A carbon monoxide alarm blared throughout the house the day Danielle Bouffard said she, her husband, and their two young children were forced out of their rental home.
After an inspection, Alberta Health Services (AHS) ordered occupants of a Rocky View County property, at 167 Shore Drive, to vacate on Nov. 12. Bouffard said her family had been out of the rental house since Nov. 3 due to unsafe living conditions.
Now, she’s speaking out in the hopes this doesn’t happen to other families.
“There needs to be changes in laws,” Bouffard said. “There need to be mandatory inspections for rentals. No one should ever have to put their children at risk just to have a roof over their heads.”
She spoke of the importance of having proper tenant insurance, and admitted there was a mix-up with their insurance as they were told they were covered under their roommate’s insurance, which in the end wasn’t the case.
Thirty-two health violations were listed in the AHS report including water stains and mould growth around a skylight as evidence of a leak and a large water bubble was found in the ceiling of a basement bedroom, indicating accumulation of water.
Upon moving in, Bouffard and the landlord agreed that she, as the tenant, would take on the work to keep up the house maintenance. She began fixing things, like electrical outlets, she said. Noticing the deck was rotting, covered in holes, and that the railing was broken, she tried to patch those up to keep her kids safe.
“The more and more we started looking into things, the more we were noticing,” Bouffard said. “I didn’t feel safe anymore.”
When asking for a house inspection, she said the landlord refused.
The house was divided into three units, and eventually one of the other units tenants began complaining about the smell of cat pee. Having a cat, Bouffard made sure to clean up well but the smell persisted.
She said they found a litter of kittens living in a crawl space. While trying to remove the cats, she said they noticed the smell of natural gas.
That same day, Nov. 3, Bouffard, her husband, and a roommate, bought a monitor for gas and carbon monoxide. The alarm blared as soon as they plugged it into a kitchen outlet. Every room, including the basement, was metering high for carbon monoxide, Bouffard said.
They called 911 and got their kids and animals out of the house. Fire trucks and EMS arrived and found high levels of CO, according to Bouffard. They were told they could not go back in the house.
“Between all of us we have nine kids, so we're freaking out,” Bouffard said. “We were told another two hours in that home and we wouldn't have made it.”
The landlord, who did not want to be named in this article, told the Rocky View Weekly that he received the call about the gas leak and shortly after had the furnace and hot water heater replaced. He was told the home didn't have proper ventilation, which he was unaware of.
Later, during the AHS inspection, the furnace was turned off and a space heater was being used to heat areas of the house. The inspector was unable to verify if the furnace was in good working condition.
Bouffard and her family have since found a new rental home, but said said the landlord now blames her family for destroying his rental property and that they weren't provided with their damage deposit.
Currently in a waiting game, they have begun a legal process to find out what they can do next.
In response, the landlord said the family shouldn't be getting their deposit back due to the condition they left the house in. He said the issues with the house began when Bouffard and her family moved in.
Bouffard’s family moved onto the property six months prior, knowing it was a “fixer upper,” but not realizing it would be unsafe until they turned on the furnace.
“I don't want anyone moving in there thinking, ‘oh, what a great opportunity,’ because it's not, it's unsafe,” she said.
According to the AHS report, sewage was being pumped out of the septic tank with a hose into a nearby field and the cistern that supplies water to the house had a buildup of algae. The inspector was unable to verify the potability of the water supply.
The landlord stated he has since fixed these issues, and is in the process of repairing the home up to AHS standards before renting out the property again. He said he was unaware some of the issues reported by AHS were in violation of health standards.
The AHS report stated the home did not have working smoke alarms, and there were exposed electrical wires protruding from open outlets, walls, and floors throughout the house. Several appliances weren't working or missing, and a non-surge protected electrical outlet was found at the bottom of the window beside a bathtub.
Many other structural issues were listed in the report. The order included a list of required repairs that have to be fixed to the satisfaction of an AHS executive officer. Until then the premises will remain closed for tenant accommodation purposes.
In Alberta, the law that applies to most landlords and tenants is the Residential Tenancies Act. There are also laws that deal with specific issues in rental housing, like minimum health standards, building safety, privacy, or human rights.
Landlords and tenants involved in a dispute can apply to the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service (RTDRS) to help resolve their dispute.