Cold comfort
Tenants seek compensation after 12 days without heat
Paul Phillips and Georgina Cameron, tenants of a Dartmouth apartment building, display a written notice from their landlord and the heater they were given.
Tenants at a Dartmouth apartment building, frustrated with their landlord after living with no heat and hot water for 12 days, finally got access to heat on Monday.
“That cold, cold, freezing day, Jan. 3 when that big storm came with the cold front, we had nothing,” says Paul Phillips, who lives in a one-bedroom unit with his girlfriend Georgina Cameron.
“You get up in the morning and you could see your breath,” he says.
Residents at the 22-unit-building, run by Atlantic Living Property Management Services, say they had to make do without heat or regular access to hot water after pipes burst.
When Idir Aissani was left without heat for almost two weeks he used his oven and a small portable heater to keep warm.
“I put my oven on, it was on all day, all night,” says Idir Aissani. “Basically that’s been my heater for eight days before they gave us the little portable heater.”
Aissani’s unit on the first floor still doesn’t have full heat. Although his thermostat is cranked to maximum, his baseboard heaters are barely warm to the touch.
In a notice dated Jan. 9, Atlantic Living offered tenants a $100 rental credit to compensate for the lack of heat.
Phillips and Cameron are on social assistance; they live on a combined monthly income of $1,050. “Heat’s included in this place but we got to pay our own power,” says Phillips.
They pay $635 for rent, leaving them $415 for all other expenses, including utility bills, groceries and transportation.
When Idir Aissani was left without heat for over a week he used his oven until he was given this small portable heater.
When Idir Aissani was left without heat for over a week he used his oven until he was given this small portable heater.
They are worried that the $100 rental credit will not cover the additional utility bills.
The couple moved this past October to save money on rent. They had trouble in the past paying their electricity bill and are afraid that the utility company will cut off their power if they are late on another payment.
In the notice, the property management company also offered tenants the option “to move or transfer” within its system of buildings.
Moving is not an option for Phillips and Cameron.
“Who’s paying for our moving costs? I can’t afford it not on assistance to hire a driver, neither of us drive, we got no vehicle, we got to pack everything up, who’s paying for it?” asks Phillips.
Residents are also dissatisfied at the property management company’s handling of the situation. Atlantic Living Property was contacted for an interview but Patrick Johnston, president at Atlantic Living Property Management Services, declined to comment.
“There should have been a little bit more. No apology from them except this letter, they should have come face-to-face with us,” says Phillips.
“We should have had a meeting, with the head guy and asked everybody in the building what they want done” says Cameron.
“It’s almost like they’re hiding. Keeping away from everybody. The only people that we see are the plumbers,” says Phillips.
Phillips is planning on circulating a letter among the tenants in the building asking for further action from the landlord.
Aissani says he also tried to rally his neighbours.
Paul Phillips and Georgina Cameron, tenants of a Dartmouth apartment building, display a written apology from their landlord and the heater they were given.
Paul Phillips and Georgina Cameron, tenants of a Dartmouth apartment building, display a written apology from their landlord and the heater they were given.
“I talked to several tenants but no one wants really to fight against them. They are more like, ‘ah, I’m leaving the place.’ I’m just standing alone.”
Regardless, Aissani plans to keep advocating for a better deal by negotiating lower rent.
The 22-unit building is located across from Atlantic Living Property Management Services’ head office. According to the company’s website the property was purchased in 2012 was renovated this past year.
Originally published in the Halifax Commoner newspaper at http://halifaxcommoner.kingsjournalism.com/?p=1615
About the Author
Sima Sahar Zerehi is a professor, journalist, new media buff, photographer in training, Unifor member & immigration/labour/human rights activist who really wants to be an artist.
