'Nothing seems to be getting solved': Still no heat for some tenants inside downtown apartment

The waiting game continues for tenants inside a downtown Windsor apartment building who have gone one year without heat.

In Feb. 2022, heat stopped coming through the units of 524 Pitt Street West. The lack of heat was not an issue from April through September, tenants said, due to the weather getting warmer during those months.

But, as of Feb. 19, 2023, the heat has still not returned in all units.

Marda Management, the property management company which has attributed the issue to a faulty boiler, said the heat was restored to some units — but not all — after repairs were made to the boiler.

The company issued a notice to tenants on Feb. 8 saying it would be replacing radiator bleeders inside the remaining affected units and they would need to wait until Feb. 10, following a 48-hour cycling of the boiler, to see if heat had been restored.

According to tenant Jorden Arsenault, the radiator bleeders inside his units appear to have been replaced but heat is still not coming through.

"A technician came in on February 14th for another round of checks, it seemed like they believed it was resolved. The repairman genuinely looked puzzled when I mentioned that none of my radiators were still not working," he said.

"That was a red flag to me. I immediately called Marda's maintenance line that morning and filed another maintenance call for my radiators, yet again."

Since his latest call to Marda's maintenance line on Feb. 14, Arsenualt said he has yet to hear back from the company.

"It's been a helpless experience. I just feel stranded," said Arsenault.

In a notice issued Feb. 6, Marda Management, which compensated tenants' hydro costs for the first two months of the heating outage, asked affected tenants to submit their hydro bills received between Oct. 2022 and Feb. 2023.

Marda added it would be "evaluating each bill and issuing credits accordingly to compensate you for the increased usage expenses you may have incurred due to using alternative heating solutions."

They did offer an overage charge. They didn't cover the full extent. I don't know how they calculated this. But it certainly wasn't the full five months of hydro," said Arsenault.

Arsenualt said he plans on moving ahead with an application he previously filed with the Landlord and Tenant Board to seek further compensation.

He's hoping to get his application fee back and recoup the cost of a heater he purchased after supplemental heaters supplied by Marda Management, Arsenualt said, were inadequate.

"I don't have a lot of issues with this building outside of the management. I do enjoy my place here. I just wish I could be heard at this rate and things finally get addressed," Arsenualt said around 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 19, adding the temperature inside his unit is sitting at a "fairly livable" 17 C.

"I'm over here celebrating my first anniversary of not having heat. Nothing seems to be getting solved."

Following a request for comment from CTV News Windsor, Marda Management CEO Marla Coffin said she could not accommodate a phone interview due to Family Day weekend obligations.