Corporate landlords leave renters without power in downtown Halifax

HALIFAX – On Friday afternoon, NDP MLA for Halifax Citadel-Sable Island Lisa Lachance met with tenants at The Scotian in downtown Halifax who have been without power for over ten days.

The building, owned by Templeton Properties, is charging tenants thousands of dollars despite leaving them without power for almost two weeks.

“People are spending hundreds of dollars they don’t have on takeout because they can’t use their stoves or microwaves to cook their meals. They can’t work from home. They can’t study in their apartments. They can’t rely on medical devices that they need. They can’t even turn on a light. No one should be paying thousands of dollars to live like this,” said Lachance. “This terrible situation shows how unfair things are for renters in our province. People are frustrated, but they’re afraid to complain because many of them are on fixed-term leases and they don’t want to lose their apartment.”

Lachance and their NDP colleagues have been advocating for a residential tenancies enforcement unit, an end to the fixed-term lease loophole, and real rent control to protect tenants. Meanwhile, the Houston government has made it easier to evict people.

New Democrats have been pushing the Houston government to improve the Residential Tenancies Enforcement Act, so renters have more protections from being charged the full rent when essential services are interrupted. The waitlist for public housing grew by 1,200 people in just eight months, as rents have continued to increase faster than the government’s temporary rent cap.

“Renters in our province feel like the deck is stacked against them,” said Lachance. “They see their rents going up, and they’re increasingly afraid to speak out against abuse because they can’t afford to lose the apartment they do have. The government is failing to support renters. They aren’t doing what needs to be done to hold corporate landlords accountable, including closing the fixed-term lease loophole and strengthening the process for renters experiencing abuse. People in this building and across the province deserve much better.”

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