A fugitive landlord is at large. Where does that leave dozens of his Ontario tenants?
Tenants of buildings owned by a wanted fugitive could be safe from eviction if the bank or a new landlord take over, a legal expert says.
Gareth West, 45, is wanted by U.S. authorities for allegedly running a grandparent scam call centre in Montreal, defrauding American seniors out of more than $21 million US. He's been at large since an arrest warrant was issued for him in February.
CBC News has previously reported that Gareth owns two apartment buildings — one in St. Thomas and the other in London. West bought another building, at 232 Elm Street in St. Thomas, in March 2022 but the three-storey walk-up was ordered shut by the fire department last November for severe fire code violations, resulting from botched renovations. It was foreclosed that same month before the bank took over in January, according to property records.
"When the bank takes over, it's actually a good thing because if the landlord wasn't paying the utilities then the bank takes on the responsibility and things get restored," said Elena Dempsey, a lawyer at Elgin-Oxford Legal Clinic in St. Thomas.
Tenants living at West's rentals at 14 Holland Street in St. Thomas and 308 Egerton Street in London say they've been left to deal with uncollected garbage piling up, power interruptions and no hot water. They've expressed concerns about what comes next in the absence of their landlord.
Both cities said services are restored at the apartments and they're working with the respective mortgage lenders.
What happens next?
The next step would involve the mortgage lender, which could be the bank, seizing the properties and taking ownership until its sold to another buyer. However, tenants would have protections against evictions under the Residential Tenancies Act.
"The only way the bank would seize the property is if the landlord goes into default on the mortgage," Dempsey said.
"We have in the past had times where the landlord can't pay utilities, or the landlord is unable to maintain the payments on the property and the bank takes over, which is more frequent."
With West on the run, the lender can get an order from Superior Court allowing it to take ownership, but that process could take several months.
Residents will then have to prove they are legitimate tenants, after which they'd receive something called a Notice of Attornment and their rent would be paid directly to the bank from the date of the notice.
Having the bank as their landlord can be a boon for those living at the buildings because it can guarantee stability in services, said Dempsey. If another person or company purchases the building, they become the new landlord and cannot evict tenants without valid cause, she added.
"Only under the act can you evict, you cannot just say 'Get out people, I'm the new owner,'" Dempsey said. "If the new person takes over and one of the tenants do something that give rise to eviction, potentially yes, they could be evicted, just like they can be evicted anywhere else."
The landlord could apply to demolish the building or convert it for other use but they're required to provide at least 120 days notice and tenants can contest that at the Landlord and Tenant Board — another lengthy process.
Municipalities limited in authority
Municipalities are limited in their jurisdiction over private properties, said St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston. However, his city and London have issued bylaw notices which gives them authority to address violations such as garbage collection, and issues with water and electricity.
"Not having trash picked up is not likely enough of a property standards but when we get water and electricity shut off, then we can step in after a disconnect has happened to get it turned back on. We cover those bills and put them on the landlord's [property] taxes," said Preston.
"The landlord has certain obligations, even if he is an absentee landlord, and it appears right now things are back on and tenants are being well served but we will make sure we get involved where we need to."
With West at large, the property tax expenses become a lien on the buildings and would prevent future sales until that's paid, said Preston, adding: "It gives us some power to be able to collect from anybody who might purchase the building in the future."
St. Thomas officials managed to find new housing for all tenants at West's Elm Street rental, said Preston. Both cities said they will work to help relocate tenants in the event of an eviction, but that remains up to the mortgage lender or new owner.
Some tenants CBC News spoke to said they won't be paying rent until the situation is resolved, with some saying efforts to make their payments have been unsuccessful and deposits weren't accepted, though others said the money was withdrawn from their accounts.
Dempsey's advice is to put money aside until there's a resolution. Tenants could pursue the new landlord for violations of tenant protections such as loss of services, interference with reasonable enjoyment, emotional distress and other issues.
"It's not a good idea to withhold your rent. Any court does not look favourably upon self-help remedies," she said. "Let's say the tenants pooled all their money together and paid the hydro bill, that might be a good argument as to why they shouldn't pay their rent but I'm not hearing that that's what they've done."
West and 25 others are facing wire fraud charges in the U.S. for the alleged grandparent scam, and he could spend 40 years in jail, if convicted.
