Mobile home park residents across Alberta will soon have some help when it comes to resolving issues with their landlords and no one could be happier than residents living in Okotoks Village Mobile Home Park.

The UCP has put forward a bill that brings support for those living in mobile home communities when a dispute with the owner of the park arises.

Bill 3, the Mobile Home Site Tenancies Amendment Act, is intended to give mobile homeowners and tenants the same access to a dispute resolution service as tenants of traditional homes, condos or apartments currently have.

Nate Glubish, Minister of Service Alberta says currently Alberta is the only province that does not have legislation in place protecting mobile park tenants from rent increases or other issues that come up.

"That's what this new act that we are bringing forward will accomplish, is to remedy that and make it available. So that every Albertan regardless of where they live will have access to a dispute resolution service between a tenant and a landlord," said Glubish.

The current legislation falls short of supporting those residents and the only recourse they have is to hire a lawyer and take the matter to court at their own expense.

Ken Hood, homeowner, and resident at Okotoks Village says residents were told an additional charge would be added to the steadily increasing lot rent, for Internet service, regardless of whether or not they already had that service by another provider.

"All of sudden the Internet was imposed on us and included in our pad rent. Some of us who had contracts with various suppliers, we had to pay our penalties to get out of contracts that there was no need for ending and we were happy with the service we were getting. But we had no choice." said Hood.

Hood says he has been fighting for assistance from the government for over five years and he is happy someone is finally listening.

"We're quite excited about it." he said, "It actually gives us the opportunity to complain about things we feel are unfair with our pad rent in the mobile home park without having to go to the law courts."

Their fight began in October 2015, when residents from the park came before Okotoks town council citing issues with the park owners (then Lansdowne Equity Ventures) including high pad rental rates, unwanted internet fees, a lack of maintenance and perceived general lack of concern for the welfare of residents.

Over time the only change residents saw was in the ownership of the mobile home park, which is now managed by Cove Communities. Hood said the same issues have been ongoing under the new ownership, particularly a lack of maintenance and sky-high pad rental rates.

With several binders full of documents relating to this issue collected over the years, Hood says it's been difficult for residents to speak out about the issues because they are afraid of eviction from the park.

"Once that fear is removed it will put a lot of people's minds at ease and I think they will speak up even more at that time," said Hood.

Hood has not been alone in this fight for parity and he is hopeful there may be light at the end of the tunnel.

"This time it actually looks like it is going to go somewhere." he adds, "It's been a long and arduous road."

In October 2019, the Town of Okotoks brought a resolution forward to the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association to lobby for mobile home park resident's rights and ability to go before the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service (RTDRS).

Hood says he is very grateful to Mayor Bill Robertson and members of the town council who have been very helpful in moving this issue forward.

Glubish says the issue was one of the first files on his desk when he took office last year and he has been working closely with MLA's across the province to address the concerns of residents.

Currently, Bill 3 has passed the first reading and moves forward to the next step in the process.

 

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