The superintendent of 150 Sanford Ave., the troubled 13-storey apartment building plastered in incomplete work orders from the city and fire department, appears to be eyeing the exit.
Owners of the building from the Toronto-based Tourbillon Facility Inc. were expected to be at the building Friday morning, but no one showed. The management office door remained shut.
On the door, work orders were piling up, one for an insect "infestation" on the sixth floor dated to be completed by Jan. 28, 2015. There was also an old note for a community meeting with councillor Matthew Green, who campaigned on eradicating what he called a 'slumlord' problem in Ward 3.
Contrary to rules from Ontario's Landlord and Tenant Board, the management at 150 Sanford says they will not be giving out rent receipts. (Jeff Green/CBC)
Below that old notice was a note stating that rent receipts would not be given out, a new policy as of Jan. 1 — a policy that contravenes Ontario's Landlord and Tenant Board laws — adding another layer of confusion for residents who say they feel "abandoned."
All of this was in plain sight for a small group of reporters, who were able to walk in the front door of the building, as the lock has been broken for at least a month. It was broken immediately after it was fixed, said Rick Duciaume, who splits superintendent duties with his partner, Isabelle.
"The tenants broke it the next day," Duciaume said. "They want access to the building… It's been like that for a while now."
2 sides to 150 Sanford, says super
Duciaume said the problems that have created the saga at 150 Sanford have two sides.
Asked why garbage was allowed to pile up in the chute, six stories high, Duciaume said, "it happened because tenants were shoving bed framing down the chute and clogged it."
The heat problems that forced the Red Cross to partially evacuate the building? Tenants who damaged pipes, said Duciaume, which forced them to turn off the boiler system to fix it. When the heat was turned back on, cold spots emerged, exacerbating the problem with more burst pipes.
"I live here too," Duciaume pleaded. "Me and Isabelle have lived here for almost a year now. We've put up with the exact same issues that all the other tenants put-up with. We've had flooding in our apartment, we have to deal with the elevators. We have to deal with the same things. I can tell you that I'm also employed by these people so I also need to be careful what I say."
Still, he refused to say who the building's owners are.
"I'm pretty sure they know (you're looking for them)," Duciaume added.
Asked about rumours around the building that he was planning to move out, Duciaume paused.
"We think we've come to the end of the road. We're not sure yet."
1 elevator working, pest control on site
With insect infestation work orders on the door to an empty management office, a pest control fumigator peered in briefly before heading to the elevator on his own. The front entrance was a revolving door of frustrated tenants more than willing to speak out against the living conditions at the downtown building.
"Frustrated? That's an understatement," said tenant John Aldridge. An accident as a child left him with a reconstructed ankle and "two bad knees." Living on the 10th floor unit means that when both elevators were broken (one is fixed now), he was walking up 10 flights of stairs.
He used a court order to get electrical work done in his unit in January.
"It only took me seven months," Aldridge said. "I'm not going to be forced to move out."
'What do I do?'
Others would love to move out, but that's not as easy as it sounds.
"What do I do?" asked Dan Duncan. "I'm on OW (Ontario Works) so it's kind of hard to up and leave."
He pays $925 for a two bedroom unit. Of the half dozen residents in the building littered with complaints of bed bugs, cockroaches, no heat, cracked windows and holes in the ceiling and walls, not one said they pay less than $795 in rent. One paid nearly $1,200 a month for their unit.
The thought of moving, and coughing up first and last month's rent to leave, appears to weigh down many of the residents who wish to leave.
"I'm saving my pennies. That's what I'm doing," said Duncan.
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