A dispute between a condo manager and a group of students that turned physical has resulted in the condo manager losing his job.
The altercation occurred Wednesday, inside the office of the Sage condo developments. Video of it was posted to Youtube the following day.
The video depicts two students sitting in chairs inside the building, and an employee of Waterloo-based property manager Domus Housing telling them to leave the premises.
“You two, get out. Get out now. Neil, help me throw these two out,” the man says at one point.
Moments later, the man grabs one of the two visitors, pulls him out of the chair and directs him toward the door.
Police say the man was in the right, given that the incident occurred on private property, and they don’t anticipate laying any charges in the case.
“When you’re asked to leave, you need to leave,” Waterloo Regional Police Staff Sgt. Mike Haffner said in an interview.
However, Haffner said, police would have preferred if the man had contacted them – something he threatened to do earlier in the video – rather than dealing with the situation himself.
“If a circumstance like this does occur, we ask that people call 911 or call the police and that application of force be a last resort,” he said.
While the condo manager’s actions may have been legal, they weren’t looked kindly upon by the property management firm.
In an email to CTV News, a Domus Housing spokesperson said that the man was no longer an employee of Domus, and that the company was "disturbed and embarrassed" by the incident.
“We take this matter very seriously and in conjunction with a third party, have launched a full investigation into the matter,” the statement reads.
“We do not condone this or any other such behaviour against any person at any time, and have a very clear policy outlining procedures for dealing with difficult situations.”
The people on the other end of the condo manager’s actions tell CTV News that the dispute stemmed from ongoing delays at the Sage II building on Spruce Street.
Sage II was supposed to be finished by early September, but occupancy dates have been pushed back several times
Interviewed by CTV News, the students in the video say their latest move-in date had been set for Thursday.
Wednesday, they say, that was pushed back several days – prompting their visit to Domus.
They say they had been at the office for about three hours before the employee in the video came out and angrily told them to wait for an email with more information.
Friday afternoon, building inspectors were at Sage II to determine whether the first tenants can move into the building.
A representative of developer In8 Developments said he was hopeful partial occupancy could be approved no later than Monday.
