A judge ordered a Lanaudière landlady to remove at least six surveillance cameras that were spying on her tenant, to the point where she admitted to experiencing “mental torture” in recent months.
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“She feels constantly harassed and describes her environment as unpleasant. She is being deprived of her privacy,” states Judge Linda Boucher of the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL).
You can see the many cameras at the tenant in the following photos:
According to the TAL, up to 14 cameras spied on the tenant
Photos were submitted to court-
According to the TAL, up to 14 cameras spied on the tenant
Photos were submitted to court-
According to the TAL, up to 14 cameras spied on the tenant
Photos were submitted to court-
According to the TAL, up to 14 cameras spied on the tenant
Photos were submitted to court-
According to the TAL, up to 14 cameras spied on the tenant
Photos were submitted to court-
According to the TAL, up to 14 cameras spied on the tenant
Photos were submitted to court-
According to the TAL, up to 14 cameras spied on the tenant
Photos were submitted to court-
According to the TAL, up to 14 cameras spied on the tenant
Photos were submitted to court-
According to the TAL, up to 14 cameras spied on the tenant
Photos were submitted to court-
According to the TAL, up to 14 cameras spied on the tenant
Photos were submitted to court-
In his September 20 decision, we learned that owner Sylvain Rivest failed to take the necessary measures so that his tenant Diane Leboeuf “could enjoy her home in Saint-Charles-Borromée, near Joliette, in peace.”
Ms. Leboeuf has lived on the second floor of a semi-detached house since October 2019. Her neighbors who live on the ground floor, Carole Bertrand and René Adam, “spy on her, threaten her and intimidate her in various ways,” the court said.
Owner Sylvain Rivest did not respond to his tenant’s requests to remove the cameras. Mr. Rivest said he wanted “peace.” Photo from Sylvain Rivest’s Facebook
According to the court document, the couple even installed six cameras to closely monitor the tenant’s actions.
“She was spied on, disturbed, rejected, threatened and attacked by her neighbors without the owner intervening on her behalf,” denounced the judge. On the contrary, he sided with the latter, who he believed gave preference to the tenant.
Fear of being in a swimsuit
The Honorable Linda Boucher points out that the cameras in question are pointed at the stairs to her house, her balcony, her private property and even her parking lot.
In front of the maisonette where tenant Diane Leboeuf lives. Several cameras can be seen on the facade of the building. Screenshot from Google Maps
“She feels like she’s constantly being watched [le voisin] Especially because she saw him carefully monitoring the cameras on his four laptops. “She believes he even goes so far as to watch her when she is in the yard in a swimsuit,” the ruling reads.
Diane Leboeuf was even attacked by her neighbors, to the extent that, according to TAL, she was compensated through Victims of Crime Compensation (IVAC). The owner Sylvain Rivest, a resident of Sainte-Marcelline, several times does not respond to her messages or “tells her that he wants to be left alone and does nothing,” the judge regrets.
“This despite criminal allegations and proven facts. In doing so, he gave the tenant’s neighbors free rein to attack her and deprive her of the peaceful enjoyment of the rented premises that he was supposed to ensure. He will have to answer for it,” the judgment says.
The owner punished
In his defence, Mr Rivest alleged in particular that his tenant had made several requests with the sole aim of harassing and harming him.
Photos were submitted to court
“Unfortunately for the tenant, the owner’s desire for peace and quiet and his absence for several months a year contributed to the situation continuing and worsening. The tenant has made numerous complaints about her neighbors as the criticism is numerous and repeated. “She did not act in bad faith,” ruled the court, which rejected the owner’s arguments.
Judge Linda Boucher ultimately ordered Sylvain Rivest to remove or reposition the cameras around his building.
“The number of these cameras is already more suspicious. “It appears from the evidence that several point unnecessarily, if not to spy on the tenant, at rooms which are certainly outside but which are exclusively for the use of the tenant,” she concludes.
The TAL also ordered the owner to reduce Diane Leboeuf’s rent by $200 per month starting in June 2020 until she can “again enjoy the rented premises in peace.”
Diane Leboeuf and Sylvain Rivest did not respond to interview requests from the Journal at the time of publication of this text.
The full judgment can be found in this document:
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