A community group in Winnipeg's North End has identified what it describes as a negligent landlord.

Rodrick Pelletier rented a house at 495 Dufferin Avenue for five years, but on Tuesday members of the North End Community Renewal Corp. helped him move to a new home elsewhere in the North End.

The flooring in the Dufferin Avenue home has worn out and there are holes in the walls. Last November, according to Pelletier, the furnace died.

Told not to worry

Pelletier said he called landlord Navdeep Singh Randhawa, but a woman managing the property for Randhawa ignored his complaints about the property's condition.

'It's just not legal to rent a property in that state.'—Dale Harik, North End Community Renewal Corp.

"I told her all these things and she just said not to worry about it," Pelletier said.

"I was embarrassed, but maybe the landlord should be the one embarrassed for letting us live that way."

North End Community Renewal Corp. spokesman Dale Harik said the community-based organization heard about conditions at 495 Dufferin in March.

"Aside from the lack of heat, the floors are rotting, there's no working locks on the doors, there are multiple broken windows," said Harik.

"It's just not a safe environment. It's just not legal to rent a property in that state."

Owns 24 properties

Manitoba land title records show the Dufferin Avenue address is one of 24 properties owned by Randhawa.

The North End Community Renewal Corp. moved Pelletier to a new home after conditions at 495 Dufferin Ave. became impossible to live in. (CBC)

He declined an interview, but told CBC News he was evicting Pelletier since the tenant was two months late paying rent.

Randhawa said Pelletier did not tell him about the broken furnace until March, adding he wants the tenants out of the building so it can be renovated.

The North End Community Renewal Corp. says it has identified four other rental properties registered to Randhawa that it considers to be substandard.

Another tenant complained that Randhawa ignored his reports of bed bugs and electrical issues. But another tenant told CBC News that they had no major complaints.

The North End Community Renewal Board plans to register a complaint about the Dufferin Avenue property with the provincial Residential Tenancies Board.