Tenant who owed $11,400 leaves Harrietsfield house a wreck: ‘I don’t know why she did this to me’

HARRIETSFIELD, N.S. — Standing outside the bathroom of his rental property where the toilet and bathtub were left overflowing with feces (both dog and human), Mazen Shbeeb said he doesn’t know what he’s going to do.

“It’s just not fit for humans. No one can live here, it’s completely ruined,” he said. “The bathroom, it’s full, I can’t go inside … It’s just disgusting.”

The tenant who lived here with her two children and two large dogs hasn’t paid rent since June. She was given an eviction notice through the residential tenancies dated Nov. 15 and the next day, she complained to HRM that the power had been shut off.

She said that power and heat, both included in the rent, were cut off and her lease is valid until Jan. 14. She told HRM “this all started over a washer which did not work months ago” and this is not the first time he has shut off the power. Staff said in a report that there have been no previous complaints and the water had been restored.

By law, landlords have to provide power. Shbeeb appeared before the appeals committee in December saying that he couldn’t afford the power bill because he wasn’t being paid rent. He was ordered to connect the power or face a $237-a-day fine. 

SaltWire reached out via email to the tenant for comment on Thursday but didn’t receive a reply.

Shbeeb said he didn’t want to call the provincial sheriff’s office to have them removed because he’s a peaceful person.

Since then, Shbeeb said he worked out a deal with Nova Scotia Power to pay half of the bill for them to reconnect the power. He still hasn’t been paid any rent.

The tenant appealed the eviction notice but was given another dated Jan. 9, Shbeeb said. He said she was ordered to pay $9,300 but stayed another month so the total owing is $11,400.

He said he believes she finally left on Jan. 14 because a professional property manager volunteered to help him out and she told the tenant that the sheriffs would be coming soon. The tenant stayed until the very last day of the lease.

But what she left behind has left Shbeeb feeling defeated, sleepless and at his wit’s end. He said his wife has been crying for days.

“Because this is our savings, this is something we thought would make us comfortable in our future,” he said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t know.”

‘What have I done to you?’

The dog poop starts in the driveway and leads to the garbage and old Halloween decorations scattered on the front yard.

Broken furniture, beat-up toys and yellow-stained mattresses are scattered about the four-bedroom, one-and-a-half bathroom house. Grime is everywhere. There are mystery stains on the walls.

In the kitchen, cupboards are kept together with elastic bands. Old food and stacked pizza boxes litter the space. The fridge offers an array of rotten food.

But the worst of it — by a longshot — is in the basement. The smell hits first.

Shbeeb said the floor is completely wrecked, buckled from water damage and the bathroom door remains closed for good reason. Poop is everywhere.
Shbeeb said there’s no doubt this was done on purpose.

“I don’t know why she did this to me. She was staying here six months for free and then did this — why? What have I done to you?”

Fix it or demolish it?

Shbeeb said he has no idea what he’s going to do now. He has received one quote of more than $20,000 to repair the damages. The $1,100 damage deposit doesn’t come anywhere close to covering it.

“It’s nothing,” he said.

He bought this house more than a year ago and spent $12,000 to paint it and fix it up.

Shbeeb said he can’t imagine he could get anyone in to clean the bathroom.

The stress of this situation is overwhelming. Shbeeb said what started as an income property — along with another in HRM — so he can retire has turned into a nightmare.

“I don’t think I will rent a place to anyone again. No, I will never do that,” he said. 

“To be honest with you, two, three days now I cannot sleep, I’m just thinking about what to do, how to do it,” he said. “I was struggling before to pay the power bill. Now how can I pay to get this renovated and repaired? I don’t know.”

He said it might just be easier to tear it down.

“Because now it’s going to stay empty. No one would come and live here and financially I can’t repair it. I might tear it down, I don’t know.”

Hard lessons

Shbeeb has learned some hard lessons and he said other small landlords like him should invest in hiring a property manager.

And make sure to do rigorous background checks on tenants, he added.

He said he places a good deal of the blame on the provincial residential tenancy board for not taking effective action, the long delays, and the enormous amount of red tape and hoops he had to jump through.

There isn’t much Shbeeb can do now beyond trying to sue for damages and he said he is looking into that. He knows the tenant is now living in public housing because he received a call from the agency, Shbeeb said.

He said he asked his insurance company about coverage but he’s not optimistic.

The Nova Scotia Landlords Association website says evicting a tenant in this province is becoming increasingly complex and lengthy.

“Small business landlords are rarely acknowledged for the risks they face as well as for the vital service they provide.”