'Somebody has to help': Family of N.S. senior says she's being evicted due to age, injuries

Marion Cooke has a lot on her mind as she recovers from a broken bone in her back.

Doctors said it will take her around six months to heal, but she recently found out she has to be out of her apartment by the end of April. 

"She couldn't believe it, she didn't understand," Tammy Hubley, Cooke's daughter, said in an interview. "She cried and cried and cried. She was just telling me how much she loves it there."

The 78-year-old moved into Pinehill Apartments, owned by Murex Properties Ltd., in Lower Sackville last May.

She expected to make the place her home for the long term, but didn't realize the lease she signed had a fixed term. This means it doesn't automatically renew without the landlord's written consent. 

After having two medical emergencies in her apartment early this year, Cooke's landlord informed her family that her tenancy would not be continuing when her lease is up. 

Hubley said she immediately examined her mother's lease when she heard this.

"I knew right then that they were, in fact, within their rights," Hubley said. "But in the situation that she's in, I just don't understand how anybody could not have compassion for that. She's never had a problem living there, she's never received a complaint ... never missed a payment, nothing."

"And now because she's had two ambulance calls, or at least we think that's the reason, because no reason was given, she's out."

Hubley now understands the implications of a fixed-term lease, but believes many tenants don't know what they're signing. She also believes Cooke is being discriminated against due to her age and would have been kept on as a tenant with a new lease had she not been elderly and injured. 

Tammy Wohler, the managing lawyer of Nova Scotia Legal Aid's social justice office, said the issue of fixed-term leases being used to turn over tenants without reason or explanation is growing. 

"It gives the landlord a lot of power," Wohler said. "It provides a landlord ability to out a tenant without cause at the end of the tenancy. So … essentially it provides a significant loophole to the Residential Tenancies Act protections provided to tenants."

Wohler said she often has tenants come to her asking what they can do when their landlord tells them they have to move on after a year. 

"We talk about their options, and there are no options," she said. "Either they can convince the landlord to agree to another fixed-term lease, or they're out."

But Cooke's family doesn't accept she is just being asked to leave because her lease is up. 

An ambulance was called to the building when Cooke fell and broke a bone in her back. She couldn't get up to let the paramedics in, so they called the building's superintendent early in the morning.

Shortly after she was released from the hospital, Cooke woke up early in the morning in extreme pain. An ambulance was called again. 

Hubley said the paramedics called the superintendent and the building owner to let them into Cooke's apartment, but neither of them answered the phone. When Hubley got there, she let them in.

"The superintendent sent me a message telling me that she was not happy because she had gotten a call early in the morning ... and told me that she wasn't there for medical emergencies and that she was advised to turn her phone off after five o'clock so that if anybody did try to reach her, nobody would be able to get in."

At this point, Hubley asked the building owner via email if she could pay to have a keypad lock installed on Cooke's door to allow easy access to her apartment while she healed from her injury.

Nova Scotia's Registry of Joint Stock Companies lists Charlie Atie as the company's director, president and treasurer. He told Hubley installing new locks is against the company's policy.

"I thought maybe he just didn't understand the situation, so I thought I would call him," Hubley said. "And I explained to him the situation and he said, 'No, you're not changing it.' And he said, 'If your mother's unable to live on her own, then perhaps she shouldn't be, and maybe this isn't the right place for her.'"

Hubley said shortly after the phone call, she received an email saying her mother's lease is up in April and it would not be renewed. 

Landlord response

CBC News contacted Murex Properties Ltd. for a response and spoke to Atie on the phone. 

An emailed response was sent on Friday.

"Our concern is the tenant's well-being and the ability to live independently and care for herself," Murex Properties Ltd. said in an email. "Furthermore, we have provided a solution for the tenant to stay in her unit."

The company would not address the situation further, citing tenant-landlord confidentiality. 

They did not respond to five other questions regarding the company's policy and use of fixed-term leases. 

After CBC News spoke with Atie, Hubley said she received an email stating the landlord would renew the lease if she could provide a doctor's note to confirm her mother was fit to live on her own.

She said when she pushed back, they said they would renew the lease if Hubley confirmed her mother was safe living alone. 

Wohler said this could raise some concerns. 

"I'd be surprised if, for example, a 30-year-old had an injury that required paramedics attending the home ... I suspect they wouldn't be facing the same questions from the landlord," Wohler said. 

"I do think this situation does smack a bit of ageism and I think while the Residential Tenancies Act might not be helpful in that particular case, the Human Rights Commission may have a different view on it, but I can't say."

Hubley has a tenancies hearing booked. She said she will try to negotiate with the landlord in the meantime and may cancel the hearing. 

She said her main goal is to keep her mother in a safe, affordable unit.

"At her age ... it's a lot for her to try and take in. Her biggest concern now is, 'Where am I going to go? Where am I going to live?'," Hubley said. "Most people mom's age or even those younger can't afford the apartments that are being rented right now."

'Something has to change'

Hubley said she worries about seniors who don't have someone to advocate for them, and she's calling for change within residential tenancies. 

"Something has to change, you know, somebody has to help," she said.

After a recent cabinet meeting, Colton LeBlanc, the minister in charge of residential tenancies, was asked about fixed-term leases. He said it's an element the Department of Service Nova Scotia and Internal Services is looking at as it modernizes legislation.

"We will continue to have those discussions," LeBlanc said.