Tribunal orders landlord to pay tenant fighting cancer and spouse $62,000 after ‘bad faith’ eviction

For rent signs are seen in the Montreal borough of Verdun on Thursday, June 26, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)

A Quebec landlord has been ordered to pay his tenants more than $62,000 after a “bad faith” eviction forced them out of a home while one of them was undergoing cancer treatment.

According to a judgment from the province’s housing tribunal, the landlord had claimed that he needed to repossess the dwelling so that his stepson could live there when, in reality, he ended up demolishing the home and selling it for more than $1 million.

“The Court is convinced, on a balance of probabilities, that the landlord repossessed the dwelling in bad faith with the intent to profit at the expense of the tenant’s right to remain in the premises,” reads part of the April 28 ruling from the Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL).

The document described how, in 2022, Janet Reside Rosetti and her spouse, Andrew Rosetti, had to find a new place to live after getting a notice of repossession for the home they had lived in since 2016.

Andrew has been undergoing chemotherapy after being diagnosed with lung cancer in the summer of 2020.

“He had difficulty standing. The tenant fed him because he could not do so himself. He did not pack the boxes during their move,” said the judgment, which noted that the landlord, Fausto Sabatino, knew about his illness.

“His wife took care of everything. She also cried frequently.”

After finding a new place to live for her and her spouse, she wondered if their old home was actually occupied.

“She continued to drive by the house in question from time to time afterward to check whether her stepson was indeed living there,” but noticed no one had moved in and there were no blinds or curtains in the windows, according to the TAL. Then, in October 2023, she saw that the house was being torn down. That’s when she hired a lawyer.

In May 2025, the home was listed for sale for $1,275,000 and was sold for $1,215,000. The landlord had bought the home for $255,000.

“There is no doubt here that the purpose of the tenant’s departure was to evict the tenant in order to demolish the building, not to reclaim the unit,” the TAL decision stated.

The tribunal found that the tenants suffered “disturbances and inconveniences” justifying compensation. It ordered the landlord to pay the tenants $35,000 in punitive damages, $17,450 in property damages, and $10,000 in moral damages.

“The court notes that her spouse was suffering from cancer at the time of the move. She had to find housing in a first building, which she subsequently left to move into a second residence. She had been living in a relatively affordable residence since 2016. The move caused significant upheaval,” the decision stated.

“The entire situation caused her stress and inconvenience. The amount awarded adequately compensates her for the damages, distress, and inconvenience she suffered.”

In 2024, Quebec imposed a three-year moratorium on certain types of evictions, preventing landlords from kicking tenants out to subdivide, enlarge or change the use of a housing unit.

France-Élaine Duranceau, who was Quebec’s housing minister at the time, tabled the moratorium bill after acknowledging the province was in a housing crisis.