What's happening with Yellowknife's Nova Niven apartments? Frustrated applicants want to know

After months of delays, Yellowknife residents who applied for an apartment at the new Nova Niven building say they are being told they won't be able to move in after all.

The building, across from the Chateau Nova hotel, is supposedly in the final stages of opening 54 new housing units. It's owned by the Nova Group of Companies, which also owns the Nova Pine Hills building on School Draw Avenue and The View building on Hagel Drive.

But applicants, including some who say they were pre-approved for units in that building, say they've now been told Nova Niven has a new landlord — and that means they'll have to wait until another building can accommodate them.

Michael Aide, who told CBC News he was pre-approved for a two-bedroom apartment, said he was originally told the building would be ready in July. That date kept being pushed back every time he checked in on his application — first August, then September, then possibly mid-October.

"A week and a half or two ago ... I called them, just to ask if we're still on track for the mid-October date. And that was when I was informed that the building had changed landlords and was no longer available for anyone who had been told they would be able to live in that building," he said.

Aide never signed a lease, and money never changed hands, even though he'd been told he was approved for an apartment.

"I think you don't imagine a whole apartment is just going to switch landlords," he said. "So in your head, it's kind of like a guarantee."

The Nova Group of Companies couldn't be reached for an interview. However, in a text message Thursday, developer Milan Mrdjenovich told CBC the building hasn't been sold and is actually in the final stages, with concrete expected to be poured Oct. 21 and siding finished a few days later.

Mrdjenovich said the timeline right now includes having an occupancy permit by the first week of November.

However, the rental website for Nova Niven listed the building as "no longer available" as of Thursday and said applications were no longer being accepted.

Applicant left in a tough situation

For Berna Base, who has been trying to rent an apartment with the Nova Group of Companies for over a year, hearing Nova Niven was no longer available was just the latest blow.

Base said she had originally tried to get into the Pine Hills building, but was told her application had gotten lost. When Nova Niven started accepting applications, she called to put in a new one.

She never heard about the status of her application though, and was told it was in the hands of the building's manager.

She said each time she checked in, she was told to call back in two weeks.

When she called back last week, she was told Nova Niven was no longer available and the approved applicants would be moving to The View.

"It's just like frustrating, trying to get a place," she said. "And just kind of makes me think, should I even bother to apply, if they're like moving people around and not notifying the people or the public?"

For now, she and her two kids are staying with family. She's sharing a room with one of her sons.

"It's just too tough," she said.

Aide said he'd still move into another of the company's buildings if he's able to, but he isn't confident that will happen.

"Even if there was a timeline given, I don't know that I'd be in a position to trust it anymore, given what's gone on with the Nova Niven building," he said.

He also pointed to what Mrdjenovich told CBC in 2022, when he referenced the housing crisis in Yellowknife and how difficult it is to find a place to live in the city.

If he could tell the building landlords one thing, he said, it would be to stick to that.

"Stay true to your word," he said. "The premise of these buildings was to help with the housing crisis."