Families fight Langford independent living facility for security deposits

Family members of elderly residents living at an independent living building in Langford are calling for better rental controls for seniors.

A number of families are involved in a legal dispute over security deposits, saying the facility is wrongly withholding thousands of dollars.

Greg Stewart looks over the paperwork he’s accumulated. It’s all related to the security deposit his mother paid when she moved into Cherish at Central Park, a Langford independent living facility she moved out of in October 2022.

He claims the living facility wrongly withheld his mother’s damage deposit to make unnecessary repairs.

“They went ahead and replaced the carpets, sent me an invoice and a small cheque for the balance of the security deposit, which I didn’t cash,” Stewart said from his home in Langford.

“I told them in the beginning that if they didn’t refund the deposit within 15 days, or file with the residential tenancy branch within 15 days, that I would file for dispute resolution,” he said.

Stewart says other families are facing the same issue.

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When Mike Glover’s mother, Della Fyles, moved out in 2022 the company billed her hundreds of dollars for what he says were minor issues.

“There was no dealing with them when it happened. There was no getting your damage deposit back,” Glover said.

After his mother died shortly after she moved out, Glover never followed up on what he considered onerous charges.

“If I had known, I would have chased it down. But at the end, dealing with the estate, dealing with her estate, and I just washed my hands of it. I said enough is enough. I can’t be bothered with this. It’s done,” Glover said.

CHEK News went to the facility Thursday, in the hopes of speaking to the facility’s owner.

CHEK also called several times and were told the owner wasn’t available.

Dan Levitt, BC’s Seniors’ Advocate, says situations like this happen too often in independent living, where seniors pay rent.

While they are paying rent, they are vulnerable and dependent on their landlord for their shelter and food.

“They are kind of easy prey in this case for the landlord to keep the damage deposit, and never to return it,” Levitt said.

“Thinking the amount of money may be significant for the family, the cost of going back. In some cases I’ve heard about a year and a half to get that money back, even when the decision was made in favour of the tenant, the landlord refused to give it back,” said the provincial senior’s advocate.

Stewart says he’ll continue to fight for his mother, who has since died, and for answers into why Cherish is withholding money that he believes isn’t theirs.

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