Brenda and Gord Gartley always pictured retirement in their single-family Maple Ridge home that they had lived in for a decade.
But on Thanksgiving Day, they found themselves living out of a tent in Golden Ears Provincial Park instead of their Rogers Avenue home.
The Gartleys had been evicted after they were accused of breaching a rent-to-own agreement with a Surrey realtor and his partner.
The couple started falling behind with their mortgage payments when Brenda had to take on the financial care of her disabled brother.
When the bank started foreclosing on their home, they entered into the rent-to-own agreement.
In the agreement, the Gartleys would become tenants, which would give them more time to raise $400,000 to purchase back the house.
Neighbours of the couple have rallied together to try and help them keep their house.
Trish Tait, who lives directly across the street from where the elderly couple lived, has started a GoFundMe page to help with the legal fees.As of Monday afternoon, $2,697 of a goal of $10,000 had been raised by 58 people.
To donate go to gofundme.com/legal-fees-for-the-gartleys.
• More to follow.
