Booted Mackay tenants settle

Several of the 30 mostly elderly tenants booted from their apartment building on Mackay two years ago have reached financial settlements with their former landlord.

“In the end it worked out okay,” says Gérard Brunet, son of ex-tenant Raymond Brunet, 79. “The judge said it was best to come to an agreement out of court.” He says the agreement forbids him from mentioning the amount settled on to the media.

Another ex-tenant, Leslie Bencze, 63, also reached an out-of-court settlement with his ex-landlord a year ago, but says he has not seen any money. Bencze says he’s had migraines and blackouts since employees of his ex-landlord broke his door down, causing a piece of the frame to hit him in the head. “It’s getting frustrating because I’m not getting what is rightfully mine,” he says. Bencze’s lawyer, Antonio Vascio, refused to comment.

On March 29, 2000, Atef H. Ajjaoui and Miguel Ajjaoui, owners of Les Cours du Roi Investment Company, bought the building at 1195-1201 Mackay for approximately $700,000. In October 2000, tenants say two employees of the company forced them all to move out of the building by using intimidation tactics like threats, dogs, locking the building up and shutting off electricity. While most tenants moved away without challenging the decision, half-a-dozen did, bringing their case to the Régie du logement.

The landlords’ lawyer, Leonard Seidman, says all cases against his client have been settled except one.

The building has since been demolished. :

—Craig Segal