Montreal tenant recounts three-year wait for damages after rental board ruling against landlord

Judy Mrenica says she’s yet to receive $3,000 in damages awarded against her former landlord, after Quebec’s rental board ruled she was harassed.

A Montreal tenant is speaking out about her lengthy wait to receive damages awarded by the rental board, following a ruling against her former landlord, Magali Cuvillier.

Judy Mrenica decided to share her story after a CTV News investigation revealed a number of Cuvillier’s former tenants claimed they had negative experiences with her, that resulted in them leaving their apartments.

In June 2020, at the height of the COVID pandemic, Mrenica said she jumped at the opportunity to move into a two-bedroom apartment at 4010 Evangeline in Verdun.

“Few people were moving around because of the pandemic, so I grabbed it,” she said.

In February 2022, when she was paying $866 a month in rent, the building was sold to real estate investor Magali Cuvillier.

According to Mrenica, Cuvillier immediately began imposing new rules and attempting to significantly increase the rent – which Mrenica resisted.

“You can’t just come in here and increase the rent by $200,” Mrenica said, noting that the terms of the lease she had already signed were still valid for another few months.

In keeping with the conditions of her original lease, Mrenica had been paying rent to her previous landlord via Interac e-Transfer. Cuvillier wanted monthly automatic withdrawals from Mrenica’s bank account.

Mrenica claims Cuvillier persistently pressured her into accepting a change to the rent payment method, to remain in her unit. She also said Cuvillier incessantly sent her text messages, threatening to evict her. As a result, Mrenica said she blocked the text messaging function on her cell phone.

When she attempted to pay her rent via Interac e-Transfer, Mrenica claims Cuvillier refused to accept the payment.

“She wanted what she wanted with everybody else. To get me out,” said Mrenica.

Within a month of Cuvillier taking over the building, Mrenica decided she needed to find another apartment.

“If I stayed, she would have made my life a living hell. I could hear her knocking at other residents’ doors, demanding signatures, raising her voice at them,” said Mrenica.

“For me, with my life experience, if the honeymoon phase is rocky, I don’t go past it. I’m out the door,” she added.

Rental board ruling

In March 2022, Mrenica filed a claim with Quebec’s rental board against Cuvillier’s numbered company, alleging harassment and refusal to accept her method of payment. The administrative judge ruled in Mrenica’s favor, concluding that Cuvillier had been harassing her, and “persistently violated the tenant’s rights, all with the goal of making her leave the dwelling.”

Cuvillier was ordered to pay $3000 in damages, but Mrenica has yet to receive the awarded sum.

When contacted by CTV News, Cuvillier declined an on-camera interview. In an email, she claimed Mrenica was unreachable.

“Ms. Mrenica never provided an email address, making any electronic communication impossible.She blocked telephone communications,” Cuvillier wrote.

Cuvillier included a screen shot of a group text message dated March 1, 2022 in which Mrenica wrote that the text messaging function on her cell phone would be disabled.

“After she vacated the apartment without leaving a forwarding address, it was impossible to send her a cheque. When I went in person to the TAL [rental board] to make the payment, I was informed that the TAL does not accept this type of transaction,” Cuvillier added.

Following that email, Cuvillier’s lawyer contacted CTV News, requesting to be put in touch with Mrenica to “settle the monetary matter of the judgement.”

Mrenica said the issue with should have been settled much sooner. She also noted while she temporarily disabled text messages on her cell phone, she was still accepting calls – on both her cell phone and landline. Both phone numbers, she added, were listed in the documents she filed with the rental board, and available to Cuvillier.

“If she was going to be honorable towards it, she would have paid me without my having to chase it,” Mrenica said.

Cuvillier refutes Mrenica’s version of events.

“I never refused to make the payment. Ms. Mrenica had every means to contact me, which she never did,” Cuvillier wrote.

Verdun mayor reacts

The borough mayor of Verdun, Marie-Andrée Mauger, said she is all too familiar with stories like Mrenica’s.

“Unfortunately, the case of Magali Cuvillier is not the only one in the borough of Verdun, and in Montreal,” said Mauger.

“Through my time as mayor of Verdun, what I see is that for some people it’s their full-time job to renovate buildings and evict tenants. But for some tenants, they’ve been staying at this place for 10, 20, 30 years. They haven’t looked for an apartment for so many years, and it’s changed so much, and they don’t know their rights,” she added.

“The balance of power between [landlords and tenants] is very disproportionate. And also, the landlords with bad faith, they can say whatever they want to the tenants.”

UPDATE:

February 27, 2026: Judy Mrenica confirmed to CTV News she received a $3503.01 cheque in late December 2025.