Montreal landlord struggles to evict tenant he claims brought chaos to neighbourhood – Montreal

A Montreal engineer and part-time professor is expressing his frustration with Quebec’s slow housing tribunal after he claims a new tenant in an apartment he owns caused chaos on the streets and disturbed the neighbors.

Francois Tardy rents out an apartment on a Hochelaga Maisonneuve street, which he rented to a new tenant on a one-year lease in March. Almost immediately, complaints started pouring in, according to the engineer and Concordia University professor.

Neighbors reported issues such as “people going up and down all the time, smoking crack all over the place, sitting down in that location, defecating and urinating over there,” and “howling at people” and “screaming at each other.”

Tardy shared that one of his other tenants described the situation as a “crack house” and expressed concern about the proximity of an elementary school to the address.

The engineer provided videos to Global News showing people consuming drugs in the street.

“I thought it would be a quick resolution, but it was not,” Tardy said about his attempts to evict the tenant. “It was much more complicated than I could ever imagine.”

Reports to the police resulted in advice to seek an eviction order through the provincial housing tribunal, as without it, the police would have limited options, Tardy explained.

Tardy mentioned that the police searched the property but did not find evidence that warranted criminal charges.

Global News reached out to Montreal police regarding the situation. While the force did not directly comment on the alleged activities, they did mention recent arrests made on the same street.

Following a Molotov cocktail incident at Tardy’s building, police conducted an operation targeting a drug-selling hub on Desjardins Avenue in Hochelaga. A media release from Montreal police stated that officers reassured residents after targeting a drug outlet on the street.

Investigators emphasized that maintaining peace in the neighborhood was a top priority for the force.

“They’re taking it seriously, but that doesn’t mean that my troubles are over,” Tardy remarked.

A hearing at the provincial housing tribunal scheduled for June was postponed until September.

— with files from Global News’ Isaac Callan

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