East Hamilton apartment without water since end of December

Residents living at an East Hamilton apartment are still without water since pipes burst at the end of December. While the days are ticking on the landlord to fix the problem, the city is supplying tenants with jugs of water to live.

READ MORE: Residents of Hamilton apartment without water for two days

At 70 years old, David Galvin didn’t envision living like this, “I think when we’re kids, we often fantasize about how our lives will unravel… and obviously, had I been able to look ahead and see myself in this position at this age, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

Galvin and other tenants at 1082 Main Street East have been without water since the end of December. Burst pipes caused the water in the building to be shut down. Caveat, the landlord’s legal representation, says motels or hotels were offered to tenants to stay while the pipes are replaced. Galvin says he’s only using the motel for showers.

The city’s health and safety division has been supplying tenants with massive containers of water to help cook and use the washroom. Last week, by-law gave the landlords 19 days to repair the pipes.

The city says, “once the order expires, by-law will reach out and we will determine if there has been compliance and if not, we will be bringing in a contractor.” The city says the landlords will be getting the contractor bill.

Galvin pays less than $900 per month for rent and thinks he and fellow tenants are being slowly renovicted for new tenants that could pay triple the amount.

“For months and months, there’s been no garbage pickup at this building. The building has been left in a partially renovated state because the permit from the city wasn’t even available to continue the renovations. Now we’ve lost our water and there’s no urgency to replace or repair that. So I believe that basically, the landlord would like us all to move out,” Galvin said.

The city says fines against the landlord are also in play, they add that the landlords could also appeal the request to fix the pipes and prolong the issue.