Alberta developer faces Consumer Protection Act charges over return of life lease fees

Madeline Smith · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 02, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

The caput of an Edmonton spot improvement company that owes hundreds of seniors wealth from beingness lease contracts is present facing charges nether Alberta's Consumer Protection Act.

Court records amusement that Greg Christenson, president of Christenson Group of Companies, has been charged with 2 counts of failing to instrumentality a beingness lease entranceway interest wrong 180 days — alleged violations of caller rules introduced successful Alberta past year.

According to tribunal information, the charges stem from alleged nonaccomplishment to instrumentality 2 people's beingness lease fees betwixt astir the opening of 2025 and the extremity of April.

The beingness lease exemplary is often utilized for seniors' housing. It sees residents wage a ample lump sum upfront, positive monthly operating costs, to inhabit a portion for the remainder of their life. If they dice oregon they person to determination out, their archetypal concern is returned, minus a percent that the lodging relation uses to refurbish the unit.

As of the extremity of 2024, the Christenson Group, which owns 9 status homes successful Edmonton and cardinal Alberta that antecedently offered beingness leases, had yet to repay much than 200 seniors oregon the household members present managing their estates.

Christenson was charged May 7 "for allegedly failing to repay 2 backstage loans," lawyers Ian Mahood and William Kenny told CBC News successful a statement.

"These charges are without merit. At each times, Mr. Christenson has abided by each applicable and applicable laws," the connection says.

"Mr. Christenson looks guardant to clearing his sanction successful court, and further looks guardant to defending his contracts nether which the monies successful question were lent."

Alberta's changes to life-lease rules

Some of the former retirement residents successful Christenson Group buildings person been waiting 3 years oregon much for hundreds of thousands of dollars they enactment toward a life-lease unit. The institution owed astir $75 million, successful total, by the extremity of 2024.

People are waiting due to the fact that the Christenson Group's life-lease contracts see a proviso for a repayment queue that kicks successful if much than six per cent of the beingness lease holders successful a gathering terminate their lease astatine the aforesaid time. It's a communal diagnostic of this benignant of lodging agreement, but experts accidental the lengthy wait for the instrumentality of truthful galore entranceway fees is an outlier crossed the country.

The provincial authorities brought beingness leases nether the jurisdiction of the Consumer Protection Act past year, mounting astir six months arsenic the clip limit for beingness lease operators to repay erstwhile residents.

Potential penalties for offences nether the act include fines up to $300,000 oregon arsenic overmuch arsenic 2 years successful jail.

The rules apply only to contracts terminated aft the authorities took effect successful mid-2024, and don't screen anyone who entered a beingness lease queue before that, adjacent if they person been waiting longer than six months.

Christenson has antecedently told CBC the basal of the agelong queues is the COVID-19 pandemic, which deed seniors' attraction and lodging hard, and prevented his institution from moving successful caller beingness lease residents for a agelong play of time.

He has said the institution intends to repay everyone, and they're working connected a remortgaging plan, with a caller rental-only model, to marque that possible.

The institution is not offering immoderate caller beingness leases, but determination are inactive galore residents who unrecorded successful life-lease units, and volition beryllium expecting the instrumentality of their entranceway interest erstwhile they terminate their contracts.

A radical of existent and erstwhile beingness lease residents, arsenic good arsenic their household members, are advocating for a solution done a non-profit, the Alberta Life Lease Protection Society.