2023-04-24 04:00:00
A 79-year-old Montrealer, who dismissed her landlords in court for trying to double her rent, urges tenants to fight for their rights.
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“I am so happy and relieved! It caused me a lot of stress, I had insomnia because she was asking me for $510 more! I mightn’t afford it,” rejoices Judith Wong, who will soon celebrate her 80th birthday.
Established since 1998 on boulevard de l’Acadie, in Montreal, Mme Wong pays $615 for his 4 1/2. For a year, she had been fighting once morest her landlords who were trying to practically double her modest rent, which she had occupied for 25 years.
Due to the illness of the owner of the building, it was his spouse and his daughter who took over management in 2019. They were the ones who opened a file in April 2022 at the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL).
“The landlord is asking the Court to increase the tenant’s rent to $1,125 monthly, alleging that the rent currently paid is preferential rent ($615),” reads the decision rendered in April.
According to the two women who inherited the units, the man who died in May 2021 was improperly managing the building and that is why the rent was so low, compared to similar apartments around.
“Every year, we received a raise of $10. This gentleman took good care of his building: he took care of keeping it clean, he cleared the entrance of snow. He was a good owner,” says Mr.me Wong.
Resale of the building
During the hearing, the owner’s daughter affirmed that “the building will be put up for sale and [que] it is for this reason that the rent adjustment procedures were taken by his mother, ”it is mentioned.
“She escaped saying that and it showed her bad faith,” adds Mme Wong who claims to have offered to pay $25 or even $50 more to avoid going to TAL.
After the decision was rendered, the two landlords had until April 7 to send certain documents to the TAL so that it might set the rent in a reasonable manner.
“But they never sent the documents, so I can continue to pay $615. People have to fight and not give up, ”enthuses the one who is happy to have gone to the end of the process to assert her rights.
Fears remain
Despite the joy of having won this fight once morest his owners, Mme Wong is already preparing to have to fight once more in the next few years.
“If they sell the building, the new owners may want to raise the rent or even ‘renovate’ me. It worries me because you never know what will happen when you are a tenant, ”she adds, explaining that she intends to go to demonstrate in Quebec on Monday to assert the rights of tenants.
In this neighbourhood, which is one of the poorest in Canada, requests for assistance from tenants are reaching peak levels, confirms the community organizer of the Parc-Extension Action Committee, André Trépagnier.
“We have never been so busy. In twelve years, I have never seen that,” he explains.
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