Apartment building infested and falling apart

Some Montreal residents are living with cold air blowing into their living room, with mice running around and water dripping on their heads.

They live in one of the buildings owned by Claudio di Giambattista, who many consider to be Montreal's worst landlord

Little upkeep and few repairs, he gets away with it because he takes advantage of not only his tenants, but the city's housing department.

Abdul Farooqi lives in one of the apartments and has a problem with the heat. The city says the apartment's temperature should be at least 21 degrees Celsius. It's not unusual to have temperatures at about 16 degrees Celsius in di Giambattista's buildings.

Stalemate between tenants and landlord

He vows to make repairs when tenants pay their rent, but the tenants refuse to pay until he does repairs.

It's a stalemate that Claude Dagneau of the Cote des Neiges Tenants' Association is trying to break.

"I've never seen conditions like that I've been working in Cote des Neiges for over 20 years, and I've never seen conditions like that. This is the worst building not only in Cote des Neiges, but probably in Montreal," Dagneau says.

"If we were in a third world country, I wouldn't accept it. Nobody, none of us should accept it in Montreal," Dagneau says.

The City of Montreal has sent inspectors to di Giambattista's building 106 times since 1997. The housing department has fined him 13 times, anywhere from $100 to $300. The city admits, the fines amount to a slap on the wrist.

This summer, the city may barricade part or all of one of di Giambattista's buildings and evict the tenants. Perhaps if he loses the revenue, he may finally be forced to do the repairs.