Tenants in downtown Montreal say new landlord wants to force them out

Tenants block traffic to protest renoviction Tenants of two downtown apartment buildings say their landlord is trying to force them out.

The tenants of two downtown Montreal apartment buildings say their new landlord is trying to force them out.

"We received... started to receive calls about major renovations that will be going on," said Mina Sadigh, a tenant who has lived at the Fort Street building in Montreal's Shaughnessy Village for three years.

She says tenants were given an ultimatum after the new landlord took possession of the building last December.

"I was given three options. One was that they're going to take me to the legal court," she said. "Second was that I'm going to have to go out [during renovations]...And then I will be back, and the price would be higher than what it is right now."

The third option was to sign a contract to move out at the end of June in exchange for three months of free rent.

"I signed it because I thought I had no other option," Sadigh said.

Housing activists point out tenants have the right to stay as long as they pay rent.

"They don't actually send you a real notice," explains Samuel Vanzin with the Ville-Marie Housing Committee. "They'll just come knock at the door, and they'll use those pressure tactics to get people to sign."

The activists say the building's new landlord, Henry Zavriyev, is notorious for buying rundown buildings and pressuring tenants to leave.

"Zavriyev is replicating his tactics in a lot of different neighbourhoods," said Cedric Dussault with the Coalition of Housing Committees and Tenants Associations of Quebec (RCLALQ). "He's acting first in Montreal, but he's also even in Quebec City now."

The tenants at Fort Street have hired a lawyer and are calling for legislation to crack down on renovictions.