The owner of Stanbar properties is a cold heartless human being who only cares about money not people. Yesterday my 77 year old mother who suffers from mild dementia was forced to move out of her apartment. She was happy there and had many friends in the building. My family wanted me to move in with her, I am her daughter, and I was more than happy to do so. In 2017 she was having trouble getting things fixed in her apartment and I went to bat for her. It took a few months and many phone calls to Ion Belu, some of them heated, before things were resolved. Needless to say I was not his favourite person. I stayed with her last year after she had she surgery and during that time he and his property management team continually harassed my mom and i. I had a small very quiet and lovable dog and they tried everything they could to have me removed. While dogs are allowed in all buildings in Ontario they claimed that he was not allowed. First they said guests were only allowed for three weeks. When I challenged them with the rules of the landlord tenant act they tried another route. They tried to get other tenants to say he was a noise disturbance. They failed to prove this. Then they threatened my mother by sending her an eviction notice. We went to the landlord tribunal and the agreement was that we would put the dog in a carrier in all public spaces in case someone was afraid of him. It was laughable as he is a 20 lb bundle of fur and love.. We complied.
After my mom was better i moved out and went travelling for a few months. While I was gone they issued another eviction notice to my mom in Februar claiming that I had thrown things off the balcony and failed to pick up after my dog. Complete falsehoods! he was terrified as they gave her two weeks to move out. They went back to the tribunal and she was told that she could stay if she signed something to say that I could not stay there again nor could I visit. This was there way of ensuring that my dog and I would not be allowed back in the building. My mom signed it out of fear of being evicted in the middle of winter. Meanwhile she was suffering from early dementia and was easily confused. When I returned i was shocked at what they had done. Now she needed my help and I could not help her. My brother and sister tried to appeal to him but he would not budge. It turns out other seniors wanted to have small dogs and he denied them their rights. He did not want them to see my dog and knew that I would advocate for them. Some of the seniors are very lonely and a dog is just what they need. We considered taking the issue to the tribunal but by this point my mother was too upset and could not handle any conflict. So she left her home of 7 years.
As we were moving her out yesterday we met many other tenants who could not believe what stanbar had done to her. They greeted me warmly and asked after little bear. They had come to love him during my stay. Some of them, whom I had cooked meals for as a treat, told me they missed having someone do something kind and unexpected. In particular one lady told us of her on going problems with having things not fixed in her apartment after many requests. I can't help but wonder how many more seniors whom have no one to advocate for them are routinely ignored by Stanbar ownership and property management. I am going to report this organisation to the minister of seniors affairs and I can only pray that something positive comes of it. For my mother it is too late.