A rental agency official cancels the eviction notices that a Tim Hortons franchisee in Souris sent out
Three people who lived in an apartment building in Souris, P.E.I., and were given eviction notices by the building’s owner, a local Tim Hortons franchisee called D.P. Murphy Inc., have won their case.
But at least one of them feels like it’s a victory with a bitter taste.
After a hearing on the evictions earlier this month, P.E.I.’s rental regulator, the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission, decided on Friday that existing tenants can stay in their homes because their rental agreements will stay in place.
Brenda Hanson is one of three people in the small town at the northeastern tip of the Island who fought to stay there.
She said she had started collecting boxes and was getting ready to move, but she hadn’t found a new place to live yet.
“I’m so happy to be staying,” she said, adding about her landlord, “If I leave, it will be on my terms, not his.”
D.P. Murphy owns and runs a number of Tim Hortons stores in Prince Edward Island.
According to documents the company sent to IRAC, it planned to use the building to house temporary foreign workers who would come to work at the coffee shop’s Souris branch.
Lawyers for D.P. Murphy did not want to talk about this story.
tight rental market and job market
Hanson said that everyone in the community knows that people need homes and jobs. She said, though, that the evictions wouldn’t have helped with those problems.
Hanson said, “Every time you turn on the news, the biggest problem is that there’s nowhere to live and no apartments.”
“I know there aren’t any workers either, but they shouldn’t have to move in with us.”
Beverley Harris, a renter, had mixed feelings about the decision. She had already made plans to move out of her two-bedroom apartment on the top floor and into one that was half as big.
She said, “I feel pretty good that we stopped the eviction.” “There’s another part of me that’s sad I had to move.”
Harris said that she felt like she was “forced” to move. She had started looking for another apartment before she knew what would happen at the hearing.
“When I tried to find a place to live, there wasn’t much,” she said.
“I guess I moved into that apartment out of fear.” “We didn’t find out what was going to happen until Friday, and by then it was kind of too late to change our minds.”
This month, Harris has to pay rent on two apartments, and she has to downsize because her new place in a building for seniors is so much smaller.
She said that the process had cost her money because she had to hire a mover, give some of her things to charity, and pay to store other things.
She said she wants her former landlord to pay her money “just to cover my moving costs because that was an extra cost I hadn’t planned on.”
“I don’t think it’s unreasonable to want that, especially after all the stress we went through.”
Appeal period not ove
Both women said that now that IRAC’s decision is out of the way, they are waiting for the appeal period to end so they can move on.
“I didn’t get rid of my boxes just yet,” said Hanson.
IRAC says that people who disagree with an eviction decision have 20 days to file an appeal.