It seems this bully like character who has invaded a woman's home is still refusing to leave....I cannot believe in this day and age that the political correctness bull$hit is allowed to go on. Is there no-one in Verdun who could persuade this guy to leave the building ,Never mind all the legal wrangling & hiding behind the protective cover of some govt' agency's (rentals board & the like) throw this mooch out.........that's what needs to be done. (IMHO) which I believe each of us are still allowed to have ,an opinion.The woman & her daughter are being Bullied,by both the imbecile in the house,& the laws protecting him ( Again of course with all due respect,this is just my humble opinion )MONTREAL - A Verdun handyman accused of squatting has refused to vacate the home of an elderly woman, claiming he has a verbal agreement with her to stay in her house until the summer.
James Clarke claims that Elizabeth Hennigar, 75, told him that he could stay in the house until July 1st. He said the verbal agreement was made after she had hired him to renovate her house on Melrose St. in Verdun.
But Hennigar’s daughter, Sandra Mathieu, says Clarke’s claims are nonsense and says he has been squatting in the house since the end of January.
“He is taking advantage of her,” Mathieu said. “I don’t think he would be in the house if she was six feet two inches and 200 pounds.”
Mathieu said her mother needs Clarke out because she is trying to sell the house to finance the purchase of a retirement home in New Brunswick.
A lawyer, who is working for Mathieu on a “pro bono” basis, sent Clarke an eviction letter last Wednesday ordering him out of the house by Monday morning.
But when Mathieu turned up at the house with a bailiff on Monday night, Clarke was still there.
The bailiff, Eric Martin, told Mathieu she now needs to go to the rental board to get an expulsion order. Neither he nor Mathieu entered the house Monday.
Hennigar agreed to allow Clarke to live in her house during the renovations because he didn’t have a place of his own. Mathieu claims Clarke was asked to leave on Jan. 20, after being paid $2,400 for renovations, but says he refused, saying he couldn’t find anywhere to live.
“There is no way we would have let someone stay in the house when we were trying so hard to sell,” Mathieu said.
Clarke said Monday that he will likely leave the house at the beginning of April because he is “sick of The Gazette phoning me and having CTV News show up at my door.” He maintains that Mathieu and her mother are trying to “back out of our arrangement.”
A real estate agent, who has listed the house, said Hennigar never told him that Clarke would be staying in the house until July.
A spokesman for the rental board recommended that homeowners refrain from allow anyone to stay in their house without first signing a lease or a written agreement stating when the person is to vacate the property.
.I really hope all ends well for these two ladies, & I also hope this _rick(again the P is silent like in Psalm) gets his come uppance ,like they say Karma's a Bitch. A little dose of Schandenfreude is in order,me thinks.
Cheers ! Have Fun & Remember Verdun.............
"Revenge is a dish,best served cold" .and mighty satisfying I might add
Cheers ! HF&RV - Les
10 comments:
I had a tenant with his wife and young kid about 3 years who didn't pay his rent from the first day he was in my flat. Not only that, he was a drug addict as well as his wife and broke into neighboring homes. It took me 4 months to evict them and lost over $2000.00 in rent. I first had to go to the rental board wich took a couple of months and it took a couple more months to get rid of them. Talk about bureaucracy. What a nightmare.
Guy
yes the 'system' certainly is not in favour of the law abiding,it's geared to the law breakers.and neither the law makers nor the judges try to correct any of it, It keeps the broken system going & justice is not only blind but deaf.
Common sense & a sense of community should prevail,throwing this bum (imho) out on his rear.in short order & to hell with the authorities at this point.they serve no purpose.
HF&RV Cheers ! - Les
I grew up on Melrose Ave in the 40's..
That guy would be toast back then. Someone would have cleaned his clock..
within hours of the story breaking........
That could have been me somewhat the same situation
My mother was very ill and had to go into a residence where she would have the care she needed. Her home in NDG would be vacant because I promised her I would not rent it until she was sure she like here new home and if she got better she could go back. I was informed by the insurance that if anything happened while the house was vacant the insurance would not cover it. Humm so I offered it to a FRIEND and that I would pay for everything (gas electricity heating telephone) for 6 months. The only thing was that if he used the garage and the driveway he would have to pay the snow removal. All the furniture was pretty much new and the house had been just painted. All they had to do move in. The house had 3 bedrooms so I placed all my mother’s personal items in the small bedroom. Well 6 months plus passed and my mother didn’t want to go back to her home. I asked him if he was interested in renting (and never got an answer) because someone was interested in renting it and asked him when he would be ready to move out. He ignored the question. Another few months passed so I told him I would be there Saturday with a truck to empty the house. I arrived and had the door slammed in my face. Lucky I had a key to open the door and told every to start emptying the house of the furniture.
Well we did get him out that night. He was not a happy camper Lesson learned never lend your spouse or your house.
Wow, some friend, imagine after giving someone a break like that, & not even have them answer you when you contact them, Glad you fired them out the same day,amazing the nerve some people have.What are they putting in the water these days ? Yikes................. thanks for sharing that story. HF&RV -Les
I'm so proud to be from Verdun! This is my mom's house we're talking about here and if it wasn't for people from Verdun, I'm sure we'd still be trying to figure out how to get him out. When this all started and I discovered I was going to get no legal help, I decided to share the problem with my community via a Verdun Facebook page. I got a lot of moral support and suggestion. One person sent the story to The Gazette; another sent it to CTV and another to CBC, which is how I became a reluctant media darling for a day.The Gazette article got us a pro-bono lawyer from a big downtown firm, who won the case for us. Since the story came out everywhere I went people came up to me to express support and rage. A lot of people regretted not being able to handle the situation old school, but drawing together as a community we still managed to get him out of the house and, I think, right out of town. Thank-you, Verdun!!
Pony, if I knew then what I know now, I would have done the same thing. Unfortunately, he knew more than I did and got to the police first. Imagine my shock when they told me I didn't have the right to put him out because he had his crap (futon and TV) in there, so it was officially his home. One important thing I learned, besides not letting people stay in my home, is to get everything in writing.
Glad your nightmare is finally over Sandra , congrats for sticking it out....& good luck to you & your Mom for the future...
.Cheers ! Have Fun & Remember Verdun - Les
Hi Sandra I’m so glad your ordeal is finally over also. Who would have thought you would have to put a good deed in writing . To think the law protects people who think they are entitled to YOUR HOME !!! Something is wrong with the law .It was certainly a learning experience you didn't need at that time. All the best to you and your Mother …Pauline (pony)
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