Can a defendant who lives in a house that is unique to the province, lose the house?

In the case of Bowser v. Prager, [1999] O.J. No. 1438 (Sup. Ct.), the defendant suffered from depression, could not afford similar accommodation in the area, was on social assistance, had two debts that he could not pay and had been involuntarily committed to the psychiatric hospital. The trial judge found that the defendant would have found it very difficult to find suitable premises. While acknowledging that there would be hardship to the plaintiff as well, since the house was unique, he concluded that the hardship to the plaintiff in not getting the house was considerably less than the hardship to the defendant in losing it.

In Patel v. Ali, [1984] 2 W.L.R. 960 (Ch.D.), the defendant’s husband had gone bankrupt and then been sent to prison. The defendant had become disabled and there was evidence that if she lost her home, she might not be able to keep her children.