Repo men grab more homes

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by NOEMI LOPINTO

Landlord repossessions are up over 10 per cent from last year, according to the Quebec Rental Board. And landlord neglect is still a viable strategy for expulsion. Proof lies in the case of Annie S., an unemployed single mother who will soon move out of the Plateau-area home that she has occupied since 1986.

 Her battle began last April, when she noticed a four-by-four-foot hole in her hallway. Several days later there was a new crater in the ceiling of the stairway. In August, the landlord removed the entire stairwell, prompting City of Montreal building inspectors to declare her apartment unfit for habitation. The settlement she signed August 28 requires that Les Entreprises RJ rebuild the damaged walls and replace the stairwell, but only on the catch-22 that Annie move out by October 30. "They were desperate to get rid of us," says Annie. "But they wouldn't make an offer until we forced their hand. They told me they had no intention of following the law."

 Pierre Marchand, director of communications at the Regie du logement, thinks most such cases of landlord neglect go unmonitored. "We see the cases where somebody went to the trouble of opening up a case file. We can't evaluate what goes on behind closed doors." The total of Montreal-area landlord repossessions rose from 561 in '98-'99 to 622 in '99-2000. Annie attributes her landlord's behaviour to the inflated market values for Plateau-area apartments. "People will pay anything and landlords know it."

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