1st Moncton building torn down after quick eviction of tenants

One of three condemned buildings at Highfield and Gordon streets in Moncton was demolished Monday, just a few days after the tenants were given a day to get out.

About a dozen tenants were evicted last Friday after a tip to fire officials, whoconcluded the buildings were dangerous and not fit to live in.

The officials wouldn't say who tipped them off about the three buildings, which were recently bought byAshford Investments, a company across the street was going to demolish the buildings anyway.

On Monday, the MonctonFire Department said the 24-hour notice from the fire marshal followed earlier eviction notices.

• People forced from homes in freezing temperatures with 24 hours notice

Evicted resident George Randall took a cab with his few belongings to Moncton's Nazareth House shelter. That's where he'll stay over the holidays.

"It's my only option," said Randall, 70, who confirmed the earlier eviction notices but thought residents had until the end of the month.

He was glad to see the condemned building torn down. His room didn't even have a bed.

"I slept on a sleeping bag on top with two pillows underneath it."

He said he sometimes felt unsafe in the building. Three weeks ago, the lock on his door was broken by a fellow resident, and there were "interesting characters" living downstairs.

While happy to be out, Randall said it was never made clear to tenants why they had to leave, and the eviction could have been handled better, he said.

"Rush, rush, rush," he said as he walkedout with with three bags, mostly of clothes.

"I don't believe it is fully justified the way they did it."

Randall said he's lookingfor a small or bachelor apartment,but it's difficult to find something he can afford.He hopes to have somewhere to live by the end of December.

Safety concerns

A spokesperson forAshford Investments said it was always the company's intention to demolish the buildings for new development.

Patrick Gillespie said the company bought the properties just over a month ago in a tax sale for nearly $500,000for new development.

The company hopes to build a commercial property on the site with residential space on top.

"The agreement of purchase and sale called for the existing owner to give notice to everyone and that, you know, they would be vacant so that when we did buy them we could tear them down," he said.

He said Ashford is not in the residential business and did not know the conditions of the buildings it was buying.

Gillespie said tenants could no longer live in the spaces because of safety concerns.

He said there were structural issues and water had leaked for a number of years.

The previous owner provided an affidavit that there were seven or eight tenants in the threebuildings.

Says several notices sent out

He said the previous owner sent eviction notices around the end of October.

When the sale went through in mid-November, Ashford gave residents a change of ownership notice, and additional eviction notices at the end of November.

"Everyone was suppose to be gone and then nobody left. In fact, more people showed up.

"Last count, the fire marshal suggested 20 to 25 people, folks would be dropping in and it became a place where folks could stay when they didn't have anywhere else to stay," he said.

Gillespie said AshfordInvestments did not receive rent payments for the properties for November and December, so it also sent notices fornon-payment of rent.

Reason for eviction

Charles LeBlanc, division chief of fire prevention at the Moncton Fire Department, said the tenants were evicted because of a fire marshal order.

After several notices were sent to the people living in the building,LeBlanc said, "tenants of three condemned building properties in downtown Moncton were officially retired from their homes on Friday with 24-hour notice."

He said tenants were offered the chance to go to Moncton shelters and were allowed to drop by and retrieve additional belongings over the weekend.

Demolition pleases neighbour

All the properties will be demolished over the next few days.

Scott Haddlie, a resident of the area for 15 years, said the demolition is going to be a big improvement for downtown Moncton.

"It was just one big party corner, people would hang out there and party and drink all the time," he said. "The landlords didn't give a crap about the people that live in there. They didn't bother fixing them up, repairing them, and [they] slowly went downhill."

Haddlie hopes new development will "elevate" the downtown and open up more businesses.

"It's nice to see the buildings go."

13 people evicted from Moncton apartment building without warning

7 years ago

Duration 0:45

Fire department officials deemed apartment building in Moncton unsafe and evicted 13 people.