A Toronto landlord says he’s at the end of his rope trying to evict a couple who caused more than $24,000 damage with a legal marijuana grow-op in his Etobicoke apartment.

“I am financially and emotionally drained,” says landlord Shiv Bhardwaj.

But the tenants in this year-long battle are appealing the ruling of a provincial tribunal which determined they caused the damage, and say it already existed before they moved in. They accuse the landlord of using their federally authorized grow-op in a converted second bedroom as an excuse to renovate the dilapidated apartment, and have them pay for it.

“There is no damage,” said tenant Rebecca Rochon. “The only damage is from the ceiling because there is a hole in the roof. We’re packing up to move. We’ve had enough of him.”

When the Star recently visited the second-floor apartment on the Queensway near Islington Ave., it was home to three dozen marijuana plants in various stages of growth.

Eight security cameras installed by the tenants — one out back, one in front and six inside — streamed footage to a television monitor because the tenants fear their plants would be stolen. An industrial fan vented air from the growing room outside. Tenant-installed wiring inside PVC pipes ran from the kitchen to the growing room.

The apartment is above an all-you-can-eat Indian restaurant in a strip mall that includes an adult video store and an erotic massage parlour.

Rochon, 35, has a federal licence to grow 39 marijuana plants to help manage a form of muscular disease. Her partner and fellow tenant, Henry Walburg, 46, a motorcycle-driving former rooming house operator, has a permit to grow 15 plants to quell pain from two “blown out knees” and severe arthritis.

Rochon is also allowed to store up to 1,755 grams of dried marijuana and Walburg 675 grams. Both receive Ontario Disability Support payments, more than $2,000 between them.

They are among the 37,000 Canadians with permits to use or grow medical marijuana, up from 500 in 2001. A recent news release from the federal health department noted “this rapid increase has had unintended consequences for public health, safety and security as a result of allowing individuals to produce marijuana in their homes.”

Bhardwaj said a new federal law that, beginning April 1, will make it illegal to grow medical marijuana at home can’t come soon enough. Users will be required to purchase the drug from a licensed provider and it will be couriered to their home.

The couple moved in June 2012. Rent was $900 a month. By October, Bhardwaj had applied for an eviction order for nonpayment of rent. The provincial Landlord and Tenant Board gave them time to pay.

By April 2013, with arrears growing to $3,800, the board issued the first eviction notice.

Walburg and Rochon countered the eviction order with a call to the Municipal Licensing and Standards department complaining of shoddy maintenance.

A city inspector cited Bhardwaj with 14 violations of the Municipal Code, including failure to fix a leaking roof, cracked walls, missing window screens and handrails not maintained in safe condition.

Armed with the inspector’s work order, the couple went back to the landlord and tenant tribunal seeking 100-per-cent rent abatement. That stayed their eviction.

The tribunal granted them an $850 abatement but did not rescind the eviction, saying most of the repairs needed were cosmetic in nature and did not meaningfully impact on their enjoyment of the premises.

Bhardwaj said he noticed during an inspection that the couple had damaged the apartment by cutting 10-centimetre holes in the walls to provide power to the grow-op which in turn caused mould and moisture damage to walls and floors.

After the landlord made his damage claim, an adjudicator with the Landlord and Tenant Board sided with Bhardwaj. The couple then sought a review of the eviction notice, citing errors by the adjudicator. Their application was denied.

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“It is not plausible that the landlord would have consented to have extensive damage done to the unit,” said adjudicator Egya Sangmuah.

In August, a second eviction order was issued. That, too, has been stayed pending their appeal to Divisional court.

“This guy (Walburg) has some chutzpah,” said Pamila Bhardwaj, a lawyer and daughter of the landlord. “He calls the city to complain about damage, but he doesn’t tell them it was caused by his grow-op. In fact the city inspector wasn’t allowed to see the grow-op.”

That’s because, the tenants say, marijuana plants need sleep time.

Rochon said the plants were sleeping and turning on the lights could have damaged the entire crop. Contractors were advised of the times they could come but arrived when the plants were in their sleep cycle, she said.

“We have nothing to hide, we’ve done nothing illegal or wrong,” said Rochon, who suffers from myotonic dystrophy, a muscle disease.

Contractors “were told if they came before a certain time you can see the room, but if the lights are off, then they stay off, because you are waking up the plants, and it is going to end up stressing them out where they die.”

Bhardwaj, they claim, has harassed them into moving right out of the city and they plan to relocate themselves and their plants to a two-bedroom house in Chatham where rent is only $700 a month.

On Friday, the Star visited and the apartment seemed empty, though the landlord said his keys have not been returned.

Police have been called by both sides in this year-long marijuana war.

A recent exchange at the door between Bhardwaj and Rochon led to a spate of profanity levelled at each other. Bhardwaj has been warned by police not go back to the premises pending the resolution of the issue in the courts.

Walburg faces a mischief charge relating to his unauthorized altering of the electrical system in the apartment, with a court date in the near future.

Even if Rochon and Walburg have vacated the premises the landlord cannot take possession or re-rent the apartment until their appeal is dealt with, Pamila Bhardwaj said. “The harassment of my father continues. So does his financial hardship.”

Such situations should be a thing of the past once the new medical marijuana regulations are fully implemented. Home grow operations will be phased out and only facilities that meet the government’s new “strict security measures” will be able to produce marijuana for medical purposes, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said in announcing the regulations.

Holders of personal use production licences have until March 31 to get out of home production. Any plants in their possession must be destroyed by then. They can apply for a new personal use permit and only obtain legal marijuana from a federally licensed facility.