Rent reaming

Tenants of a 12-floor, 68-unit apartment building on Drummond fear their new landlord is trying to force them out of their homes in order to renovate—and then illegally collect higher rents if the tenants choose to come back. According to tenants of 3421 Drummond, the landlord is asking them to leave their apartments by the end of April, for five to six months. Tenants can move back, they say, but their rent will be hiked up by around $350.
Christine Charlebois moved into her 4 1/2 in September, 2000. She says her lease was $945 when she moved in and then was hiked to $1,002 when the new owners—3421 Drummond Inc.—took over last summer. Since then, there have been other problems. “I had a worker walk in on me in the shower!” says Charlebois, a 21-year-old McGill student.
Charlebois is not alone. According to Rental Board documents, 20 tenants filed for rent reductions against the new landlord. Tenants complain of renovation noise, lack of a front door lock, broken elevators and erratic water loss since August 2001. Tenants are asking for rent reductions of 30–45 per cent retroactive to August until the end of construction.
Tenants’ rights activist Ted Wright says if the tenants are telling the truth, the landlord is harassing them. He also says the landlord can only hike rents $350 each if he pours $4,760,000 into the renovations. Wright doubts the landlord will invest that many zeros. Landlords did not return calls by press time. :

—Craig Segal