A Twice-Dead Tale, Tenant's Tricks Unveiled
Mother's fatal excuse uttered twice in tragedy
Author: Lambrous Andreou | Website: Our Inquisitive Sleuth
In a twisted turn of events, Noomen Ouahadi, a tenant with a shady past, crafted a heartrending story about his mother's demise—a two-time tragedy, first in November 2023, and thenagain in October 2024. But, this narrative wasn't born out of grief; rather, it was a clever ploy to stall his eviction from luxury apartments where he lived rent-free for months on end.
In an interview with our investigative team, Tristan Pelquin, the tale of Ouahadi and his partner, Souhail Derouich, unfolded. This duo was recently evicted from yet another furnished apartment in Brossard, following 12 long months of theft and deceit.
You'd think this would be their first and last eviction, right? Wrong. Shockingly, this marked their eighth eviction, ordered by the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL) for non-payment of rent since 2011.
Calin Lupan, their latest victim, described the duo's scam as a "dry loss" of nearly $40,000, with rental receipts and court decisions to back it up. This adds to the estimated $80,000 in losses suffered by other Montreal and South Shore owners who've fallen into their trap, according to a compilation of judgments by La Presse.
At the apartment, one could find signs of the couple's destructive presence. The space was left unsanitary, damaged, and reeked of cigarette smoke despite a clear no-smoking clause in the lease. Calin, visibly frustrated, commented, "They're pigs, like I've never seen in my life."
Lambrous Andreou, another owner who faced the same tenants in 2020, painfully recounted losing $12,500 in rent. Upon regaining the condo, he found it broken, filled with alcohol bottles, and with walls knocked down.
A Well-oiled Strategy
However, the story doesn't end there. The TAL's decision over the years reveals an intricate, well-oiled strategy by the two men: move into a luxury apartment, stop paying rent, file eviction notices, and use fake excuses like an "adoptive mother's death" to delay the proceedings.
Taking advantage of the tribunal's leniency or ignorance, they'd often file "judgment retraction requests" and seek postponements of hearings, thereby adding to the delays.
Ana Doibani, another Brossard property owner, shared her grim experience of losing a year's rent to Ouahadi and Derouich, who relied on fictitious tales of deceased loved ones to postpone a hearing before the TAL in September 2023. "The TAL doesn't require proof of death," she noted, "they just had to say their mother was dead, and that was enough to delay the execution of the judgment."
According to Martin Messier, president of the Quebec Landlords Association (APQ), it's like there's a secret list of acceptable excuses tenants can give to administrative judges. "As if there's a script that abusive tenants share," said Messier.
A Locked Past
In Calin Lupan's case, the tenants filed a total of four requests to rescind the judgment, extending the eviction procedures by nearly six months. Despite the mounting evidence against them, the couple remained silent when our interview requests came their way.
Mail found in the abandoned apartment showed that Ouahadi had adopted different spellings of his name for communication with financial institutions: Ouhadi Noomen, Ouahadi Noomin, and Noomen Ouahhadi.
The 52-year-old Ouahadi has a criminal record, having pleaded guilty to 12 counts of fraud in 2009. Derouich, too, has faced fraud charges in 2021 and managed to avoid punishment thanks to the General Adult Alternative Measures Program.
Sadly, this information escaped the criminal record check the owner carried out through a private firm before signing the lease.
The court documents show that the owner did inform the TAL about the duo's repeated deceptive practices in September 2024. However, the judges ignored their past, according to the owner. The TAL's latest decision declared Messrs. Ouahadi and Derouich barred from proceeding against Mr. Lupan, concluding that they abused the rescission requests to "delay the execution" of the eviction order against them.
A Call to Action
"It's frustrating to see someone steal 12 months of rent without facing any consequences," lamented Calin Lupan. While TAL can order abusive tenants to pay rent and evict them, owners often have to rely on bailiffs to enforce these decisions, a process with limited success.
"Very often, tenants have no assets, and bailiffs can't seize anything," summarized Martin Messier. "Police intervention is rare, except in cases of serious vandalism."
The president of the APQ suggests raising an alarm bell for similar cases. On the other hand, Calin Lupan advocates launching a parliamentary inquiry into TAL's governance.
"While TAL keeps granting them extensions, we see on Souhail Derouich's Facebook page that the couple is living it up, traveling the world at the expense of the owners they've been fleecing for years," Calin said, expressing an overwhelming sentiment of disillusionment and despair.
- Despite facing multiple evictions and accusations of defrauding numerous property owners in Quebec since 2011, Noomen Ouahadi and Souhail Derouich evaded justice for years, even filing fake death certificates of loved ones to delay eviction proceedings, as informed by Calin Lupan, a recent victim.
- The Queen's Landlords Association (APQ) president, Martin Messier, highlighted concern over the Administrative Housing Tribunal's (TAL) leniency towards abusive tenants like Ouahadi and Derouich, claiming it appears that there exists a secret list of acceptable excuses for such tenants to use.
- In a tragic turn of events, Ouahadi, who pleaded guilty to 12 counts of fraud in 2009, was able to evade arrest for further crimes against their victims, thanks to the General Adult Alternative Measures Program. Meanwhile, Ouahadi and Derouich continued to live lavish lives, traveling the world, documented on Derouich's Facebook page, and at the expense of property owners they defrauded.
- The story of Ouahadi and Derouich's deceitful tactics raises concerns in the general-news, crime-and-justice sector and calls for action to address shortcomings in the Administrative Housing Tribunal's (TAL) practices, potentially leading to a parliamentary inquiry to better protect property owners and prevent such instances of eviction fraud.
