K'JIPUKTUK, HALIFAX - On its website MetCap Living, a company that owns many apartment units in HRM, promises “a great living experience in friendly neighborhoods.”

Not everybody agrees.

MetCap tenants say that mould, pests, leaks, broken appliances and security issues make life in a MetCap apartment very unpleasant.

“The only good thing that MetCap has going for it is cheap rents,” Jonethan Brigley, chair of the recently established Dartmouth chapter of ACORN Nova Scotia tells the Halifax Media Co-op.

ACORN is a Canada-wide organization of low and moderate income members. In Nova Scotia the anti-poverty group now has a presence in Halifax and Dartmouth.

Brigley speaks with authority because MetCap is his landlord. “Superintendents are overloaded with the number of buildings they run, repairs are not done, the list goes on,” he says.

This Tuesday afternoon Brigley and a handful of residents and sympathizers gathered outside of the MetCap office on Highfield Park Drive to deliver a letter to MetCap. The letter lists tenants'problems and asks for a meeting to discuss these issues.

MetCap owns a good share of the rental market in North Dartmouth, says Evan Coole, who did some organizing work for ACORN about two years ago when the organization was first getting established in Halifax.

“They are notorious for being a bad landlord, Coole says. “Wherever in Canada ACORN has a chapter and MetCap has a presence that company has been a major issue. They own a good share of the rental market here in North Dartmouth and living conditions in their units are really quite bad.”

A lack of security is high on Brigley's list of issues.

“The doors leading into your own apartment is the only thing that's secure in the buildings,” Brigley says.”Security doors get broken down. We've been asking for cameras for ever. There are people who argue and fight in hallways, dragging innocent bystanders into it.”

And Brigley is not the only one to say this. At an ACORN meeting earlier this month many MetCap tenants talked about drug dealers and other problem tenants making people feel unsafe.

The ACORN letter to MetCap emphasized that the issues the group wants MetCap to address are already covered by standards set by the city.

In a press release ACORN is also asking that HRM enforce its own standards and implement landlord licensing.

Follow Robert Devet on Twitter @DevetRobert