with us and wouldn’t let us do the work at the start of the incident,” says the owner, who says he has an excellent reputation in Farnham. I would live in the tenant’s accommodation without any problem. The apartment is healthy.”