Senior with cancer faces eviction over unpaid fees
Gayla Gavan knows cancer will likely kill her in the coming months and has come to terms with it.
The 67-year-old Calgary grandmother is in the final stages of ovarian cancer and wants little more than to live her final days in the comfortable and familiar surroundings of her McKenzie Lake home.
What Gavan can’t fathom, however, is a threat by the residents’ association in McKenzie Lake to take legal action and foreclose on her house over $525 in unpaid fees for the community’s amenities.
“I was shocked,” said Gavan, who has lived in McKenzie Lake for more than 20 years.
Gavan said she used the community amenities, such as the private lake, for years — and dutifully paid her fees for most of that time.
But Gavan said she now has trouble making ends meet: She retired from her work as an ophthalmic nurse at 51 due to health problems and has been living mainly on her savings and modest government pensions since then.
Despite taking steps to cut costs — such as cutting her cable service — Gavan said she has to make difficult choices many months.
“Most of the time my expenses were higher than my budget, so it was a ‘rob Peter to pay Paul’ situation,” she said.
Gavan admits she’s been in arrears to the residents’ association for two years, but said she and a social worker assigned to her by Alberta Health Services have repeatedly asked for lenience.
“It’s not like I ignored them — I’ve phoned them repeatedly,” she said.
However, Gavan received a letter from a law firm representing the residents’ association this week demanding $794.01 — the cost of her unpaid amenity fees, plus interest and legal fees.
The residents’ association has put a lien on Ga- van’s land title and is threatening further legal action — including foreclosure — if it isn’t paid by Nov. 30. “She asked for compassion — that letter was their idea of compassion,” said Gavan’s granddaughter, Kayla.
“They see her as another balance to pay.”
Although unable to comment specifically on Gavan’s case, the general manager of the residents’ association said the organization has the discretion to extend leeway to homeowners who fall behind.
“We do offer payment arrangements to residents, and some residents are in payment arrangements with us,” Brad Buxton said.
Buxton added he couldn’t say more about Gavan’s situation without looking into it and discussing it with the board of the residents’ association.
Gavan stressed she isn’t trying to dodge her financial obligations — she just wants them deferred so she can live the time she has left in rela- tive comfort.
“Three, six or nine months down the road, they’re going to get their money, because I’ll be gone,” she said.
Her reasons for wanting to die at home are emotional ones, but Gavan added it also makes sense financially.
Her children live in other parts of the country, making a move difficult, and her monthly mortgage payments of $467 are far lower than what she’d pay to rent elsewhere in Calgary.
Home care workers assist Gavan with some household chores and two granddaughters in Calgary provide her company and help with errands.
Gavan and her family said they decided to speak out about her situation because many other seniors are likely facing similar struggles.
“There are so many seniors who don’t have family here,” Kayla said.