Maimuna Sarah Malek says she’s at her wit’s end dealing with a dispute with her landlord that’s left her without running water in her home for more than a week.
“I’m just lost,” says Malek. “I constantly check to see if my water’s turned on, every morning.”
Malek says she, her husband, and their four children have been showering and doing laundry at a friend’s house and buying bottled water for everything else, including flushing the toilet and washing dishes.
The situation, says Malek, is the result of a tenancy dispute that's gone from bad to worse.
“It's an emergency situation. You have to live with water, you can't live without water,” she says.
Then, on Monday afternoon, her power abruptly went off, forcing the family to stay with friends.
Malek says it started last May, when her landlord June Liao -- operating under Sheba Queen International Investment Consulting Inc. -- wanted to raise the rent at her Dartmouth, N.S., bungalow. Liao appears to also use the name Qun Liao on some of the documents Malek shared with CTV News.
Malek says when she received email communication from Liao about her intent to raise the rent from $1,400 a month to $1,600, Liao also attached a new lease for her to sign, which she did.
But after learning through her own research that the increase was higher than Nova Scotia’s current rent cap allows, Malek says she looked back at the first lease she signed in February 2021 to start her tenancy. It was then, she says, that she realized the water bill she'd been paying for a year was supposed to be included in the rent.
She took the matter to Nova Scotia’s Residential Tenancies Board. In November 2022, the residential tenancy officer ruled in Malek's favour.
According to a copy of the decision Malek provided to CTV News, the lease signed in February 2021 was “deemed to have been renewed” on a yearly term.
That lease included water in the rent. The lease from May of 2022 did not. Malek provided signed copies of both to CTV News.
The residential tenancy officer also rejected any rent increase on the same basis. The decision states, “In order to comply with the lease, the landlord is responsible for the water.”
“Any water utility paid by the tenant so far can be deducted from the tenant’s next rent payment,” continued the Nov. 8, 2022, order.
After that, Malek says she stopped sending Liao money for the water bill, and also deducted what she had already paid from subsequent rental payments.
So, when Malek got a notice on the door from Halifax Water Feb. 10, stating service would be cut off, she was shocked.
Malek says the landlord stopped paying the bill and left her taps dry.
June Liao refused multiple requests from CTV News for an interview and instead entered into a lengthy discussion via text message.
In the exchange, Liao alleges the 2021 lease provided to residential tenancies was a “fake lease” and had been forged, but would only provide a copy of the second lease when asked for the original.
She also says Malek can turn the water back on by paying the utility the outstanding balance and insisted the water account is in Malek’s name.
CTV News asked Liao by text if she made a disconnect request with Nova Scotia Power to turn off the electricity at the address, but received no response.
Malek says none of Liao’s allegations are true, and that Halifax Water told her she can’t get the water turned back on because she’s not the account holder.
“Even if she thinks I forged the lease, why is she not going to the tenancy board? Why is she not going further? Show me the lease,” says Malek.
According to Halifax Water, 40 days after a bill is issued, regulations allow service to be turned off if the bill hasn’t been paid.
The utility says account information, such as the amount owing, can’t be shared with anyone other than the account holder. But it adds anyone can make a payment on an account if they have the account number.
Malek shared a photo with CTV News of a Halifax Water bill for her address from September 2021 that shows Liao as the account customer.
“So, now the Halifax bylaw, they're trying to work with the Halifax Water, what to do to get it on,” says Malek.
A spokesperson with the city of Halifax confirms municipal staff visited the home on March 1, and that at the time, “the unit did not appear to have access to running water.”
Public affairs advisor Klara Needler says an order was issued to the property owner that day “to immediately reinstate water supply.”
In an update late Tuesday, Needler states staff issued another order March 7 for reconnection of both the electricity and the water service.
She adds failure to do so would result in fines.
“How can we avoid situations where this is happening ... to resolve disputes before they get to this point?” asks Joanne Hussey, a community legal aid worker with Dalhousie Legal Aid. “And how do we make sure that issues like water and basic utilities, and really, the basic necessity of housing are being provided for, and that those things are not being taken away from people as part of that struggle?”
Hussey says the orders made by residential tenancies can only be enforced by taking matters of non-compliance to small claims court. She adds such tenancy decisions are not public, so it can be hard to track if a landlord is under multiple orders.
When it comes to bylaw enforcement through a municipality, Hussey adds that process takes time.
“There isn’t a clear, quick way to address a situation like that,” says Hussey. “And I think it really speaks to the pre-existing power imbalance between landlords and tenants, that the landlord has control over your housing and oftentimes over things like your heat, or lights, or water. So, that puts tenants in a really vulnerable situation.”
“I feel like the system has failed us,” says Malek. She says enforcement is too slow, and landlords in general need to be held accountable.
Malek says she plans to take the matter to court, while also looking for a new place to live.
“What I want, what my family wants, we just want to live somewhere safe, where we pay to live,” she says. “We want to be able to be respected as tenants and that we don’t have to worry about something like this happening again.”
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