The tedious task of taking a corporate landlord to court

A former resident of a Yellowknife housing complex that burned down in 2023 says he went to great lengths to receive compensation for items that were untouched by fire, but which he never got back.

The resident – who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive information related to this case – said he initially reached out to Northview Residential REIT a week or two after the Garden Townhomes fire in October 2023.

Northview, which was the owner and operator of the rental units, is one of the largest property owners in Yellowknife.

The tenant said he had items in a shed as well as a cargo van filled with camping and fishing equipment that were intact after the fire. He wanted to retrieve them from the site but access was blocked by a barricade.

He said he was told that as soon as required “testing” on the site was complete, he would be granted access to his items.

“Months went by and nothing, until one day I was just driving downtown, and I realized everything was demolished. Everything was moved,” said the tenant.

“They pushed down the shed and my van was gone. Nobody reached out to me.”

The tenant said this took place in April 2024.

Cabin Radio made multiple attempts to speak with representatives from Northview but did not receive a response.

An RCMP spokesperson confirmed that both the police and Office of the Fire Marshal conducted investigations into the fire but the cause remains undetermined.

Other former residents of Garden Townhomes have said they had trouble procuring items from the scene, including a van, bicycles, barbecues and a fire-proof box said to have contained documents and valuables worth more than $100,000.

Between April and October 2024, the tenant estimates he sent at least 20 emails to Northview and his former property manager to try to figure out the return of his van and other items.

He said he would drop in to Northview’s offices three or four times a week – usually stopping by on his way home from work – and was always referred to the property manager who, he said, never seemed to be available.

The tenant said he would sometimes take days off work so he could try to show up when other staff said the property manager would be available. He never managed to track him down.

“It was just a runaround,” said the tenant.

Court no-shows

By September 2024, with his patience wearing thin, the tenant decided to pursue legal action against Northview so he could recoup the cost of the lost items.

This process involved putting together a statement of claim, creating a list of all the items that were inside the van and the shed, and cataloging the cost of every item based on its current value in stores.

The total value of the claim – which has been reviewed by Cabin Radio – was just under $8,000.

The tenant said Northview representatives failed to show up in court on two occasions in the fall of 2024.

The second time that Northview failed to show up, in October, the judge sided with the tenant and ordered that he be compensated for the lost items within 30 days.

Three and a half months passed until, on Tuesday, the tenant received a call from the Yellowknife courthouse saying a cheque for the amount owed to him had been dropped off.

The tenant said he felt “relief” that he could finally replace his equipment after being without it for so long – even if the allure of some recreational activities had diminished following the fire.

“I pretty-much lost everything, so camping was kind-of out of the way for me,” said the tenant.

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the Office of the Fire Marshal confirmed that “during and following a fire incident, responsible officials have discretional authority under their respective legislation to establish boundaries and restrict access.”

“This means that even if personal property (such as vehicles or outdoor structures) was not directly affected by the fire, access may still have been restricted for safety or investigation reasons,” the spokesperson stated.

What happened to debris from the fire after the investigation concluded, as well as intact items belonging to tenants, remains unclear.

Cabin Radio contacted several local tow companies to ask if they had been contracted to remove vehicles from the site.

None of the companies contacted could recall having attended the site or having removed vehicles from it.