Gus Michalis and two of his companies have been found guilty of six charges in provincial offences court, including cutting off tenants' electricity in the middle of winter, illegally changing the locks and unlawfully seizing property.

Michalis was fined $2,500 on each of the six counts, for a total of $15,000. Libra Apartments Ltd. and Phoenix Apartment Management Ltd. were both fined $5,000 for each of the six counts, for a total of $60,000.

With the automatic 25 per cent victim surcharge fee, the total penalties to Michalis and the two companies amount to $93,750.

"I think it is a significant penalty," said Jean Dyer, the investigator who laid the charges on behalf of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. "It's one of the largest.

"These were very difficult situations for the tenants at a particularly horrible time of year," Dyer added.

"It's the middle of January and somebody doesn't have hydro. It's outrageous, really."

Two of the convictions related to a case in January and February 2007 when the electricity to a unit at 1544 King St. East was cut off.

Four of the convictions relate to an incident that took place in January 2007 involving Yvonne Carey, a tenant at 540 King St. East, near Emerald Street.

Just after 9 p.m. on Jan. 17, 2007, Carey discovered that her electricity had been shut off.

She went to her sister's home to spend the night, and when she returned to her building the next day, she found her locks had been changed and some of her belongings, including her box spring and mattress, were lying in the courtyard, covered in snow during a storm. When Carey attempted to retrieve her fish tank, she discovered that her fish had died.

"I was really upset," said Carey. "It broke my heart."

Carey said she also obtained a $4,000 judgment in July 2007 against Michalis through Ontario's Landlord and Tenant Board to cover the cost of the belongings she lost. Carey said she hasn't yet received the payment.

Michalis could not be reached for comment. He did not appear in court on Oct. 1 when the convictions and fines were announced.

Michalis made headlines in May 2007 when he shut off the power to 1544 King St. East because of a dispute with Horizon Utilities over $45,000 in arrears that had piled up on the building.

Stuck in the middle of the dispute were the building's remaining occupants -- a disabled couple, one of whom relied on an electrically operated oxygen machine while sleeping.

A Spectator report at the time said that Michalis had been the subject of 20 applications in front of the Landlord and Tenant Board brought forward by tenants at five different buildings, which had led to $6,000 in outstanding fines.

In the cases that led to fines, the board's adjudicators variously described Michalis's actions as "particularly offensive," "a grievous breach of his contractual obligations to the tenants," and behaviour that "begs for the imposition of an administrative fine."

sbuist@thespec.com

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