An eviction battle between a landlord and one of the tenants who helped lead a successful rent strike at a Parkdale residential building earlier this year is headed to the Landlord and Tenant Board.Mark Farquharson has received two eviction notices in a span of four months, in which landlord Nuspor Investments accuses him of being verbally abusive to its staff and interfering with the safety of the staff or other tenants. Farquharson, 40, denies the allegations and says he believes the eviction is a retaliatory measure for being one of the leading faces of the building’s rent strike that ended in March.The hearing is scheduled for Aug. 1.“We are not going anywhere because we have done nothing wrong, and I will stand on my two feet as strong as I can,” said Farquharson, who lives at 1251 King St. W. building with wife, Pratussa, and infant son. He said the ordeal has brought a lot of stress to himself and his family.“When it comes to my family, my kid was born seven weeks early,” he said as he started to break down on the phone. “If these people think this is a game, this is not a game. This is life. My wife and kid don’t deserve this s--- that’s happening right now.”Farquharson and his wife moved into a one-bedroom apartment in the building about four years ago. Earlier this year when the landlord applied for a 1.6 per cent increase above the provincial guideline, Farquharson was among the leading faces of the tenant strike in opposition to the move.In late March, Nuspor Investments withdrew the application, becoming the latest landlord to surrender to the pressure of organizing tenants in a burgeoning rental market.But before the withdrawal, Farquharson and his then-pregnant wife had been served with an eviction notice, which requested them to move out of their unit by March 16. Read More:Parkdale tenant strike expected to end after landlord backs down on rent increase‘Crisis of affordability’ fo ...
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