More than 80 residents at a three-storey apartment building at 385 Division Street have until Thursday to leave their homes.
Management at the apartment building issued a temporary eviction notice to tenants last month.
This was after the building suffered extensive roof damage from a windstorm in April.
Management wants the tenants to move out so they can repair the damage.
The issue is that tenants not only have to figure out where they will live but how they’ll pay for it.
Tenant Nancy Dean is frustrated by this, and says, “Most of us don’t have the money or means for that and my sister has mobility issues.”
However, there is hope for some of these residents. The Kingston Community Legal Clinic has stepped in to try and help some of the tenants.
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Lawyers from the clinic held a free information session for tenants to clarify their rights.
According to John Done, one of the lawyers with the clinic, management can’t hand out temporary eviction notices without having an order.
He also says, “They don’t have to move, even if they had signed an agreement, the landlord would have to use that agreement to obtain an order. No one has to move.”
When we spoke with the management at 385 Division St., they said the damage to the building was due to a natural disaster, so tenant’s insurance companies should be paying for their temporary accommodation. But many residents living here say they can’t afford insurance.
“There’s no general requirement that a tenant in an apartment buys a tenant’s insurance package. Now, there might be some consequences if it were in the lease and the person didn’t do that,” says Done.
According to Done, in this case, the lease doesn’t mention anything about consequences if tenants don’t have insurance.
In fact, the law requires the management to pay tenants up to three months of rent in cases like this.
Some of the tenants have already moved out, but many remain.
The Kingston Legal Clinic will file applications on behalf of some of the tenants with the landlord and tenant board on Tuesday to assert their right to stay or have their accommodations paid.
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