Landlord's lawyer says tenants 'sabotaged' Fairview apartments

The landlord of a boarded-up and condemned apartment building is blaming its rundown condition on some tenants and their guests.

George Tsimiklis is the owner and landlord of the 12-unit building at 22 Evans Avenue in the Halifax neighbourhood of Fairview.

His lawyer, Michael Moore, said tenants have continuously "sabotaged and vandalized" the building, including damaging recently repaired areas.

• Halifax orders vermin-infested, 'unsafe' apartments shut down

Tenants on income assistance

Moore said the family-run company, which advertises under the name Olive Branch, rents to people who receive income assistance and a shelter allowance. He said some of them "otherwise would have difficulty obtaining safe affordable residential accommodation."

The municipality cited "extremely dangerous" conditions, such as a lack of fire extinguishers and doors to apartments, and an infestation of cockroaches, bed bugs and mice, as reasons for the unusual step to shut down the building on Tuesday.

Between 10 and 12 people were forced out of eight units.

Renovating 'as soon as possible'

The building has been under the microscope for unsafe fire and living conditions after a complaint in July. Two more visits by inspectors last week led to the order to vacate the building.

Moore said now that the building is vacant, the landlord will be renovating "as soon as possible" to ensure it complies with municipal and provincial laws to "provide safe and habitable accommodations for future tenants."

He said that in the family's 45 years renting apartments, this is the first time that a building has been deemed unsafe.

'Disgusting' issues to be fixed

The building next door, 24 Evans Ave., also is under investigation for 29 fire-safety violations. A municipal spokesperson said the landlord has until Oct. 26 to fix the issues.

Kent Mullin, a former tenant at 24 Evans who was staying at 22 Evans when it was evacuated, described both buildings as being equally "disgusting" and "nasty."

Reading from a statement and not taking questions, Moore said the pair of properties are "not indicative of the numerous properties owned by the owner or companies ... which are in a good state of repair."

Seated beside Moore was Steve Tsimiklis, the landlord's brother who helps to manage the properties.

Moore said the owner "cares for the community" and assisted in having the Direction 180 methadone clinic bus set up close to the building to provide treatment to people in the community.

10 property damage calls

Halifax Regional Police has had 10 calls related to property damage at 22 Evans Ave. in the last year. 

That's out of about 370 visits, two-thirds of which were from foot patrols by officers in the area, police spokeswoman Const. Dianne Woodworth said Thursday.

During the same period, officers were called next door at 24 Evans 113 times, also mostly due to foot patrol. There was one call for property damage.

One tenant left

Moore said the landlord has been working with the Department of Community Services to relocate the tenants to safe accommodations, and paid October rent for relocated tenants.

In an email from a community services spokeswoman, she said the landlord of Evans Ave., the municipality and Toronto-based company Metcap Management "have been instrumental in helping our affected clients."

The municipality said one tenant is still living at 24 Evans. Community Services said it is "working proactively with our clients at 24 Evans Ave."