Tenants at Bank Block (178 Nepean St. and 227 Bank St.) started organizing soon after Tamer Abaza and Rakan Abushaar, through their company Smart Living Properties, purchased their buildings in August 2022.
On October 30, 2023, Smart Living Properties issued N13 demoviction notices to all tenants.
On March 7, 2024, Bank Block Tenants collectively delivered a demand letter to SLP’s office at 226 Argyle Ave. BBT’s demands are simple: drop the N13s, communicate collectively with tenants, and meet with tenants to discuss the situation. Listen to their demand letter being read out in the SLP office: https://x.com/bbtenants/status/1774286157863371211
The next morning, on March 8, Abaza and Abushaar issued fraudulent N4 eviction notices to a number of tenants, including an elderly couple with English language barriers, claiming all these tenants missed the same month of rent. Instead of responding to BBT’s letter, Abaza and Abushaar resorted to fabricating eviction notices as a way of pressuring tenants to move. What Abaza and Abushaar did not realize is that because tenants are organized, they can effectively stand their ground.
At the end of March 2024, a day before their deadline to apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board, SLP filed their eviction applications.