Halifax tenant says building was partly demolished while she waited for tenancy ruling

A Halifax woman says she has no place to live after returning home from work last week to find crews demolishing her apartment building.

Shailagh Benteau, who says she was awaiting a decision from the Residential Tenancies Program when demolition began, stood outside her apartment of seven years on Tuesday afternoon and watched the destruction unfold before her.

“I can’t believe this is happening as I’m looking,” she said. “I was living in my unit. And they just started demolishing it.”

She says the landlord, RC Jane, called residents in February about their plans for a demolition but she alleges there was no mutual agreement to terminate the tenancy.

“I didn’t have a way to make sure the process was being followed and make sure everything was in order without it going to a residential tenancy hearing. So I just let them kind of go through that process,” she said.

According to Halifax Regional Municipality, a demolition permit was issued on March 24. Twenty-three of the 24 tenants have since moved out of the building, and Benteau is the last remaining resident.

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Benteau says she had a hearing on June 3 with residential tenancies, and was expecting to wait up to 14 days for a ruling.

“No ruling had come in by Wednesday (the 10th) and Wednesday night, I got home from work at 11:00 and there was a 20-foot hole inside the building,” she said.

She says the ruling wasn’t delivered until June 12, which was two days after demolition work began.

The order states she’s entitled to continue living in her apartment until Sept. 30, but that’s an impossible reality right now because her former home has been turned into debris.

“I’m still a tenant of the building here for another three months,” she said.

Benteau was joined by members of Nova Scotia ACORN, advocacy group for tenants, outside the Westerwald Street building on Tuesday. They held a rally and spoke to media, calling for stronger enforcement of tenant rights.

“When landlords don’t have to respect the decision of the tenancy board and can literally rip the floor from under your feet, what protections do tenants have?” said ACORN member Tim Allenby.

Global News reached out to RC Jane for comment, but they did not respond to the request.

Sydnee Blum, a community legal worker with Dalhousie Legal Aid, says situations like this are on the rise and she believes it’s because there’s a lack of consequences.

“They have stepped in and taken matters into their own hands without a decision from residential tenancies and without actually having vacant possession of the unit,” said Blum.

Blum says landlords are required to pay one to three months’ rent when evicting someone for a renovation or demolition and potentially extra if the rules aren’t followed.

As for Benteau, she’s back on the hunt for an apartment but she’s worried she won’t find anything in her price range.

“There’s not many units that I can afford on my income,” she said.