A dozen tenants, upset at being left in the dark for six days, are accusing their landlord of dallying on repairs that Hydro-Quebec is waiting for to reconnect.
“We sleep in the freezing cold because we have nowhere else to go and try to make tea or coffee by candlelight. I had to buy a solar charger to charge my phone, otherwise I would be cut off from the world,” Abhishek laments from his apartment on rue Decelles in Côte-des-Neiges.
Last Wednesday, around 6 p.m., the building lost power, as did more than a million Quebec homes, half of them in Montreal. But since Thursday they are the only ones in their area who still haven’t found electricity.
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A tree fell behind the building, tearing off the cables attached to the wall.
“Hydro-Quebec informed us that they could not complete the repair until the owner fixed it. But the owner, he doesn’t answer us,” impatient Roshan Patel, 43, who had no choice but to call 911 as there were wires on the floor.
For its part, the state society confirms that it cannot do anything.
“If the mast breaks, the responsibility lies with the owner, who must call in a master electrician to fix it,” explains environmental consultant Geneviève Cloutier-Fortin.
Pay out of your own pocket
Many renters are unable to get through to their landlord, who doesn’t return their calls and texts, and feel they have no choice but to pay for the electrician themselves.
“We can’t stay like this on his terms,” says Mr. Patel.
Photo Clara Loiseau
For Abhishek, 26, the only way to charge his phone is with a solar charger he just bought after being without power for six days.
Not wanting to put his 14-year-old and 5-year-old daughters and his wife to sleep in the cold, he decided to go to a motel to warm up.
“So far it’s cost me over $1,000 for motel rooms and restaurant food. But my neighbors can’t afford that,” regrets the man who has lived in the house for 13 years.
Lose everything
Fatiha Nassimi and her family flee to friends living in Laval during the day, but come back every night to sleep in the cold.
“It’s really difficult and on top of that I can’t open my day care center. I have eight children who I would only be able to take in if I had electricity,” worries Ms. Nassimi, who also runs a family day care center in the building.
Abhishek and his flatmate Vikramjeet Singh, 27, have lost count of all the food that had to be thrown in the bin.
“In the beginning we tried to freeze everything, but then all is lost,” laments Mr. Singh, who is a student.
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