Tenants in this Park Ex building say they're being pressured out. Advocates say they're not alone
CBC
After years living in the same apartment on Birnam and St-Roch streets in Montreal's Parc-Extension neighbourhood, several tenants say they feel they're being pressured out of the 14-apartment building.
It started with phone calls, with the landlord urging them to move out.
A few months later, tenants say they were handed a lease renewal letter which changed their situations dramatically.
Heat and hot water would no longer be included and rent would rise at least $60 a month, according to the document CBC has obtained a copy of. Overall, the tenants say they would be paying hundreds more each month.
One tenant, whom CBC is not identifying because she fears being singled out and targeted by the landlord, said she can't afford the changes.
The lease renewal also includes a clause that would penalize the tenant $50 if rent is not paid by the fifth of the month. If the tenant's cheque bounces, they would be penalized an additional $50.
Facing the possibility of being priced out of her apartment, the tenant says she reached out to the neighbourhood housing committee, the Comité d'action de Parc-Extension (CAPE).
André Trépanier, a community organizer at CAPE, says most of the residents of the building are banding together to fight the rent increase. He says they're not the only ones facing what he calls abusive rent hikes and pressure tactics.
Trépanier says in his 12 years working at CAPE, he has never seen so many people facing the same problem.
Some people have to turn to food banks, he says, because after paying their rent, they cannot afford groceries — which have also gotten more expensive.
Many people in Park Ex are extra vulnerable as newcomers to Quebec, still learning English or French and how to navigate the system, said Trépanier.
"If we are not there for these people and if the tenants are not staying together, people will be evicted or people will face major rent increases," he said.
"The law is very complicated even for folks who are born and raised in Canada and have a good understanding of French and English. So imagine a recent newcomer who has to navigate all that," said Manuel Johnson, a lawyer who exclusively represents tenants.
Johnson says landlords are allowed to ask for more money, but they must justify why they are doing so if the tenant asks for that explanation.