A family in Rosemere is searching for a new home after a surprise eviction following the end of a verbal lease.

Shawn Fitzgerald, his eight-month pregnant wife and their three year-old child found themselves locked out of their apartment, north of Montreal, Wednesday after they were unable to pay their rent for the month of August.

The contents of Fitzgerald's home were piled into a trailer, and when Fitzgerald kicked down the door of the apartment, discovered it had been emptied.

"I came into my mattress on the wall, my air conditioner sitting in the middle of the floor, no fridge, no nothing," he said.

Fitzgerald claims he and his wife had been living in their apartment for four years on a verbal lease, and when the new building manager Francis Michaud took over, Michaud said Fitzgerald refused to put the agreement on paper.

"They… told me they would be moving Aug. 14, which I took to be the end of the verbal lease" said Michaud.

Fitzgerald said the eviction is illegal.

"A verbal contract just as well as a written contract has the same legal implications," he said.

According to the Regie du logement, Quebec's rental board, Fitzgerald is right.

A formal lease should have been signed, but if a tenant fails to pay rent, a landlord should first notify the Regie.

According to the Regie du logement website: "The landlord (can) request that the tribunal order the tenant to pay the rent and other costs, but also the resiliation of the lease and the eviction of the tenant and the other occupants."

The rental board will now rule on the eviction, and possible compensation, as the Fitzgeralds search for a new home.

For rules about paying the rent, click here.