Image: submitted.
When Rebecca Train posted on social media a rent increase she received on September 1, the Facebook post quickly went viral. Train, who lives in an apartment with her teenage daughter in Saint John, is facing a $950 increase as of December 1.
For the past five years, Train paid $850 per month with utilities included. She now feels no choice but to move, which is hard to do with rental prices increasing in the city, as they are elsewhere in the region.
“Honestly, I’m just going to have to move, we’ve been looking for apartments the past couple of days to try to find something reasonable, but it’s not the easiest thing to do right now…I’d like to stay under $1,100-$1,200,” said Train.
“It’s stressful. I understand a normal increase, if he put it up $100, or $150, that would make total sense and it’d be fine. But to more than double it, it blows my mind honestly.”
What people wouldn’t have gotten from Train’s Facebook post is how long the tension has been increasing between tenant and landlord over this East-side apartment in Saint John. Over the past few months, there have been multiple eviction notices, involvement from the New Brunswick residencies tribunal, and confusion over who the landlord even is.
Train fights two eviction notices
According to Train, she received her first eviction notice in early June, saying she had to vacate the apartment by the end of June. She went to the New Brunswick Rentalsman and emailed a representative for the landlord, stating she couldn’t be evicted within 30 days.
The representative then told Train he had no lease on file from her, and claimed the lease isn’t valid if it hadn’t been renewed “year to year.” He then told Train she had 24 hours to send him a copy of the lease.
She next received a notice of eviction for July 1, even though the notice itself was signed on the same day, basically giving Train less than a day’s notice. The Residential Tenancies Tribunal eventually ruled that the July eviction notice did not meet the criteria laid out in the Residential Tenancies Act.
Who’s the landlord?
This whole ordeal has uncovered a bit of a mystery; Train isn’t sure who the actual landlord is of her building. In the many notices she received (either of eviction, complaint, or rent increase), one of two people signed the paperwork: Jose Ferreira and Rick Silva. On separate forms, they have both signed where it asks for the landlord’s name.
Train always assumed Ferreira was the landlord. But both men deny owning the building, saying they work for the landlord.
Silva, when reached by phone, said he used to work for the landlord but not anymore. Ferreira never responded to multiple phone and email communications from Huddle.
After Train’s rent increase story went viral, however, Ferreira sent an angry email to Train, saying he was receiving harassing comments. He also denied being the landlord.
Train denies releasing any of Ferreira’s information or encouraging friends to send him harassing messages.
In a separate email, dated September 1, Ferreira told Train she was expected to vacate the apartment by “midnight tonight,” which Train refused to do. A notice of complaint was taped to her door on September 2, saying she was notified as early as May 25 that she was to leave the property. Train claims she never received a notice in May.
Landlord speaks out
Huddle recently received an email from someone claiming to be the apartment’s landlord. They didn’t sign their name, saying they wished to remain anonymous.
They sent a picture of the alleged May 25 eviction notice. It does state that the eviction notice is addressed to Rebecca Train to leave on September 2, but much of the info on the form is blotted out. There’s also no way to confirm whether Train received this notice or not.
In the email, the landlord says they wanted to evict Train because a family member needed to move in.
“We attempted to evict Rebecca on proper and good terms back in May 2021 to evict on her anniversary date which is September 2nd. She … keeps trying to find ways not to leave the premises. Rebecca currently occupies a 5-bedroom unit in the home and our intention was to move a family member inside the home.”
Train disagrees with the description of her apartment having five bedrooms. She calls it a four-bedroom apartment.
The landlord also denies being malicious when raising rent, saying that market research showed the apartment should be leased for more than $850 per month.
“I also want to note that considering the hike in housing prices in the past year and a half, there is no surprise the hike in rental prices as well. The rental increase wasn’t done in a malicious way, but I also want you to understand, when you rent a 5-bedroom unit 5 years ago at a low price then someone else comes along and purchases the home at more than double the market value of 5 years ago, the rental prices will increase no matter what.”
Train says she has reached out, once again, to the Rentalsman regarding the rental increase notice and the recent notice of complaint which claimed she should have moved out by September 2. There is currently no cap on rent increases in New Brunswick.
Derek Montague is a reporter with Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
