A Halifax woman who won a legal fight against a renoviction notice a month ago is now fighting another battle with the same landlord, who claims he’s doing everything by the book.
Stacey Gomez has lived in her Church Street apartment unit for nearly five years and would like to continue living there. However, her landlord served her with a notice two days ago that her tenancy is being terminated effective immediately.
Gomez said that on Oct. 25, she was told by the Halifax Regional Municipality that high levels of mould were detected in an air quality test at her apartment, and that she would need to temporarily leave while repairs take place.
“I complied with the order with the expectation that I would return to my unit once the work has taken place,” Gomez said in an interview.
The same day, she was served with a Form F Notice to Quit – Additional Circumstances notice by her landlord, advising her that her tenancy has been terminated.
“He’s saying that it is effective immediately, and that if I don’t move my items, my personal belongings from the apartment by tomorrow, that they’re going to move forward and do that,” Gomez said.
“What is happening now is a violation of my tenant rights.”
Landlord Marcus Ranjbar told Global News by phone that he is in “contact with Tenancies,” and, “we’re doing everything by the book.”
Ranjbar confirmed what he filed for was subsection 10.8.c in the Residential Tenancies Act.
That section reads: “A landlord may give to the tenant notice to quit the residential premises where… the residential premises have been made uninhabitable by fire, flood or other occurrence,” as outlined in the Act online.
“From that section, we could provide a timeline that we think is reasonable,” said Ranjbar.
“We thought it was reasonable that for us to match the order from the HRM and so we could perform the renovations they requested.”
Ranjbar declined to publicly comment on the situation further.
Gomez’s lawyer Mitch Broughton said, “that’s not how it works.”
“A landlord can’t unilaterally terminate the tenancy. That can only really be done through the Residential Tenancies Board with a termination order,” Broughton said.
“It would just be much too chaotic if landlords could just do that on their own.”
He said Gomez is of the position that the landlord “could follow the order to remedy the mould and the water ingress without evicting her.”
Broughton argues that the legislature could not have intended for something like this to happen when they were increasing protections for tenants in Nova Scotia.
“There should be an adjudicating body who determines whether or not that tenancy is terminated or if she just simply needs to temporarily vacate (while) some repairs be done,” he said.
Gomez and her lawyer say as of now, they are preparing for all of her personal belongings to be removed by the landlord on Friday, as she won’t do so herself.
“This kind of a situation takes a toll,” Gomez said.
“I’m just hoping to, and working to, stop this from happening and to hear back from officials.”
She calls on officials, including MLA Colton LeBlanc who is the minister responsible for Residential Tenancies, to ensure rules are being followed.
In an email statement, LeBlanc said he is “sorry to hear of the challenges Ms. Gomez is facing.”
The statement further read, in part:
“If a tenant believes that their landlord is not following the rules set out in the residential tenancy program, they can file an application for a hearing to have the issue addressed. Tenants’ insurance may also assist in a situation like this.
This case underlines the importance of both landlords and tenants understanding their rights and what is available to them should one or the other believe the rules aren’t being followed.”
Gomez and her lawyer have confirmed they plan on continuing legal action if her belongings are removed from the unit she called home.
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