Can’t unplug the toilet after hours? At former Lions Place, that’ll be $150, please

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This article was published 24/01/2024 (636 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

We don’t know how many people it takes to change a light bulb in the former Lions Place but we do know it will cost $50.

The former non-profit highrise seniors residence —sold to Alberta-based MainStreet Equity Corp., last year and renamed The Residences at Portage Commons — has distributed to all tenants a list of regular and after-hour maintenance fees it will now charge.

In addition to light bulbs, the charges include: $75 to plunge a toilet, sink, or tub due to tenant neglect, and $150 if the service occurs after hours; $150 to repair a stove the next business day; and $150 if staff have to reset a power-breaker switch in a suite.

“The cruelty of this is unbelievable,” Shauna MacKinnon of the Right for Housing Coalition said Wednesday.

“It’s another example of how they are pushing these folks out. Already seniors are moving out and other people are moving in. But you still have older, low-income folks who can’t do these tasks themselves and they rely on property management.”

Gerry Brown, the building tenant who chaired the Lions Place residents’ seniors action committee, which unsuccessfully fought the sale of the building, was taken aback by the notice.

“I’ve lived here for nine years and, up until now, I’ve never received a charge for any maintenance issues,” he said.

“They checked my heating system and there was no charge to me when this was Lions Place. They had full-time employees and that was their job. The new people don’t do that.

“This is another reason why this should still be a non-profit seniors building.”

No one from MainStreet could be reached for comment.

The 291-unit building was sold for a reported $24 million last year.

To cushion the expected rent-increase blow low-income seniors in the building feared before the takeover, the previous provincial government agreed to pay $1.2 million in rent subsidies for the first two years after the sale.

On Wednesday, Housing Minister Bernadette Smith released a statement.

“The current agreement with Mainstreet Equity was entered into under the previous government who allowed affordable seniors housing to be sold off. Our government’s priority is to work with other levels of government to build more social and affordable housing and to support non-profit housing providers to keep social housing accessible.”

Last month MainStreet announced its Winnipeg profits had helped make it so profitable that for the first time it would begin paying shareholders a dividend of 11 cents per share starting this year.

Tom Simms, whose 94-year-old mother lives in the building, said he isn’t happy about the announced charges.

“There needs to be a long-term grandfathering clause for the tenants there.”–Tom Simms

“You were never charged before when you needed to get a toilet or sink unplugged,” Simms said.

“There needs to be a long-term grandfathering clause for the tenants there. These seniors shouldn’t have to pay these charges. The new government needs to ensure the existing tenants are protected.”

A provincial spokesman said under The Residential Tenancies Act, landlords themselves “are responsible to provide and maintain rental units and the residential complex along with the services and facilities promised in a good state of repair, fit for habitation and in a state that complies with health, building, maintenance and occupancy standards required by law.”

The spokesman said when landlords buy an existing residential complex they take on all the the terms and conditions of all leases, and any services included in the rent, and if appliances are included with the rent, the landlord can’t charge the tenant to repair them unless it is “a non-emergency, after-hours situation, or if the tenant has caused damage.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca