PelhamToday received the following letter regarding an experience with a Niagara Falls retirement facility.
In November of 2022 my wife’s step mom passed away while a resident of a retirement facility in Niagara Falls. The home was immediately notified as required by law and they in turn immediately withdrew a full month’s fee from her account.
For those of you unfamiliar with contracts and provincial legislation dealing with such instances, a home is only allowed to take the rent portion ( which is usually the smallest portion of the monthly fee) for the full month! For the larger portion of the fee which is food and services only 10 days worth of the fee can be retained by the home. It is for that food and services portion that I was fighting for.
This difference in calculation often results in a disparity of $1000.00 plus as it did in our case .
After 14 months of working through government agencies and waiting for a hearing with the Landlord and Tenant board, I received a decision ordering the home to pay back the portion that they had retained contrary to both contract and provincial legislation.
However they did not receive any penalty in excess for this action so is there any deterrent for further such action?
You be the judge!
Why did I continue on this quest?
I did it not only for us but for all the other folks that lose loved ones and do not have the time or dogged determination to do what was required to make things right!
Tom Airth
Burlington Ontario
