Fort McMurray mom in administrative limbo as mould in neighbouring condo left unrepaired
Oct 16, 2026
You can see the water dripping from the ceiling in the garage.
Carla Shepard recently moved her children back into this condo.
They left for more than a month after Shepard discovered
that the unit next to hers had been foreclosed.
For years, she had issues with the unit.
Strange smells and sounds were a constant problem.
While the unit was foreclosed, she saw inside for the first time.
Garbage pile eight feet high,
an active water leak, an active sewer leak.
There was dog feces.
She moved her three children out after making the discovery,
but the $4,000 hotel bill wasn't sustainable, and now she's back.
It was really hard for me knowing what's inside those walls
and bringing my kids back into this.
And at this point, it makes me feel like I'm a bad mother,
but I don't have a choice.
CBC reached out to the condo board, which did not provide an interview.
In a statement, Blueprint Condominium Management said,
because insurance is involved and this is a complicated situation
requiring investigative work and coordination among multiple parties
with the potential for legal issues,
the process has understandably slowed down.
It added a company has been engaged to investigate the cause of loss
and its role is to support the board.
The condo management company also says we have empathy for the owner
and understand the frustration surrounding the situation.
Shepard had an inspector look at the common wall.
It found damp insulation and mold growth.
After CBC interviewed Shepard,
she said the common wall has deteriorated
further with cracks in the drywall and wall pops,
and she's found water in her furnace room.
A condominium lawyer in Edmonton says
the condo corporation has the right to go in
and remediate the wall.
The condo corporation still has some ultimate power here to step in
because there is a shared wall involved that is common property
and because there's a condition
inside the adjoining unit that is causing an issue,
whether it's a nuisance, whether it's a
hazard to the common property or to other owners documents.
BMO is the owner of the foreclosed unit
taking possession in the summer.
In a statement the company said we empathize with the neighbor
and understand their concerns.
CBC has confirmed that BMO will be paying for remediation work in
the neighboring unit but will
be seeking reimbursement for the cost from the condo
corporation. Shepard says she's just looking
for the common wall to be remediated so it doesn't
keep impacting her home and the safety of her kids.
It's kind of like everybody's pointing
a finger on who's paying what, whose insurance,
at what time this happened. So it's just kind of
one of those, everybody just keeps passing the buck to everybody else.
Shepard says there's still no word
on who is fixing her side of the wall.
Jamie Malbeth, CBC News, Fort McMurray.

