At the end of last year, several tenants in small apartment buildings around Halifax received similar letters from their new owner, stating that their leases would soon be over. But no reasons were given.
This did not sit well with Amanda Rose, who has been renting her apartment in a room at the north of the city for almost six years.
“It seemed target,” Rose said in a recent interview in his apartment in Cunard Street. “It seemed that I was aimed at the tenants who had been here longer and were paying the lowest amount in rent.”
Rose knew that four people in her eight -units building had received the letter.
When he called some doors, he found the tenants in four other buildings recently bought by the same owner, Prol Property Management, they also faced eviction attempts.
Rose said they started communicating in an email chain and offering information and support to others in “precarious housing situations.”
Some challenged the legality of the letters, which were removed by the owner. Then came renewal attempts for Rose and others.
Six months later, Rose still lives in her unit, fighting her renewal. A residential tenure officer ruled in his favor in May, saying that renewal did not seem to be in good faith.
But his lessor appealed the decision before small claims courts. A new audience will occur in the coming months.
“When fighting these renovations, it is not just something that I am doing because it is the best for my interest and allows me to have that safe, stable and safe house, but it is also to protect housing right for all my neighbors too,” he said.
Sydnee Blum, a community legal worker with Dalhouse’s legal aid service in Halifax, said he represents one of the tenants in the appeal. Blum estimates that up to 24 tenants of the pre -properties administration are affected.
“When it is happening to multiple buildings at the same time, that is, for us, part of a systematized effort to evict long -term tenants, make cosmetic updates in a building and then rent them by higher rentals,” Blum said.
“And this is what we see in the classical renewal, or flipped for apartments.”
The Registry of Joint Actions of New Scotland shows the director, president and Secretary of Property Administration Prol Mitchell Hollowan, whose commercial address appears in Halifax.
Property records show that Hollhan has at least 21 properties under its own name and under several numbered companies.
Hollohan did not respond to an interview request on the evictions and the condition of the buildings where renovations are planned.
Asbestos statements
Rose said that the owner approached some tenants in February and asked them to sign an agreement to end their lease of renovations, affirming an environmental assessment found asbestos in the building.
He offered the compensation required by the New Scotland government and some additional money.
Rose, who pays just over $ 1,000 monthly for his unit, knew that he could not find a new rent near that amount. She did not sign the agreement and requested a copy of the Asbestos report and construction permits.
“I’ve been living here for six years, the building has had many renovations during that time,” he said. “The unit below became an Airbnb … New splash protectors, new sink, new counters, walls, were put.
“The Asbestos never mentioned us at that time.”
Rose said he has not yet seen the owner’s report, only an email that said Asbestos, sent to an inspector who previously worked for Hollohan.
In early May, Rose paid $ 425 for independent asbestos tests in the building. CBC News reviewed the report, which did not find Asbestos. CBC also requested a copy of the Hollohan report, but did not receive an answer.
The actions seem to be an attempt to displace the lowest payment tenants, make cosmetic updates and then encourage the units to higher rates.– Lori Perst Residential Tenure Officer
After Rose and another tenant took their dispute with the administration of pre -property properties to the residential holdings of the province, the Residential Officer dismissed the renewals.
“The actions seem to be an attempt to displace the lowest tenants, to make cosmetic improvements and, later, to once again encourage the units to higher rates,” Lori Persct wrote in his decision, which Holhan appealed.
The tenants are now waiting for the appeal hearing that will be held in the coming months.
Numbers in dispute
According to the data collected by the New Scotland Residential Tenure Program, the renovations are becoming less common.
The program only tells the renovations if an audience is requested, not if the tenants agree to leave and finish their lease. Even so, there have only been 19 applications so far this year.
In 2024, there were 84 renewal hearing requests, compared to 152 in 2023 and 123 in 2022.
A spokesman for the department said the decrease “is largely due to the amendments introduced in 2022 to protect tenants in cases where its owner tries to use renovations as a reason to finish a lease.”
“Now there is very strict legislation on compensation, the notification periods, the proof that an owner must provide and sanctions for an owner who does not follow the process,” said spokeswoman Susan McKeage in an email.
However, Blum said that renovations are still common, they simply do not always have the data.
“Then, do not capture tenants who only accept to leave. And then not capture tenants who are in fixed -term leases that are completed or that they receive illegitimate eviction warnings and do not know that they can fight against that,” Blum said. “There has definitely there has been a peak this summer in the reports we are receiving from renovations.”
Rebecca Hartery lives in another of the preperty management buildings. She questioned the eviction letter last winter.
She said the owner told another tenant to approach the renovations. She noticed that the workers recently took samples of the walls.
She said that it verifies every day if construction permits have been issued for direction, waiting for another attempt to evict, while continuing to communicate with the other tenants of the owner.
“It feels really frustrating, but it also feels really motivating to ensure that people know the rights of their tenants and talk to the people you live with,” said Hartery.
“I feel much more security and stronger with us communicating and being able to let him know what is happening because I think he simply builds a stronger case.”
