Borough to send inspector to rooming house without power, permits

The Ville-Marie borough is sending an inspector to a rental property at 3768 Côte-des-Neiges Road after it was revealed that tenants living there have been without power for 10 days, and counting.

The building, which sits across from the Montreal General Hospital, is billed online as a mansion, but appears to be operating as a rooming house.

Six tenants have been sleeping in the dark for 10 days due to an unpaid electricity bill by Roominex, the company that runs the rooming house.

The city says the Ville-Marie borough will send an inspector and "intervene" further if the situation doesn't improve.

"The City of Montreal is actively working on all tourist residences to better supervise their presence and management on its territory," the city said in a statement to CBC News.

The city also confirmed that Roominex does not have the proper permits to operate the property as a rooming house.

Power still cut

Roominex was responsible for payments to Hydro-Québec, but according to the public utility, the company stopped paying its bills after a few months into its lease.

The property's owner, Maan Malouf, took over the Hydro contract. He said he's paid $12,000 in electricity bills, hoping Roominex would pay him back. In order to close the account, Malouf must pay an additional bill of $7,000 to Hydro-Québec. 

"They're not paying the rent. I am paying the real-estate taxes … electricity. I am paying everything," Malouf said. "These people seem to have no intention at all to empty the house or start paying."

But even with the $19,000 that Malouf will be shelling out to Hydro, the power will remain cut until Roominex agrees to a payment plan to settle other outstanding debts.

"It's a very sad situation," said Serge Tsoto, a Hydro-Québec spokesperson. "I know that people living there are in a bad situation.... Everything will depend on Roominex." 

He said the public utility has sent a collection agency to go after Roominex.

'I thought they had good intentions'

Malouf said when he rented the house to Roominex, everything appeared above board. But, he said, Roominex hasn't been paying rent for a year.

None of the tenants would talk to CBC News on the record. Some are foreign students, and fear complaining could jeopardize their immigration status.

Malouf said he knew Roominex was going to rent the house to students.

"Since the house was big enough, I thought 'well, that's fine.' I thought they had good intentions," Malouf said.

Documents from the Régie du logement, Quebec's rental board, show that Roominex's president, Christian Levasseur, has a history of renting rooms, purportedly to live in himself, and then subletting them without informing landlords.

He's been before the board many times; he's been ordered evicted and ordered to pay damages.

Roominex declined to comment, and has hired a lawyer.