On November 1, Marie-Pier Da Silva and her partner packed their boxes and hastily left their Davidson Street home after staying there for a year and a half. “Either I quit or my health suffered. » The mold infestation in the house was so bad that the couple literally suffocated.
Posted at 5:00 am.
The problems begin in autumn 2022, when the cold sets in and the windows have to be closed. After a fall and winter in shelter, Ms. Da Silva's partner found herself in the emergency room last June. “He couldn’t breathe anymore. » A month later it was Marie-Pier Da Silva who urgently needed advice. “The oxygen no longer reached the lungs,” she says.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY MARIE-PIER DA SILVA
Marie-Pier Da Silva was in the emergency room last July because of mold in her building at 2130 Davidson Street.
They go home with asthma pumps. However, they never suffered from this disease.
As soon as we entered the building there was a smell. But the mold was not visible. It burned in our bronchi. Even the cat had trouble breathing!
Marie Pier Da Silva
The couple, unable to breathe in their bedroom, move the bed into the living room. He then realizes that this is the room most affected by water intrusion. “We didn’t sleep at night anymore. We were always at the pumps. »
On September 13, Ms. Da Silva consulted Doctor Stéphane Perron, public health specialist and clinician at CHUM. “There is something in the air in their home that is making them sick. But not all people react the same way. In short: What's in the air in the apartment is irritating, but some people react to it more sensitively than others,” he explains in the interview. Asthma and allergy testing for Ms. Da Silva was continuing, he said.
At the same time, the tenant says she notices a lot of problems in the building. There is a beef belly on the brick. Some bricks are so loose that they fall off the wall on their own. In your opinion the vents are not compliant.
In July, she sent a formal notice to her owner, Suzanne Tremblay. “In the fall of 2022, we began noticing chronic and respiratory rhinitis issues when we began closing the windows,” the document states. We spent the entire winter with these symptoms. During the winter, the humidity in the house was so high that I had to throw away a mattress that was covered in mold. »
She receives no answer. “I had a non-existent landlady. His phone number didn't work on my rental agreement! » The couple paid $851 for a three-and-a-half-room apartment.
We contacted Suzanne Tremblay last Tuesday to get her thoughts on this story. “The apartment is very decent. I put the file in the hands of my lawyer,” she said simply.
“Completely let down by the district”
In late July, Ms. Da Silva finally filed a complaint with the district. She mentions to 311 that her door is left unlocked so that the inspectors can enter. The next day there was a note on his door: an inspector had come by in his absence. There is no name or telephone number on the document. Ms Da Silva is currently satisfied that her accommodation has been inspected. You will then no longer receive any news.
I was completely neglected by the community until people from the Provincial Office and my doctor intervened. I was totally distraught. I don't know what's going on in the district.
Marie Pier Da Silva
The tenant needs the help of the housing committee. Annie Lapalme from Entraide-logement Hochelaga-Maisonneuve is asking the community for information. We don't give him any news. In desperation, Ms. Lapalme requested the intervention of MP Alexandre Leduc's political attaché, Gabrielle Lauzon, at the beginning of October.
Ms. Lauzon speaks to the district authorities and Marie-Pier Da Silva finally has news. His house was never inspected. On October 13, almost three months after his complaint, the property was finally inspected.
In the Inspection Service documents requested by Ms. Da Silva under the Access to Information Act, we see that the building was first visited by inspectors in April 2015. Reason: possible mold and mouse infestation. The file was closed just over a year later.
New visit in March 2017. “Balcony floors and external stairs in poor condition.” A notice of non-compliance will be issued. The owner has 30 days to comply. Three months later the file was closed: the owner appeared to have carried out work.
And then, in July 2023, Marie-Pier Da Silva's complaint was registered. “In my opinion, this is an urgent case,” notes the 311 agent who answers the call. You should not wait 10 days before submitting a request to the inspection service. »
On July 28, inspector Radia Zatout noticed the problems herself. “Presence of beef belly”, “hollowed joints between the bricks”, a tenant on site testifying to several water leaks. Thereafter ?
“The dangerous elements were immediately checked on the same day the request was made. On the same day, the applicant (accommodation 3) was absent,” responded Julie Bellemare, spokeswoman for the district.
After this initial review, the level of prioritization of the request was determined to be non-urgent as it related to possible mold growth and not to an element that could pose a threat to public safety, such as a wall that could collapse.
Julie Bellemare, district spokeswoman
Corrections were requested by the owner, Ms. Bellemare assures, and the inspectors came twice to check that they had actually been carried out. Municipal inspectors have no power over air quality, only over visible mold, specifies the district mayor's chief of staff, Laurent Richer-Beaulieu. “We will nonetheless be pursuing this question in the coming weeks because the situation at 2130 Davidson shows that our inspection ‘regulatory toolbox’ is sometimes incomplete in some respects,” he told us via email. No violation report was provided to the owner.
On November 1, Ms. Da Silva and her partner decided to escape from this shelter, where they were suffocating. They have lived in Sherbrooke ever since. All of her symptoms have disappeared since she moved, she says.
We were at 2130 Davidson Street last Tuesday. Six tenants still live in the building, which doesn't look like much. Caroline Chartier has just moved into apartment 3, which is occupied by Marie-Pier Da Silva. The woman left another vermin-infested home in the community. “The owner did absolutely nothing. »
She says she hasn't had any breathing problems so far.