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In the early morning light outside O'Hare International Airport, Cynthia Myers was dressed like a bride. Her long white dress seemed curiously out of place Friday on the curb outside Terminal 3, but Myers didn't seem to notice; the man in the slightly loose black suit had her full attention. After three weeks in a Louisiana jail — because of an apparent error by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — Cheikh Fall had finally come home to his wife. On his overnight flights from Monroe, Louisiana, to Dallas and then Indianapolis, he wore the same suit he'd had on when immigration authorities wrongfully arrested him outside his asylum hearing in the Chicago Immigration Court on June 4. It took more than $12,000 and 23 sleepless nights, but Myers got her husband back. She knew he would be wearing the suit so she dressed up like his newlywed bride to celebrate the reunion she gleefully dubbed their 'remarriage.' Myers couldn't stop laughing. 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But even she was surprised by the magnitude of the error that detained Fall: She said the basis of his arrest and three-week detention was his I-213, prepared by ICE, indicating his asylum case had been dismissed. It never had been. 'The shock is the fact that they got something so big so wrong,' Casas said. A spokesperson for ICE said he could not immediately comment on the case. Wednesday morning, Myers paid the bond and was trying to figure out how to get Fall out of jail. She called the correctional center and was told to fill out a form online and await an email response. After three weeks of waiting, she had to wait some more. He was finally released Thursday night. 'I've never been through anything like this,' Myers said. 'They don't give you any information … so I'm just at a loss.' Myers said she's never been good at waiting around. She's the kind of woman who drives her three children around in an electrician's truck and clambers onto rooftops to repair solar panels singlehandedly. She doesn't like to ask for help either, she said, and rarely needs to. Until she met her husband, Myers was good on her own. But finding Fall, Myers said, was like 'finally finding a home.' Myers doesn't usually go to the gym; her job at Windfree Solar keeps her active enough. Yet in October 2023, on one of the rare days Myers found herself at the Kenwood Planet Fitness, she met the man she would marry. Fall was working as a bodyguard for a politician in Senegal when he was shot and kidnapped by his boss's political opponents. After narrowly escaping, Fall fled Senegal to seek asylum in the United States. 'He came to America because we're supposed to be a welcoming country,' Myers said. In April 2023, Fall arrived in New York City, where he lived in a shelter for six months. In October of the same year, he moved to Chicago. Within a month of arriving, he saw Myers working out at the Planet Fitness and asked her to go on a date. They went to a popcorn shop down the street. The couple were married Feb. 1, 2024. Her independence never waned, but Myers got used to having someone else to rely on. Fall worked as a security guard for Narrow Security and started his own small company, too. As Myers' partner, he lightened her load: Fall helped run errands, pick up her kids and pay bills. Her children love him — especially her two sons, 8 and 10, who — until June 4 — hung out and played video games with their stepfather all the time. 'He's literally the best person I know,' Myers said of her husband. 'He's selfless. He'll go out of his way to help people, even when he can barely help himself.' Fall and Myers have spent most Friday nights since they got married preparing food for the homeless at a shelter in Indiana. Before June 4, Myers said she almost never cried. But 12 days after Fall was taken from her, Myers' left eye was rubbed raw. She was exhausted from a lack of sleep and had barely eaten in days. Her daughter, 17, started helping with her little brothers' meals. Though it was hard to focus, Myers said she stayed busy with work, needing her steady income now more than ever. Windfree Solar took on some of Myers' financial burden, including Casas' $3,000 flat rate. Some of Myers' colleagues set up a GoFundMe for continuing legal fees and Fall's bond; the site had raised $1,336 as of Wednesday. But even with all the help from her colleagues, Myers said she is floundering to find the rest of the money she needs for Fall's case. For an asylum lawyer, bond and myriad procedural fees from the last three weeks — with Casas' bill — it's a $12,000 ordeal, she said, and all to pay for someone else's error. Fall's three weeks in custody meant sharing a room with approximately 50 other men in beige prison suits, he said. They were in one room where they not only slept but also ate and used the bathroom in it. Fall suffers from asthma, and the lack of fresh air made it hard for him to breathe. He was let outside for just minutes a day. 'I need air,' he said on a phone call from Richwood Correctional Center two weeks ago. 'That's why I'm scared here.' Still, like Myers, Fall knows how to endure. His job as a security guard often puts him in dangerous situations — he was stabbed in November while working security at a Walgreens. Like many people arrested by ICE, Fall was held at the Broadview Detention Center in Illinois — where he slept on the floor for a night — before being transferred briefly to Texas and then Louisiana. Illinois' 2021 Way Forward Act means there are no detention centers in the state, which is why detainees are almost always transferred to neighboring states. Texas and Louisiana, however, aren't exactly close to Chicago. According to Hallett, Chicago residents like Fall are being transferred so far out of state because the 5th Circuit — where Richwood Correctional Center is — has more immigrant detention facilities than most other parts of the country. Louisiana alone has 12 to Illinois' zero. 'ICE has very broad authority to move people wherever they want, whenever they want,' Hallett said. Additionally, judges in the 5th Circuit tend to refuse relief more than judges in the 7th Circuit, which includes Illinois, according to TRAC data. For a long time, Fall had no idea how long he would be in jail. Casas had to call the 5th Circuit court multiple times before Tuesday to remind them to put his case on the docket. It was finally scheduled for June 24, but ICE did not make Fall's I-213 available until the morning of the hearing. Casas was left to speculate how the Department of Homeland Security would argue for Fall's deportation, until Tuesday, when she realized that the document included false information. The judge presiding over the bond hearing, Allan John-Baptiste, ruled in Fall's favor, though he did not grant Casas' request for minimum bond. John-Baptiste also rescheduled Fall's master asylum hearing from July 2026 to this coming November, and moved it from the Chicago Immigration Court to one in Jena, Louisiana. If Fall does not petition for his case to be moved back to Chicago, John-Baptiste will hear his asylum case, rather than Gina Reynolds, the judge who moved up his Chicago hearing. Between 2019 and 2024, Reynolds granted asylum to defendants far more frequently than John-Baptiste did, data shows. In some ways, Fall is lucky — at least, compared with other detainees. Thousands of people arrested by ICE don't get an attorney, because unlike in criminal court, defendants don't have a right to appointed counsel. Many of them are given higher bonds that they can't afford to pay. Some will unwittingly sign the self-deportation form that Myers warned her husband against. Most people don't have a Cynthia Myers on their side. 'I'm still sad, because other people are going through it,' Myers said Friday. If it weren't for her, ICE's mistake might have led to a worse fate for Fall. Even now, the freshly reunited couple is wary this could happen again.
