A lawyer employed by a federal Crown corporation tasked with improving access to affordable housing was ordered to pay $21,000 after Quebec’s housing tribunal found him liable for an illegal eviction.
The judgment, signed June 22 by adminstrative judge Marc C. Forest, found that Jonathan Savard-Shaw acted in bad faith when he instructed his Longueuil tenant to vacate a building he had bought.
The lawyer had told his tenant that he intended to move into the unit after she left, but Savard-Shaw never moved in. Instead, he re-listed the unit at $1,700 per month — raising the rent by $500 from the $1,200 his former tenant paid.
The Law Society of Ontario lists Savard-Shaw as a lawyer for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), which has a mandate to increase housing supply to improve affordability. Though an Ontario lawyer, that province’s law association says Savard-Shaw works out of the CMHC’s Montreal office.
According to the June decision, Savard-Shaw asked his tenant to leave despite “never wanting to live in the unit.” The landlord had told the Tribunal administratif du logement that he had planned to move in, but Forest said the tribunal “doesn’t believe him.”
In a statement to The Gazette, the CMHC said it “does not condone the actions referenced,” but it declined to comment on whether Savard-Shaw had faced professional consequences, citing its privacy policy.
Quebec housing regulations allow landlords to evict tenants out of their unit to move themselves or a family member in. Landlords cannot repossess a unit for other reasons without the tenant’s consent.
Savard-Shaw bought the Longueuil triplex in June 2024. The former landlord had previously lived in one of the units, leaving it vacant after selling the building.
After buying the building, Savard-Shaw rented the former landlord’s unit to a new tenant.
Around three months later, he told another tenant that she would have to leave her unit so that he could move in.
The former landlord’s unit had the same dimensions as the unit Savard-Shaw said he planned to move into, Forest noted in the decision, suggesting that he could have moved into that unit instead of renting it to a new tenant.
When repossessing the unit, Savard-Shaw told the tenant the move was necessary so that he could renovate the building he lived in. But he never went through with the renovation, citing higher-than-expected costs.
Forest said Savard-Shaw should have calculated renovation costs before telling the tenant to leave her apartment.
The landlord didn’t tell the tenant he had cancelled plans to move into the unit until she had already found a new apartment, the decision said, meaning she didn’t have the choice to stay in her unit.
So the tenant left her home, moving to a new unit and paying higher rent.
In his decision, Forest said the tribunal was “aware that there are more and more illegal repossessions” taking place.
“Housing for a tenant, like for a landlord, is one of the most fundamental needs that exists,” the administrative judge said, ruling that the tribunal had a responsibility to “send a clear and unequivocal message.”
Savard-Shaw was ordered to pay his former tenant a total of $21,000 in damages. The tribunal awarded the tenant $6,000 to cover higher rent in her new apartment, $5,000 in moral damages and $10,000 in punitive damages.
The lawyer will also have to return to the tribunal, which will decide how much he can charge in rent.
The Gazette has contacted Savard-Shaw for comment.
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