| Ellen Langille, like a growing number of Calgarians, has a rental story from hell.
This fall she rented a house in Calgary’s inner city that had no heat in the basement where her son was living, the toilet on the main floor didn’t work, there were mouse droppings on the floor and the broken garburator was full of rotting food. As well, one of the windows had a bullet hole through it. Those were just the major issues.
"It was an absolute shit show," says Langille, who says the landlords "didn’t give a rat’s ass." She is enraged at the treatment some renters are receiving at the hands of unscrupulous landlords in Calgary’s almost zero-vacancy rental market.
After her landlord refused to take any action, Langille called the Calgary Health Region and an inspector noted 14 public health violations related to the condition of the house. Before the health inspector submitted the report to the landlord, Langille received an eviction notice. The landlord told her plans were being made for major repairs to the house and no one could live there in the meantime.
Langille says the cost of moving twice in a little over a month almost bankrupted her. Meanwhile, her landlord only refunded her part of her damage deposit and told her she was keeping the rest for upcoming utilities bills, which is illegal.
Langille is planning to file a report with a province against the landlord and she also plans to take the landlord to small claims court.
"I haven’t cried so much as I have in the last couple of months. I felt taken advantage of, used. I felt it was just another kick in the face for someone without money," she says. "It’s been the most rotten couple of months."
Langille says she’d like to see a tenant advocacy board established in Calgary to help out renters such as her.
"Landlords can pretty much do whatever the hell they want and it’s got to stop. Everybody you talk to knows somebody who has this kind of a situation and it’s really a black mark on this city," she says.
Unlike cities such as Edmonton and Fort McMurray, Calgary doesn’t have a landlord and tenant board that helps resolve disputes. Calgary used to have such a board but it was disbanded years ago.
Eoin Kenny, spokesperson for Government Services, the province’s department that deals with landlord and tenant issues, says the Alberta Residential Tenancy Act does provide protection for renters. He says renters who feel their rights are being violated can call the department and make a formal complaint. If the landlord is found to have breached the act they can be taken to court. If there are public health issues, like rodents or no heat, Kenny says people should call the Calgary Health Region. People can also take their landlords to small claims court.
The province has also created a pilot project in Edmonton, called the Residential Tenancies Dispute Resolution Service, through which landlords and tenants can receive a binding decision to resolve their dispute. The service costs $75 for the person who initiates the complaint. Kenny says the pilot project could be extended to other cities in the future. Calgary Liberal MLA David Swann is actively lobbying for that to happen in Calgary.
However, Grant Neufeld, a member of the grassroots activist group Calgary Housing Action Initiative, says while there may be "protection on paper," in reality, too many landlords are getting away with abusing their tenants.
Neufeld says there’s "insufficient" government staff to investigate complaints and he says tenants are often afraid to complain about their landlord out of fear they’ll be evicted.
He agrees with Langille that Calgary needs a landlord and tenant board.
"We need very active support to protect the interests of tenants," says Neufeld. "Right now things are heavily weighted in favour of the landlords." |
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