Brandon homeowner loses bid to stay in home amid landlord dispute

For Lisa Halter, home used to be a sanctuary on the south side of Brandon atreed forest with wildlife on one side, friendly neighbours on the other.

Today, it's a place she can't bear to go to because of the stress it has caused.

Halter bought a bungalow on a leased lot in the Kingsway Kort trailer court in 2011 for $75,000. Nowher son, who lives there now, is being forced to leave.

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"I bought the home. I [liked] how it was situated. I'll pay lot-rent and the taxes will be in it," she said in an interview last week with CBC News. "No big deal, it's here to stay."

What she didn't expect was that in 2013, a west coast-based developer announced plans to purchase the land and build a series of apartment complexes. As a result, more than 140 people were given notices to move their trailers and belongings off the property. That deal has since fallen through.

But Halter can't move the home she bought; it is not a trailer. In astatement of claim filed in Brandon Court of Queen's Bench,Halter said the house wouldn't meet building codes without an extensive overhaul if it were to be lifted and moved to another property.

Halter accuses her landlord, Dan Cayer, president of Kingsway Kort Ltd., of acting in bad faith.

"I believe he sold me this home in bad faith, that he always planned on doing it [redeveloping], it was some extra cash in his pocket," she said.

Cayer, in an emailed statement to CBC News, said he acted honestly and with integrity when selling the house.

"I had neither intentions nor plans other than to operate Kingsway as a manufactured home community [when the house was sold]", Cayer said. "Ethically I would never have sold someone a home knowing that we would be closing the park."

Halter was given an eviction notice with a deadline of June 15, last Wednesday, to move the bungalow off the property. She applied for a court injunction against Kingsway Kort Ltd. to allow her son to stay on the property while a court decides if the landowner acted in bad faith.

However a Brandon Court Queen's Bench judge threw out the injunction applicationMondaymorning, saying thematter falls under the authority of the Residential Tenancies Branchand a Queen's Bench judge has no jurisdiction to rule on such matters.

Halter said the decision has left her angry, sick and let down. She isn't sure what her next steps will be. Her lawyer indicated that she would be seeking further court action to recover the $75,000 she paid for the home for as well as another $30,000 for renovations she had done on the house.

Today, Halter tries to stay away from the home she once loved.

"It has caused so much grief to my family and to my health," Halter added. "I haven't had the use of this property, in the sense of enjoyable use, since it [the eviction notice] happened."