Heartbreak for tenant after suspected theft of family mementos

The rights of tenants in Calgary are back in the spotlight after an incident at a downtown apartment building.

Jolene Lebsack lives at Calgary Place in the southwest. She had been using a locker in the building’s basement to store some of her childhood mementos. The room is not supposed to be accessible, except by management.

However when Lebsack checked on her belongings, she found an unlocked door, cut and broken locks on the floor, and all of her belongings missing.

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“It’s 25 years of photos, of growing up and dead relatives and dead friends and things that when you’re later in life, when you might not remember things, this is what you look back on,” says Lebsack.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's 25 years of photos, of growing up and dead relatives and dead friends and things that when you're later in life, when you might not remember things, this is what you look back on," says Lebsack.

The building’s management says there is not much they can do and renters using the building’s storage do so at their own risk. Service Alberta also says there is nothing in the Residential Tenancies Act that addresses Lebsack’s situation. Gerry Baxter is with the Calgary Residential Rental Association. He says a tenant’s best bet is insurance.

“We always, always, always advocate that every single tenant who rents should have tenant insurance, it protects them in the event they lose everything.”

Lebsack says she had insurance but many of the items in her storage locker were irreplaceable.