Pierrefonds landlord questions rights

BY ELYSE AMEND

elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca

When he bought a duplex in Pierrefonds two years ago, Wojciech Rocki never thought he would see anything like this.

Wanting to make sure his two daughters would have a place to live once they moved away from home, Rocki, 55, decided to purchase the property in 2005 rent out the two units of the duplex in the meantime.

“I thought it was a good opportunity to purchase now and keep it for the kids,” said Rocki, who works as an aircraft technician in Dorval.

Since a new tenant moved into the downstairs apartment about three and a half months ago, however, Rocki has doubted the decision.

He said the tiles in the kitchen have all been ripped out; there are piles of garbage that continue to grow outside; neighbours are complaining about things going missing from their balconies and backyards. On top of it all, Rocki says he has not received even one month’s rent since June.

“In the beginning, when you see a woman in her 50s, well dressed and clean, I didn’t have any doubts,” he said about the tenant. “But now, it’s a burden. Not only for me, but the neighbours as well.”

Rocki has taken the tenant to the Régie du logement, Quebec’s rental board, which ruled in his favour on Sept. 8. But with the process taking several months, Rocki has lost money with missed rent and repairs he, as a landlord, must cover. “It’s very frustrating,” he said.

Pierrefonds resident Gary Laxton, owner of a 150-unit apartment complex in LaSalle says missed rent, damages made by the tenants, and people leaving their apartments without any notice are some of the major problems he has experienced with the property. With the laws focused on tenant rights, and not on the landlords, getting a quick and fair resolve at the Régie du logement can be very difficult, Laxton said.

“They (the tenants) do the damages, and then we have 10 days to fix it, and we pay for it. Otherwise, they can withhold rent. That I don’t get,” Laxton said. “All the money is in everyone’s pockets, except ours. And in the meantime, we’ve lost rent, we’ve lost time. We could have rented the apartment to someone else.”

Jean-Pierre Le Blanc, spokesman for the Régie du logement, refutes the idea that tenants in Quebec have more rights than landlords do.

“It’s a false impression. The majority of the cases we hear are ones involving landlords seeking rent that has not been paid” Le Blanc said, adding rulings in such cases

usually take about one month. “We do need to have laws to make sure landlords can’t do whatever they want, though, like kicking someone out because they don’t like the way they look or raising rent too much. We try to promote a harmonious relationship between tenants and landlords.”

The Régie du logement’s mandate is twofold, Le Blanc explained: one, to provide rulings in the cases they hear, and two, to give both tenants and landlords the information they need.

“They have rights, sometimes more than they think,” he said, adding the Régie du logement’s website www.rdl.gouv.qc.ca) or information officers are the best places to find out more.

While Rocki had spoken to Régie du logement representatives about his rights and obligations as a landlord before renting out the duplex, he said from now on he will

do more homework, in light of his current situation.

“This is a big lesson for me. It’s changed my perspective towards honesty,” Rocki said. “From now on, I’m going to be more careful to choose the right tenant. No matter what, you always have good people and bad people.”