Former residents of a Moose Jaw apartment complex are still struggling to recoup thousands of dollars in unfair fees from their landlord, despite winning a battle in court over the money.
Janelle Blackman and William Rizzoli no longer live at the Southridge Park rental complex. They say their former landlord; St. Regis Management still owes them more than $2,000. It’s been over a year, and they have yet to see any money.
A court hearing found that St. Regis Management failed to uphold its end of the rental agreement, charging the couple fees it should not have. Still, the Edmonton based management company has not returned any of the money.
Blackman says it’s been a frustrating experience.
“We don’t know where to go now, because if the judge can’t make them pay, what can we do?”
Dale Beck, the Director of the Office of Residential Tenancies says cases like this are rare. Most landlords pay quickly if a judgement is issued against them to avoid damaging their credit rating.
Beck says failing that, there are extreme measures available, such as garnishing rent collected by the landlord from other tenants to pay the judgement, but he admits measures like that are extremely rare. He also says tenants can also hire a collection agency. Blackman says the cost is too high.
“How much is this going to cost me? I’m going to spend $2,000 to get $2,500 back? It’s not worth it.”
Since CTV News aired the story on Wednesday night, we have received calls from three other former tenants who say they have also received judgements from St. Regis Management and have not received any money.
St. Regis Management did not return CTV’s calls in regards to this story.
With files from Dale Hunter
