The developer of an eight-storey Halifax apartment building will be fined for allegedly allowing tenants to begin living there almost two months before an occupancy permit was granted.

"That's unsafe," said Brendan Elliott, a spokesperson for the municipality.

"There's no way we can know whether or not the building is safe, whether people can get out … if there's a fire or another emergency. We can't let people get away with that."

Permission to occupy unfinished buildings is given only after developers invite city officials to complete inspections on the overall safety of a building.

The building in this case, Boss Plaza Residences in Fairview, is being built by United Gulf Developments Ltd. Both the property and the development company are owned by Navid Saberi, who also runs the rental company for the building, GNF Investments Ltd.

Allyson White says she's taking legal action to get out of her lease. (Nic Meloney/CBC)

From Jan. 26 to Feb. 22, a numbered company owned by Saberi was served with four separate official documents from the city, ordering it remove the residents and their belongings immediately from 17 occupied units at Boss Plaza.

On Feb. 23, the city processed the necessary documents from the developer so that it could allow people to legally live on floors two to eight.

Permits are 'number-one priority'

The earliest date residents were permitted to move in was Feb. 23, but tenants say they signed leases and moved in as early as Dec. 29, 2016.

A spokesperson for the company told CBC News in an email that the building was safe and that tenants were allowed to move in as units were completed.

The spokesperson said municipal inspections were completed on a regular basis, and that life and safety systems are the company's "top priority."

As to why tenants were allowed to move in before an occupancy permit was issued, the spokesperson didn't respond to questions.

Last week, Saberi told CBC News that getting occupancy permits were his "number-one priority."

Tenant Allyson White signed a lease for Boss Plaza in December and expected to move in Jan. 1.

She said she called the building's rental company two days before she had her belongings delivered, but they gave her no indication her apartment or the building wasn't finished. When she arrived, it was an active construction site.

No running water, no locks

"There was no running water, no locks on the doors and my belongings were covered in construction dust," she said.

White was allowed to leave her belongings in the apartment, but her rental company told her the developer didn't have an occupancy permit, so she had to stay somewhere else.

White said the company offered her an apartment, rent free, at Stoneridge Tower in Armdale for "a few days" while her unit at Boss Plaza was finished. She said she was told she wouldn't have to pay rent at Boss Plaza in the meantime, either.

Allyson White is living out of a single room in her apartment at Boss Plaza. (Nic Meloney/CBC)

White said she had been living at Stoneridge for about a month when the rental company gave her one day's notice to leave and move back into her still-unfinished apartment at Boss Plaza on Feb. 1.

Threatened with eviction

When White moved back into her unit, she said an unauthorized rent withdrawal was attempted for January and February but it bounced due to insufficient funds.

She said the company threatened to evict her if she didn't pay rent for both months.

The final straw was when White discovered that electronics were missing from her belongings that she had stored at Boss Plaza. She's filed a police report and is also taking legal action to get out of her lease.

"I'm really looking forward to the whole thing being over with," said White, who is still living at Boss Plaza.

Not the first time

Elliott called the situation "extremely unusual," adding the planning department only sees a case like this once every few years.

A court decision released Feb. 10 shows Saberi pleaded guilty to occupying his own civic address without an occupancy permit for 181 days in 2014-15. He was fined $90,500, the minimum amount for a single violation lasting that long.

Elliott said in the case of Boss Plaza, Saberi will be charged again for a single violation, but that the number of tenants living in the building will be considered when imposing a penalty over and above the fine.

Elliott said the penalty should deter other developers from making the same violation. The minimum fine for a single offence is $500 a day to a maximum of $25,000 a day.