If It’s Not on File…

**This featured case is one example of the concerns people have brought to us. Names have been changed to protect the identity of the people involved.

Ida was an older adult who learned that, due to a change in building management, she would now be renting from the Regina Housing Authority (RHA). She attended a tenant information session. At the end of the session, an RHA employee told Ida that she owed the RHA about $800. Ida could not recall the debt, but agreed to a meeting.

At the meeting, Ida was told that more than 10 years earlier, when she had been renting from the RHA, a pre-authorized rental payment had not gone through due to insufficient funds. A few months after that, Ida had moved and the RHA did not know how to contact her – until now. The employee offered to reduce the bill to $600, but told Ida that if she didn’t sign a new lease and commit to a repayment plan, she would be served an eviction notice.

Ida did not remember missing any rent payments. She and her son went to the bank to look up her old account records, but learned that she would have to pay a fee to access information that was more than seven years old. Ida contacted our Office. She told us she was worried about being evicted. She said she had lived at the previous apartment for five months after the alleged missed payment, and did not understand why they had never talked to her about it. She said she was not trying to cheat anyone, but wanted proof that she owed the money.

We contacted the RHA about Ida’s situation. A manager met with her to explain that all tenants had to sign a new lease and to assure her that she did not need to worry about being evicted. The manager agreed to produce evidence of the debt from the RHA’s archives. The manager later confirmed that no documentation had been found, so the debt would be cancelled.

Status: Resolved