Winnipeg landlord fined $9,000 for evicting College Avenue tenants without notice

Posted on October 9, 2024 by Peggy

A landlord who evicted tenants without notice from a North End building in July has been hit with $9,000 in fines.

A statement from the province confirms the Residential Tenancies Branch issued penalties to Kelly Vasas, the landlord of 285 College Ave. This follows the province issuing 32 lockout orders to Vasas and hiring a locksmith to re-key all the doors and let the tenants return home about a week after the evictions.

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Vasas’s lawyer says his client has filed appeals for each of the nine $1,000 fines. That appeal is set for the end of October.

In mid-July, tenants say they were told to leave the building immediately, with only the possessions they could get out of their rooms within the day. Several said they were offered money to leave, and that they were intimidated by the workers who allegedly broke and threw away tenants’ property.

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Kyle Lemke, who now lives in a Manitoba Housing unit, says he still hasn’t received any compensation for the furniture and possessions he had to leave behind. He says he’s glad to see some kind of punishment for the landlord.

“I’m not sure if that’s on the high end or low end, but it’s good to hear that he’s being fined,” Lemke says. “And that sounds like a serious fine to me – if I got a $9,000 fine, I’m out of business.”