Widow alleges Toronto company duped her dying husband into selling their home

Cathrene Coombes hasn't fully mourned her husband's death, because the day after he died she found out she might get kicked out of the only home the couple ever owned.

"This was my dream house," she told CBC News. "We worked really hard for this place. My grandchildren were raised here, my great-grandchildren are raised here … this is my life here."

The 65-year old is suing to regain ownership of the Kitchener, Ont., house from the Toronto company that bought it from her and her husband, Mark Coombes, less than two months before he died in March. In summer 2020, he had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, which had spread to his liver, bones and brain.

The lawsuit alleges that Municipal City Housing Corp., Exit It Contract Consulting and two company directors preyed on the couple and duped them into selling their house for under market value by telling them that they would be able to live out their lives at the property for free. 

The statement of claim also argues that the defendants took advantage of Mark's "diminished capacity" in the late stages of his illness and of Cathrene's lack of involvement in the couple's finances. 

Municipal City Housing and Exit Contract Consulting and the company directors declined to comment for this story, and have yet to file statements of defence in the case. The lawsuit has not been tested in court.

"All I want is my house back," said Cathrene. "And to have these guys stopped because there's other people out there, they're going to get stung like I did."

She says the situation started in January when she received a cold call from Exit It Contract Consulting, claiming the company could help get rid of the couple's outstanding debt from HVAC equipment rental contracts. Cathrene says she referred the caller to her husband, who agreed to let the company send someone to their home to talk about its services.

The Coombes had previously entered several door-to-door rental contracts for equipment including a furnace, air conditioner and water softener — the kind of contracts the Ontario government later banned because of the aggressive sales tactics and scams that were typically used to sell them.

For each of their rental contracts, a notice of security interest was registered on the title of the Coombes home for the value of the contract, which ranged from $4,000 to nearly $8,000. 

It was those liens and associated contracts that Jeffrey Drutz, a representative of Exit It Contract Consulting, came over to discuss with Mark in late January. Drutz provided a copy of a contract for the company's services and came back to the house soon after with another man named Elliot Kasem, according to the statement of claim. 

On Jan. 21, Mark signed a contract with Exit It Contract Consulting with a $13,500 deferred fee for its services assisting the couple in reducing or eliminating the amounts they owed through their HVAC contracts. The same day he also signed an agreement of purchase and sale for their house with Municipal City Housing. 

"[Mark] said he wanted me to be debt free — didn't want me to worry about anything," said Cathrene. "He wasn't doing good … at that time [the cancer] was in his brain."

In the sale agreement, the Coombes agreed to sell their semi-detached house for $191,000. A few months later, real estate records show a similar semi-detached house on the same street in Kitchener was listed for $419,000 and sold for $535,000.