Ownership issues on Pearl Crescent

Gina Rossignol has had a lot of trouble sleeping in recent weeks.

On January 23, the Pearl Crescent resident learned out of the blue that the townhouse she had been renting for seven years had been sold and said she had been told she would have to leave voluntarily or face an eviction.

Rossignol said the deal was sweetened with a $5,000 cash incentive to go along with a contract she felt strongly pressured to sign.

“The woman sat at my kitchen table and bullied me,” Rossignol said of the encounter. “I felt like I had no choice. I haven’t really been able to sleep since. I can’t eat… I’m so stressed.

Rossignol, who is raising her nine-year-old autistic granddaughter Sophie, is not alone. There are 24 families who have learned that their units have changed hands. There are six quadruplex buildings in total, including five on Pearl Crescent and one on nearby Orchard Heights.

The saga began on January 22 when the tenants discovered a notice of entry for inspection taped to their door.

The notice informed residents that two people representing the new owner would be coming the next day to perform a one-hour inspection.

However, none of the documents indicated who the new owner was or when the townhouses were sold.

The only identifying information came from a form letter, printed with letterhead from Lotus Paralegal, a Welland-based company.

Signed by Jessica Travers, owner of Lotus Paralegal, the form was presented to tenants at the time of inspection.

Travers, a licensed paralegal, and Dimple Grewal, a WC Solutions Property Management representative, undertook the inspections.

Rossignol, who refused to open her door for inspection that Sunday evening, said Travers returned home the following day as Sophie returned from school.

“I let her (Travers) in and she basically told me to sign the contract and that I had no choice,” Rossignol said.

The contract stipulates that Rossignol and Sophie must leave their accommodation in 60 days. She said Travers told her the reason for the eviction was that the new owners had “a vision” to renovate all the townhouses.

The woman, who survives on an Ontario Disability Support Program pension, said she fears her small family will become homeless as she cannot afford market rent, which would represent at least double its current fee of $700.

A spokesperson for the buying company said the new owner planned to upgrade the accommodation.

The Chatham Voice contacted the new landlord via email addressed as part of the contact details provided to tenants.

The questions were partially answered by Sussex Strategy Group, a Toronto-based public relations firm.

In an emailed statement, Sussex vice-chairman Colleen Ryan said a company called Avanew would undertake “extensive renovations” to address issues such as “mold growth, insect infestations , lack of smoke detectors and more” to bring the properties down to code.

Ryan’s statement said renovations are currently expected to take between nine and 12 months, and no tenants are being evicted as tenants have “options to return once renovations are complete, including first right of refusal, or to relocate voluntarily with financial compensation and other supports and services to support a smooth transition,” if they prefer.

Even though some of the tenants chose to take the $5,000, agreeing to move out in 60 days, others are not buying it.

Harry Fry, who has lived in one of the units for 25 years, said he was not moving.

“They’ll have to come with a bulldozer,” Fry said. “It’s the only way to get me out of here.”

Fry is critical of how the process was handled, calling the actions of paralegals supposed to represent the new owners “sketchy.”

His fiancée Judy, who is ill, has lived at the address for 35 years. Fry said he feared a move would kill her.

Carrie Allely, who has lived in the cul-de-sac with her two sons for seven years, said she did not sign the contract presented by Travers, but felt compelled to do so.

She ended up leaving Travers and Grewal for inspection. Allely said the couple checked the smoke alarm and then Travers went on a hard sell, urging her to sign a document and take the $5,000.

“It was very, very insistent,” Allely said. “There was no notice, no paperwork, no deadline.

“I don’t know who it is or what company it is,” Alley said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

None of this makes sense to the Chatham-Kent Housing Stability Worker either. Licensed paralegal Jeff Wilkins, who has worked on tenant/landlord issues for many years, said what is happening now at Pearl Crescent is ‘the most egregious example of tenant intimidation’ he has ever seen. .

Wilkins, along with members of the Chatham-Kent Housing Services team, met with 15 of the affected tenants on January 25.

He urged them not to sign anything.

Wilkins also advises those who agreed to take the $5,000 and leave to let the company know they want to rescind their approval.

Wilkins said it is not illegal to evict tenants for carrying out renovations, but notes that affected tenants are entitled to compensation and a first right of refusal once renovations are complete.

Under the law, tenants can move in again and rent can only be increased by 1.2% per year, according to provincial guidelines.

Some of the Pearl Crescent residents said Travers told them the renovations would take up to a year and a half.

Others said they were also told they could come back and pay their current low rent rate for a year, but after that it would increase to market rate value.

Wilkins said it was illegal.

According to Wilkins, most Pearl Crescent residents he spoke with said they felt intimidated and scared.

He added that the $5,000 incentive may seem like a lot of money at first, but it’s not when you “dive deep into it.”

The contract he saw says the monthly rent will be deducted from the amount so it doesn’t end up being $5,000.

Also, with affordable housing scarce, Wilkins said there was nowhere to go.

“These are inexpensive three-bedroom units,” Wilkins explained. “They are like unicorns now.”

Wilkins, who regularly handles tenant/landlord issues with the Chatham-Kent Legal Aid Clinic, said Pearl Crescent tenants were caught off guard.

He said they have no idea who their new landlord is or who they are supposed to pay rent to, although some have been told to forward money to the Welland-based Lotus Paralegal.

Wilkins advises against this.

“There is a legal way to do it and this isn’t it,” Wilkins noted. “Plus, it’s morally wrong.”

For tenants, it is now a waiting game.

Ryan’s email correspondence said the property was sold in late January, going on to say the units had been “left in a state of disrepair by the previous owners with many severely dilapidated and unsafe for residents”.

According to the email, the negligence of previous owners means the properties “require significant safety changes which will also serve to improve the current properties and the surrounding community”.

According to Wilkins, Chatham-Kent is now a target for opportunistic landlords because it is one of the few remaining municipalities in southwestern Ontario with no housing inventory.

The Voice has learned that Avanew Single Family Rental GP, the name on a rental agreement Wilkins witnessed, is a subsidiary of Core Development Group.

Toronto-based Core announced in 2021 its goal to acquire a $1 billion portfolio of 4,000 rental units in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Atlantic Canada by 2026.

As previously reported by The Globe and Mail and CBC in June 2021, Core’s primary business has been condo development with numerous projects in the Toronto area.

The articles indicate that Core is buying hundreds of single-family homes in Ontario with the intention of renting them out and profiting from Canada’s housing crisis.

The approach is not normally taken in Canada, but is said to be inspired by the highly lucrative institutional home rental market in the United States.

Core said it is targeting medium-sized cities across Ontario for expansion, including Kingston, St. Catharines, London, Barrie, Hamilton, Peterborough and Cambridge.

The company’s plan is to buy, repair and rent ground-floor suburban homes, turning them into multi-unit residences.

In the meantime, residents of Pearl Crescent face uncertainty.

For her part, Rossignol says she remains confused.

“I still have a lot of unanswered questions,” she said. “I would like to stay here. It’s like a family here and it’s the only home Sophie has ever known.