A local family is frustrated with issues at their rental home that have left them unable to realize their dream of using the property as a site for a pet food bank and an assessment site for dogs heading into foster care.
Nicole and Chris Tryon hope to bring a pet food bank service to the area, with partnerships already secured with Purina and a successful pop-up donation earlier this year.
“I took an afternoon and evening one day and handed out I don't know how many pounds of food,” said Nicole, who is also the co-founder of Hank’s Haven Rescue Foundation.
“My goal when we moved was that I was going to start this initiative with the pet food bank because there's nothing like that here.”
The couple have rented their home along Highway 12 in Ramara since April 1, paying a deposit of over $18,000 to give themselves “an advantage” in securing it, but soon found there were numerous issues with the property.
Smaller issues like a shattered pane of glass in the home’s sunroom, mould they said they found in the basement, among others, were overshadowed by a larger problem with the home’s septic system.
“Every time we ran the water, stuff was coming up in the backyard,” Nicole said. “We haven't been able to use our backyard at all. Even my own dogs don't want to go back there. I haven't been able to intake any fosters because I can't have an extra dog when I don't even have a backyard.”
Because of the septic problems, the Tryons said their sump pump "pretty much runs 24/7" and is among the issues the family has had getting resolved with their landlord, Elvis DeRosi.
In May, Nicole said she withheld a portion of the property’s rent in order to get the septic issue fixed.
“He started getting really crotchety with us, that we were even bringing this to his attention,” Nicole said. “He had it pumped once, and that was only after I had to contact the township. He would not do anything.”
In July, the township issued an order to comply regarding the septic issues, following a May inspection where they determined the property had a failed septic bed.
“I contacted the township and they sent out their deputy building inspector, and literally all she did was look at it (and) she was like, ‘Yeah, that's a failed septic bed,’ Nicole said.
The order specified the landlord needed to have the septic tank pumped and obtain a permit to replace it.
“It's on him to essentially fix it or pump it out every three days,” Nicole said. “The only way he would be able to cap it is if we weren't living there, and we're still living there.”
While the couple was trying to get the issue resolved, they said they had little success with the landlord.
“He would always backtrack and ask us for post-dated cheques, or … he would not even address the maintenance issues,” Nicole said. “The day that he was ordered, the very next day … he was asking us for post-dated cheques for the rest of the rent even though we had already given him a large sum of money.”
The couple said they have paid the landlord $18,500 for the home in total, leading to them filing a T6 form with the Landlord Tenant Board regarding the unresolved maintenance issues.
In response, the landlord began communicating through a lawyer, Nicole said, adding he informed the couple in July that the township was preparing an Unsafe Order for the property, as the septic system requires a “complete redesign and relocation.”
“Because you continue to reside in the rental unit the deputy chief building official for the Township of Ramara is preparing an Unsafe Order which will be posted on the property,” said the letter from De Palma & Associates Legal Services. “The landlord does not know what will be ordered under the unsafe order.”
At the time, the firm offered a deal to the Tryons to vacate the property by July 31 in exchange for the rent still held from their deposit, returning their $500 pet deposit, and forgiveness of rent withheld by the Tryons throughout the process.
Additional offers were made over the coming weeks, but Nicole expressed concern the landlord was “trying to evict us illegally,” and lamented that the “family had nowhere (else) to live – we have kids, as well.”
Nicole said the family ultimately signed a lease agreement on a new home in recent weeks, which they plan to move into this September.
The family is now seeking compensation for the move, as well, as the new home is $500 per month more expensive than the one they are leaving in light of issues that persisted throughout their stay.
The entire experience, however, has been "disheartening."
“I don’t have the capacity to be able to house the (pet) food that I’d be able to,” Nicole said.
Elvis De Rosi declined to comment for this article.
