Beyond the Headlines

At first glance it was simply a local story about tenants having trouble getting repairs from their landlord.

Last June, we reported that tenants in several apartment buildings in Dartmouth had been ordered to stay off their balconies because they were unsafe. They had been trying to get the buildings owner, TransGlobe Apartments, to make repairs for months.

Now it appears they were a small part of what is a much bigger national story.

Marketplace, CBC's consumer watchdog show, has now documented a litany of complaints against TransGlobe stretching from Vancouver to Halifax.

TransGlobe is one of Canada's biggest landlords with 26,000 rental units in six provinces. The show went into several TransGlobe apartments and townhomes. They found leaky roofs, leaky basements, broken windows, and mould so bad, inspectors hired by the show told the tenants to move out immediately. And of course, there were those condemned balconies in Dartmouth.

According to the show, the man behind TransGlobe has sold it and started a new property management company called Starlight. A quick check of their website shows that company has now acquired buildings across the country including one in Halifax and another in Dartmouth.

Since we reported the story back in June, we're told most of the balconies at the TransGlobe buildings have been repaired. But the problems continue. One tenant told me several of the new windows and doors, in at least two of the buildings, are leaking, and have been for months. She says the company keeps promising repairs but so far they haven't been done, and she says one neighbour is so frustrated he is moving out.
 
If you haven't seen it, here's the full Marketplace story.