When Cory and Tina Heinricks decided to swap city-life in Calgary for an idyllic acreage in the country, it seemed as though there was no stopping them. In the space of just a couple of weeks they found the property of their dreams, had an offer accepted, sold their Renfrew home and prepared to pack their bags.
“We offered on the acreage subject to selling our house so we had a week to list our home and just two months to sell it,” says Mr. Heinricks, 37. “We were under pressure but family and friends pulled together to help us get the place ready and we had it on the market by the following weekend.”
The property, a one-and-a half storey, 1940s character home on Rundle Crescent N.E., went on the market at $524,900 and had multiple offers within twenty-four hours. The couple eventually accepted an offer of $525,500.
“[The Heinricks] did everything right,” says their agent Nathan Zacharias. “They’d renovated it well, staged it perfectly and priced it correctly.”
The sale of their home secured the purchase of their dream property; a three-bedroom house on eleven acres, west of Okotoks. Originally on the market a year ago for $1,196,000, the Heinricks purchased the acreage for a “fair” $815,000.
“We fell in love with it when we viewed it,” says Mrs. Heinricks, 35.
“We’d never have paid the original asking price but it does have a million-dollar view.”
With all sales agreed and all parties eager to move before winter, a six-week key exchange in September was agreed.
There was just one problem; for the past year, the Heinricks had allowed an elderly brother and sister to park their motorhome in the rear laneway of their house and, unbeknownst to them, by law they were required to give their “tenants” three-months notice to vacate the site.
“Everything had gone so smoothly with the purchase of the acreage and the sale of our house,” says Mr. Heinricks, “we couldn’t believe it when we told them they’d have to find somewhere else to park in a few weeks time and they said they were entitled to three-months notice.”
Honouring a three-month notice period would push their move date to the end of October. The couple was advised to find out where they stood legally.
“I spent evenings poring over the residential tenancies act, the inn-keepers act and the mobile-home site tenancies act, which is where I finally found the answer. Yes, by law, they were entitled to three-months notice.”
The pair, who claim to be travelling children’s authors from Ontario, knocked on the Heinricks door a year ago asking if they could park up on the couple’s extra-large lot and hook their van up to their water and power supply.
“Winter was approaching and it felt like the right thing to do. They pay us $100 a month to cover their power and water and they mostly keep to themselves,” explains Mr. Heinricks. “It was a goodwill gesture. Most of our friends and family think it’s kind of funny that we have these people living in our backyard. We call them The Backyardigans.”
The Heinricks’ buyer was unwilling to take on the home’s unusual backyard guests and so all parties are now preparing to exchange properties at the end of October.
“We really had no idea that we had any obligations as landlords. We’ve never considered ourselves as having tenants, we just thought we were doing them a favour by giving them a space to park.”
The Heinricks even went as far as calling Kijijji ads for parking spaces to see if anyone would be willing to help them out but to no avail.
Their agent, Mr. Zacharias, says his clients’ situation was unusual but it’s not unusual for him to encounter sellers who are unaware of legal issues which could impact the sale of their property.
“I quite often have sellers who have illegal basement suites in their homes without understanding the residential tenancies act. Any time you allow someone to use your property you have to be aware of which acts apply to your situation.”
Despite the hitch, the couple are excited to achieve their ambition of a life in the country. “It was always our dream to retire onto a property like this. We have a six month old son, Torey, and we plan to further expand our family so we need a bigger place,” explains Mr. Heinricks. We looked at buying a bigger house in Calgary but it’s just too much money for what you get and we didn’t want a bigger house at the expense of having no yard.”
Mrs. Heinricks is a counsellor and Mr. Heinricks works in Research and Development for the oil-and-gas industry. Both will commute to Calgary for work.
“This is the ideal situation,” agrees Mrs. Heinricks. “We get the best of both worlds. We’re not super country and not super city either.”
“I didn’t want anything more than a thirty-minute commute,” adds Mr. Heinricks, “and this will be thirty-one minutes so I can live with that.”
The family also plan to have a chicken coop, some goats and a growing garden. There’s even a small pond for hockey in winter. The couple are also hoping to buy a tractor from their incumbents.
“We have a 300-metre driveway and the property’s 1200 metres above sea level so there’s going to be a lot of snow to move come winter,” says Mr. Heinricks. “Plus I figure in the country you have to be able to trade goods and services so I guess we should have something to trade with. I’ve also started brewing my own beer so maybe that’ll be good to trade with too.”
As to whether they’ll be offering to take in any more backyard tenants.
“No,” says Mrs. Heinricks adamantly, “we’ve definitely learned our lesson there.”