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A notorious Montreal landlord will have to pay a former tenant close to $13,000 in damages after his building was deemed a danger to the health and well-being of its residents, the Régie du logement ruled in December.

Salmah Idar was desperately looking for an apartment in the summer of 2011 when she found a landlord willing to let her and her six young children move into a 5 1/2 apartment in Park Extension.

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It was in pretty rough condition, the 43-year-old said on Friday, but she “couldn’t find anywhere else that would allow the seven of us to live in one apartment.”

She signed a lease for $700 a month and moved in that July. Despite her best efforts to make it livable for her children, she was well aware that the conditions were subpar — there was visible mould, “lots and lots” of cockroaches and mice, and holes in the walls, she says. The water would turn on and off. The faucets always leaked, and the glass back door had been smashed in.