Hillview Park condo owners continue to face fees and assessments following the 2016 wildfire.
Owners now have an additional $65,000 to $75,000 assessment fee on top of two others.
Sheila Champion, who now lives in Yellowknife, is one of the owners of the 214 units who is facing these charges.
She explained that owners have been faced with three assessments. The first was over $30,000 and the second was over $10,000. The latest is a $65,000 fee, which Champion said she’ll be paying until she’s 77.
“We’re over four years now and we’re $28 million deeper in debt than when we started,” said Champion.
Owners also faced an additional fee, which was around $100, for a condo board meeting, which she said they had to get enough signatures to demand.
While she thinks her condo may be livable, Champion said renting it out won’t cover her cost.
She bought the condo in 2011 for $379,000 and she believes it’s now worth about $200,000 plus all the fees that are currently owed. The building also has liens and the condo fees are upwards of $700.
Becky Benoit said her family started using their savings and line of credits to make the payments, but by the time the first assessment was announced they knew they wouldn’t be able to find that kind of money.
Those savings included post-secondary funds for their children.
Benoit’s husband did two tours of duty with the Canadian Forces and she said he was forced to liquidate his military pension.
“Every lawyer told us we should declare bankruptcy and we couldn’t believe it. We had excellent credit,” said Benoit
Once the second assessment was announced they declared bankruptcy.
“We know just anecdotally that the number of Hillview owners that are no longer owners is incredibly high. It’s well over half.”
The problems with the condo board started after the wildfire, after which owners voted to rebuild.
Not long after that the Hillview Park Condo Corporation was slapped with a $23 million lawsuit after terminating their contract with a builder.
Since the builder was terminated, the site sat open to the elements and then needed repairs, which owners were advised would cost between $4 to $5 million.
Owners were then given an estimate from Calmac Developments Ltd. Of $6,080,030.25.
In November 2018, Mayor Don Scott sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier at the time Rachel Notley updating them on the issue.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help owners pay for the costs of hiring a lawyer to start a class action lawsuit.
“Maybe there’s a happy ending here. Maybe people will actually go home. But, even once they’re back in those units what does the future hold for them?”
MyMcMurray reached out to the Hillview condo board for comment and the number was not in service.
