Help a Trans Man Recover From Apartment Robbery

TLDR:

My sibling's subletter stole or destroyed almost all of my sibling's belongings and didn't pay rent for four months, costing him a total of more than $10,000.00.

(Breton's apartment before)

(Breton's apartment after)

Hi everyone --

A few months ago, my sibling Breton Lalama (he/they) got cast in a show in Toronto and found a subletter for his Halifax apartment. The subletter pulled out at the last minute, and Breton had to quickly find someone else a day before moving. They found a woman who appeared to be trustworthy - she provided ID, the background check went through, and she paid a deposit.

However, the problems started arising pretty quickly. After the first two months, the subletter stopped paying the rent and stopped answering Breton’s calls and texts. Breton repeatedly contacted the building’s landlord, superintendent, and eventually, the tenancy board about this. The board told Breton he did not have the legal right to remove the tenant.

After Breton’s show ended, he rushed back to Halifax to try and get in contact with the subletter, who, at this point, had not paid rent in 4 months, costing Breton $6400.00 ($1600 per month x 4 months).

When he returned to his Halifax apartment, most of his belongings were stolen - furniture, clothes, mementos, everything - and the ones that weren't had been destroyed. The place had been completely wrecked.

After all this, the tenancy board STILL said Breton didn't have the legal right to remove the tenant, despite the fact that the tenant had now not paid rent, overstayed her agreed-upon sublet time, and stolen or damaged all of Breton’s things.

The identification the subletter had shown Breton turned out to be fake and was an alias for her real name, Marianne Aubrecht. The police opened an investigation, as it turned out that Marianne is a wanted felon running from conviction since skipping her supreme court date:

https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/news/warrant-issued-for-woman-accused-of-robbery-100708404/

However, the police remained adamant that they couldn't enter the unit or do anything until they saw “probable cause”, despite the fact that Breton shared this article with them, and many people living in the building ID’d the tenant as the criminal in question.

Through Nova Scotia justice, Breton was able to obtain a private investigator free of charge. Finally, at the end of 2022, thanks to the investigator, the unit’s locks were changed, meaning no further damage could be done to the unit. Breton was unfortunately taxed with paying the damages and loss the unit incurred, on top of losing the majority of their belongings. He is currently unable to afford this $3000 - and that is the first reason for making this Go Fund Me!

Breton did not ask me to make this post and would never feel comfortable asking anyone for money. As their sister, I just couldn’t watch this happen without trying to help - he is out more than $10,000.00 that he just did not have to spare in the first place. If you have literally anything you can give to try to help Breton pay for the damages and then get some money back, it would be so appreciated!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read!