A small claims court in Bridgewater, NS, has awarded a tenant $ 3,744.02 in damages after his landlord cut off water and began demolition work while still living in a two-bedroom unit in the building.
Other tenants had already left the four-apartment building.
CBC does not name the tenant to protect the privacy of its 10-year-old daughter. The tenant’s lawyer said that his client is satisfied with the result.
“It’s good, I think it was relieved,” Tammy Wohler, a managing attorney for Nova Scotia Legal Aid’s social justice office, told CBC. “She believes the message should reach the owners.”
In his decision Wednesday night at the Bridgewater Justice Center, Warrant Officer Brent Silver told the landlord, Colin Edwards, that he broke the rules while the tenant was following them.
“She tried to pull you back and the power went out. I have no choice but to create an order saying you didn’t give the proper notice to evict. You’ve infringed the process. The tenant is entitled to compensation.” said Silver. dit.
The tenant had already gone to the residential lease board and successfully received an order to suspend the notice to leave the Fox Street building. The lease officer’s decision was issued on March 31, 2022, the day before the water was cut off.
Null and void notices
Edwards, the landlord, said he was unaware of the order and assumed the tenant had definitely left by the day he cut off the water. Months earlier, he had written numerous emails to all tenants of the building telling them to make other living arrangements because demolition work would begin soon.
But the email notices he sent were void because they were sent during Nova Scotia’s so-called renewal ban.
A renovation is when a landlord evicts a tenant to make way for renovations. Nova Scotia banned the practice in November 2020. The measure lasted until March 22, 2022, when the pandemic state of emergency was lifted.
After March 22, the ban was replaced by a new set of renewal rules. Tenants must receive a minimum of three months notice, and if a tenant does not agree to leave, the landlord must apply for an eviction order.
Edwards did not attend a virtual meeting of the lease board set up to address the tenant’s concerns. He said he wrote a letter to the board and thought that by doing so, the meeting would be canceled.
Silver told him that the argument that his letter canceled the meeting “had no merit.” He told her it was a “reckless way to behave.”
The owner, Colin Edwards, bought the building in the old town of Lunenburg with the intention of completely destroying it and making major renovations. (Brett Ruskin / CBC)
During Edwards ‘testimony, he talked about how he bought the apartment because it was dilapidated and close to his parents’ house. He said he wanted to turn it into a three-story two-story building and possibly turn it into a home for the elderly. He said he was trying to be the “anti-slumlord.”
As he explained his plans, he commented on how his family had “endured parties, garbage, and chaos” while living near the building.
That comment seemed to affect the successful bidder.
“There’s a high-minded element in your name … I found it a little nasty,” Silver said during his decision.
Silver told Edwards that he should have taken the time to review the rules before starting any work on the building.
“If you did that, you might be doing your job now,” Silver said.
“I respected the spirit of the ban,” says the owner
Edwards told CBC News he was disappointed with the sentence.
“My position all along had been that I respected the spirit of the ban and no tenant was expressly told that they should leave the building during the existence of the Health Emergency Order with the rents maintaining the status quo since I bought the building in August 2020. “he wrote in an email.
He said his housing plan for the elderly is stalled at the moment.
“Clearly, some landlords have created this mess by evicting tenants just to add a little paint and a few bucks on laminate flooring to an apartment before turning around and doubling the rent, and the court ruled that it should send a message to these owners.
Upcoming lease board hearing
The money awarded will be used to cover the costs of moving, gas and a tenant’s warehouse.
Wohler said landlords have a responsibility to know their rights and obligations under the law.
“The reality is that landlords just can’t force tenants under any circumstances. They always require an eviction order and there’s a legal process for that,” Wohler said.
The tenant now lives in a one-bedroom apartment.
There will be a lease board hearing in the future because Edwards is seeking compensation for an unpaid electricity bill.