Sudbury high-rise seniors’ apartment building without working elevators after both broke down

A group of seniors who live at a Sudbury high-rise apartment building are upset after both elevators broke down.

It’s been two weeks since the fire department in Sudbury responded to a call involving an elevator breakdown at the Bonik Tower apartment building in New Sudbury.

At that point, fire officials said the elevator was put out of service and is now the responsibility of the landlord to have it serviced.

The 16-story building is home to a large population of seniors and many residents tell CTV News that not having an elevator has meant that climbing the stairs is the only option available.

It’s something fourth-floor resident Margaret Paquette said she isn’t supposed to do since having quadruple bypass surgery.

“Going down is okay, not bad, but going up is a killer,” Paquette said in an interview.

“Fortunately, I’m very lucky compared to all the other ladies (who) live here.”

She said she was told by “a lady from the town hall” on the phone that if she had a problem going up the stairs, call the paramedics and they would help her.

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Murielle Morin has lived in the building for nine years and said while she loves the people and her apartment, she is also finding living without access to the elevator challenging.

“I just (came) back from the orthopedic surgeon. I need operations on my knees,” Morin said.

“Well, going up nine, seven flights of stairs is murderous, it’s terrible.”

Should take weeks to fix

She said she phoned the owners Tuesday morning and was told the elevators should be up and running in about two weeks.

CTV News reached out to the manager of Bonik Tower, Bobby Nikolic, and was told “he was not willing to comment.

“We’ve made it clear how we’re dealing with the elevators,” he said.

Meantime, the city sent a statement about the situation, which reads in part:

“By-law services (are) aware of the situation. While we are unable to comment on the specifics of ongoing matters, the division actively investigates property standards concerns and, when appropriate, issues a property standards order with a defined timeline for compliance.”

“The Ontario fire code does not contain requirements addressing working elevators for residents,” the statement goes on to say.

“The Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) are the authority having jurisdiction on elevators.”

Additionally, the Ontario Residential Tenancies Act does not specify a specific timeframe within which landlords must complete repairs.

Instead, it simply outlines that they must handle repairs within a reasonable amount of time.

If a tenant feels their requests are being ignored, they may file a complaint with the Landlord and Tenant Board.

Considering filing a complaint

That is something Janet Chartrand said she is going to pursue.

“The other elevator has been out for almost two years,” Chartrand said.

The building’s second elevator was working off and on in April and finally stopped working around April 28, she said.

“There was even a point where there were people stuck in the elevator for quite some time,” Chartrand said.

“That’s scary because that happened to me in one of these elevators, too. I had a woman sitting on my left or my right, and she was hyperventilating. Another woman was crying in the corner of the elevator. It was terrible.”

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Not the only issue

Meantime, tenants said this, unfortunately, isn’t the only issue they are facing.

“When I moved here last year, I had to paint my own apartment. It was so dirty. I asked them, you know, could you paint it? They’ll say, ‘Oh, later,’” said Ida Loftus, who said she has lived in the building for eight years.

“In the meantime, I painted my own place, I cleaned it up, but I had bedbugs. I had cockroaches crawling around. I had to get somebody to fumigate my apartment all on my own.”