Family laments NDG apartment after unrepaired hole in ceiling brought in mice and cockroaches

A Montreal family who came to Canada with dreams of building a better life lived in an apartment in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce where mice and cockroaches were coming through the ceiling because their bathroom ceiling collapsed .

The parents are worried about the mess because their daughter has been diagnosed with cancer.

On April 12, Adil El-abbar said a huge hole opened in the ceiling of his bathroom.

His upstairs neighbor's shower was leaking and when the ceiling finally collapsed, water and dirt poured into El-abbar's bathtub.

“Every time someone takes a shower in the apartment, the water starts again,” he explained.

Dirt and mice get into their apartment through the hole. (CTV News)

He says he immediately contacted his landlord, but after almost a month the problem still hasn't been resolved. Every morning he says he has more debris to clean out, but that's not all he finds in his tub.

“Apart from the toilet problem, there is a mouse problem,” he said as mice came through the hole.

This is a major concern as his three-year-old daughter suffers from leukemia and her immune system has been weakened by chemotherapy. He says he and his wife were forced to disinfect the entire apartment every morning because there was mouse urine and feces in the apartment.

Adil El-abbar's three-year-old daughter is undergoing chemotherapy after being diagnosed with cancer. (CTV News)

He says the ordeal traumatized his two older sons. They lose sleep, he said, and refuse to bathe at home out of fear. Instead, El-abbar says, they shower at the nearby Benny Sports Complex.

“He falls asleep in class and I think that’s why,” the father said.

A mouse can be seen in Adil El-abbar's shower. (CTV News)

The owner of the Walkley Avenue building, Jean Onel d'Haiti, says he has already sent a plumber to repair the leak and is waiting for the ceiling to dry out.

In a statement to CTV News, he wrote: “This week I will absolutely send someone to seal the hole and repaint the bathroom.”

Adil El-abbar is worried about the dirt in his apartment because his daughter was diagnosed with cancer and treatment has weakened her immune system. (CTV News)

But Despina Sourias, councilor for the Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce district, says there have been complaints about the building for more than a year.

As for El-abbar's situation, Sourias says the city has hired its own plumber and plans to make the repairs. The city sends the landlord the bill.

“The situation… it poses a threat to their health at the moment. That's why we will use the forces we have to intervene,” she said.

Caring for a sick child during this ordeal has taken a heavy toll on the father. He said he immigrated in 2017 to pursue what he described as “the Canadian dream,” but instead fought to give them a safe place to live.