A Halifax resident says he is in fear of losing his home to renoviction after a new property owner of the building he’s lived in for seven years gave him a notice.
“I really have no idea what I’m going to do,” said Colby Bolívar.
During the pandemic, Nova Scotia put in place a ban on evictions for renovation, which gave tenants a sense of security that they wouldn’t be forced to move out. But the state of emergency ended March 21 and the ban was lifted.
Bolívar and other tenants of 11 Forest Hill Dr. were first informed in late December 2021, three months prior to the ban being lifted, that the building had been sold and would undergo renovations.
“It definitely ruined all of our Christmases,” Bolívar said.
The letter from the new owner, Tektite Properties, said the company will allow tenants “proper time for finding a new place.”
Bolívar and his roommate have been paying just under $900 monthly for a two-bedroom apartment in the building.
On March 23, two days after the renoviction ban ended, Bolívar received a follow-up from the property owner offering him three months’ rent as compensation.
The letter also said “please be advised that this letter is being sent to inform you that I have started the process to end your lease under the tenancy rules.”
Even if he agreed to end his lease and take the compensation, Bolívar said he cannot afford the current rental market.
According to a national rent report from Rentals.ca, the average rent for a two-bedroom in Halifax was $2,028 in February 2022, and $1,663 for a one-bedroom.
The vacancy rate in Halifax is now below one per cent, and what is available, Bolívar said, isn’t in his budget.
He is also legally blind and relies heavily on public transit, so moving out of the city would limit his lifestyle.
“They’re telling us we have to be out, but there’s really nowhere to go.”
Minister of Service Nova Scotia and Internal Services Colton LeBlanc, who is responsible for housing and the Residential Tenancies Act, says new legislation requires landlords to submit an application to the tenancy board for approval to evict a tenant due to a renovation if the tenant doesn’t agree to leave.
Prior to the ban being lifted, he said there were five applications for eviction submitted to the tenancy board. As of Tuesday, another seven applications have come in, but “none of them have gone through the hearing process yet,” he said.
“There shouldn’t be anybody being renovicted at this time unless they’ve agreed upon it with their landlord,” LeBlanc said Tuesday.
Global News has reached out to the Forest Hill Drive building’s landlord, Neal Andreino with Tektite Properties, who has declined to comment other than to say he has “followed due process” over the phone.
LeBlanc noted that renoviction is allowed only for “substantial renovations.”
“It’s not changing a light fixture or a window,” he said, adding that the landlord must demonstrate the need for vacant possession and a building permit.
The building permit given to Tektite Properties for 11 Forest Hill Dr. states the description of work as “new kitchen cabinets, flooring, bathroom vanities, trim, paint and fixtures.”
LeBlanc also said renovictions “shouldn’t be happening willy-nilly,” and “landlords should not be verbally telling folks that they’re being renovicted.”
That hasn’t been everyone’s experience.
“I’m hearing the complete opposite,” says MLA for Halifax Needham Suzy Hansen. “People just don’t have an idea of the tenant-landlord rights.”
Hansen, who is also the NDP’s housing critic, said with an already low vacancy rate and lack of affordable units, the stress of having a sudden move-out date is harmful to folks looking for housing.
“Think about if you have a disability, there’s not very many safe spaces that would be accommodating to your own personal lifestyle…. Not everybody can just pick up a hat and move into a home the next day.”
Bolívar agreed.
“People who are kind of affected the most are people with disabilities, single mothers, seniors, minorities, immigrants — these people who are already the most vulnerable,” he said.
“It feels like there’s no one protecting us.”
He hasn’t been given a move-out date yet, but says knowing the landlord has begun the process of terminating his lease is worrying.
Bolívar says his plan is to file for a hearing with the tenancy board.
“I have no intentions of just going along with this without putting up some kind of a fight.”
— With files from Alexa MacLean.
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