A Cry from the Heart: Debunking the Demonization of Property Owners in Montreal’s Villeray District

2023-07-01 22:14:00

The owner of a quintuplex in the Villeray district, in Montreal, launched a cry from the heart in the face of the ambient discourse which aims to demonize the owners.

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In an interview with TVA Nouvelles, Mathieu Gomez explained why he believes that this type of speech harms the tenants themselves.

“The general narrative is very hostile towards the owners. Often, it is a good omen to say that the owners are mean and that they want to exploit people,” laments the owner.

“It sets in motion a dynamic that will lead us to small owners, like us, selling it and it’s going to be bought up by big companies who really have no scruples and will manage it for pure profit,” adds- he.

According to Mathieu Gomez, the image of the mean owner is overrated and above all, does not apply to everyone.

“There are bad tenants and bad landlords,” he sums up.

Mr. Gomez is also of the opinion that small landlords are often more humane in their relationship with their tenants and help to curb the rise in rents.

“As a small landlord, you build a relationship with your tenants. We, there’s one that’s been there for 30 years; we know her very well, ”says Mathieu Gomez.

Mr. Gomez also deplored the current situation on Twitter. In his publication, the owner had issued this warning: “we have to stop portraying the owners as the bad guys of the story because soon it will really only be the bad guys who are going to be the owners.”

The latter also indicated that he had experienced an ordeal because of a tenant who ransacked his accommodation, in addition to disturbing the other residents of the block.

After repeated attempts to get the tenant to change his behavior, Mathieu Gomez went to the Régie du logement, where he believes he was entitled to unfair treatment vis-à-vis the problematic tenant.

“The general spirit was that we, everything we say is a lie and you have to prove it with a semicolon,” says the owner.

“The owner has the burden of proof; the tenant is considered a victim at the outset. That’s the impression it gave me,” he added.

Believing that “the tenants have the big end of the stick”, Mathieu Gomez emerged embittered from this experience.

“When I felt from there, we felt absolutely not supported by the management, we felt that we were being treated like criminals,” he says.

The problems did not stop there, since the tenant in question, who had consented to leave the accommodation, finally changed his mind and continued to cause problems for Mathieu Gomez and the other residents of the block.

“As long as a tenant decides they’re giving you a hard time, there’s pretty much nothing you can do. We were hostages of this person for years, ”claims the owner.

To see the full interview, watch the video above.


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