Martin Goodliffe had been renting a plot of land from the Town of Inuvik until September, when the town sold the land on which his trailer sits to the person who owns an adjacent lot.

Goodliffe said landlord Wiedemann is trying to force the tenants off the land by more than doubling the rent and imposing some unreasonable demands.

"The plan is to raise the rent from $180 a month to $500 a month," Goodliffe said. "Nowhere in the NWT is a trailer lot worth $500 a month."

Further to the increase in rent, Goodliffe said, he and the other tenants received a new contract from the landlord with a long list of stipulations.

"I got a contract from them saying we aren't allowed to have a Ski-doo on the land; we aren't allowed to have firewood, or more than one vehicle and this and this ..." he said.

He now lives in Edmonton and rents out his trailer to a couple here, who may move, leaving him with an empty trailer and no income to pay his rent.

Goodliffe said the neighbour next door has already moved.

"It feels like we're getting screwed," he said.

Hal Logsdon, rental officer with the NWT Department of Justice, said there are only two controls landlords must abide by regarding rent increases.

"Rent cannot be increased more than once every 12 months," Logston said. "Secondly, a landlord is required to give a tenant notice of the rent increase in writing at least three months before the effective date."

There is no restriction in the Northwest Territories on rate of rent increases, he said, only frequency of increases and the notice required.

As to the rules regarding no firewood or vehicles, Logston said, that's between the landlord and the tenant.

"The Residential Tenancies Act does not cover things like that," he said. "It's very general in nature, obviously, so that it applies to most tenancy agreement in place."

The act does have a provision that allows for landlords and tenants to agree on specific contractual obligations, providing the provisions do not conflict with the act.

"They have to be deemed reasonable," Logston said. "If a tenant feels they are unreasonable, they can ignore it and if the landlord tries to take action, then the rental officer will make a determination as to whether the provision is reasonable or not. If there is any question as to whether it is reasonable or not, they can take that up with the rental officer."

"The landlord can't simply change a contract; both parties have to agree to any changes in that contract."

Wiedemann, said she never wanted to be a landlord but was forced to buy the land or face eviction along with rest of the residents of Husky Trailer Park.

Wiedemann now lives in Victoria, B.C., but maintains a home in Inuvik, where her father lives. She said the town gave her no choice but to buy the property, which she bought in September.

"I only wanted to buy the land that my house was sitting on, but the town said I couldn't do that," Wiedemann said. "I never wanted to be a landlord at all and I would just as soon have no tenants at all."

"Basically, the town said, 'You buy it, or we'll kick you off,' " Wiedemann said.

Town manager Jerry Veltman said Wiedemann could have bought one lot if she wished, but she chose to buy both lots, which housed four trailers including her father's.

As for the rent increase, she says she based the $500 pad rental on other rates.

"I did a lot of research and I compared it to the rents in Yellowknife and Inuvik," she said.

Wiedemann would not comment about the other stipulations, other than to say she felt they are a safety issue.

"That's between myself and my tenants and if they have an issue, then that's between them and myself, but I haven't heard anything from them," she said.

The land is for sale and she said the tenants are welcome to buy it from her, but has not received an offer.