S sits in the doorway of the house she rents a room in while on the phone with her lawyer. S has been living here since September 2019 when she moved from Calgary to Toronto to pursue a music career. She rents a room in the house and currently lives alone, though she knows the other rooms may be rented out. After her landlord allowed members of his family to sleep in the other rooms several times overnight without proper notice (24 hours) to S that they were coming, she withheld rent in January 2020 to see if the landlords would start a negotiation. S has a history of sexual trauma. She is uncomfortable with strangers showing up in her home unannounced. In March, due to Covid-19, she lost freelance work as a music teacher and also as a performer for a local production. She fell behind on rent and has not been paying because she wants the landlord to stop sending people to live with her on short notice. She collects $2000 from the Canada Emergency Response Benefit each month and says she can pay rent. Recently, the landlord has asked her to leave due to non-payment of rent and has been sending various people to the property daily to harass her and ask her when she is going to leave.
After the landlord asked S to move out, she has been hesitant to leave her home for fear the landlord may come by when she is out and change the locks. She has also moved all of her belongings that were outside of her room into her room for safekeeping. A covered piano sits in the corner of her room, a reminder of S's past musical life before the pandemic.
The bolt lock on the front door has been removed by the landlord a few months after S started living in the house. Whoever has a key that the landlord provides is able to access the property now. Once, S was having breakfast in her pyjamas at the kitchen when two males emerged from the spare bedroom. The landlord did not inform her of the guests beforehand.
S is frustrated while on the phone with her lawyer. The lawyer repeated something incorrectly, and S, thinking he didn’t understand her, for a moment, thought her situation seemed entirely hopeless. They are preparing a letter to send to the landlord so his family will stop showing up unannounced to the property.
S has a history of being sexually assaulted and is anxious whenever she is in a vulnerable position. She has not been able to properly care for herself since a forced entry a few days ago by a realtor and their client and hasn't showered for days.
It is 6 pm and the first meal S has eaten all day. She has been on the phone with her lawyer, looking at a new apartment and trying to figure out her next step while a neighbor she met from a tenant group accompanies her for moral support.
S and her lawyer sent a letter to the landlord asking to stop his unannounced visits. Immediately after the letter is sent, S receives an angry call from the landlord's mother. After she has begun to relax a little after two days with no sign of the landlord or his family, the landlord's father-in-law unexpectedly shows up at 10:30 pm to move into one of the rooms in the house when all of the neighbors have left.
11 pm: neighbors from the tenant group have shown up to pressure the father-in-law to leave, but he says he has nowhere else to go.
The worst of S' fears are coming true. She is having an anxiety attack.
Bella waits while the downstairs tenants, whom S has called for help, knock on the door where the father-in-law is inhabiting. Both the downstairs tenants and the father-in-law speak Spanish, so S thinks they will be able to reason with him. The father-in-law tells the downstairs tenants to stay out of this conflict as it may have adverse side effects for them. They leave after he refuses to exit the house.
Everyone is getting tired but S does not feel safe in the house alone with with the father-in-law though her door can lock. She also doesn’t want to leave in case the father-in-law prevents her from entering her home again. At 2 am, S finally agrees to go to bed after another neighbour volunteers to sleep on the kitchen floor overnight to be with her while the father-in-law is still in the house.