Caught in the middle
Renters angry after water services abruptly cut by city
More than 30 families on McQuaid Court in Summerside woke up Tuesday morning with no water to their townhouses.
Eddie Rossiter lives in the development, which is off South Drive, and spent most of the morning on the phone trying to find out what had happened.
After calling the City of Summerside, Rossiter was told that there was an issue with his landlord and that service had been cut off to the court.
There was no warning for tenants, he said.
“There was some grumpy people around here today.”
The Journal Pioneer could not confirm Tuesday with either the landlord or the City of Summerside why the water to the homes was cut off. However, the city has a policy of disconnecting water services for overdue accounts after delivering two written warnings, at least 14 days apart, to a property owner. There are about 36 units on
McQuaid Court. Tenants make rent payments to an entity called the McQuaid Court Board.
Tenants pay their rent and the landlord is supposed to pay for the buildings’ use of the water utility.
Lisa Hopper has lived on McQuaid Court for seven years and said there has never been a problem like this before.
“You’ve got to be kidding me, that’s what I feel,” she said.
A city crew arrived in the neighbourhood while the Journal Pioneer was present and turned the water back on around noon. Rossiter then received a followup call from a city official who indicated that the landlord or their representative had been in touch and made arrangements that allowed the water to be turned back on.
Rossiter described the whole situation as frustrating.
If it is indeed the case that there was a problem between the city and the property owner, he feels the tenants should have been notified by the municipality that something was afoot before they woke up without water in the middle of the summer.
There are recourses for people in this situation under the provincial Landlord and Tenant Act, he said, but those options are of little use when a service has already been disconnected. The City of Summerside’s website regarding water services indicates that if a tenant has a water utility account in their own name and it becomes in arrears, then the owner of the property could be informed of the situation. It should not be a big change in policy to have the same courtesy extended for the reverse situation, said Rossiter.
“This is where policy meets the human condition,” he said.