An Alberta senior thought a rental property would supply her with much needed retirement income and was surprised when her tenant declared it an embassy of a non-existent country.

Rebekha Caverhill wades through a mountain of paperwork regarding her Calgary duplex.

The Sylvan Lake Senior had hoped to use it as her retirement nest egg and is now calling it a nightmare.

“This is a serious thing. I don’t sleep. I worry because I want my home back,” said Caverhill.

Caverhill rented her Parkdale duplex to Andreas Pirelli on a handshake. 

She says he agreed to do some minor repairs in return for three months free rent but when she went back to inspect it the place was in disarray with bathrooms ripped up and the floor painted black.

It got worse when he told her the house was now an embassy,

“It’s a foreign embassy, I’m a diplomat, I’m a chief justice, I’m an ambassador and this is my house now, this is my embassy and you have no rights. This is not your house anymore, it is on foreign soil,” recalls Caverhill.

She told CTV that Pirelli then sent her a bill for over $20,000 for the work he'd done. He also changed the locks and had a lien filed on the property.

Caverhill says he told her he was a Freeman-on-the-Land.

Freemen believe themselves exempt from the laws of Canada.

Stickers and placards on vehicles in front of the Parkdale home suggest an affiliation with that movement.

CTV News tried to contact Andreas Pirelli by email, phone and in person but got no response.

Police say this is a civil matter even though their chosen spokesman on this matter heads the criminal intelligence unit.

"We’re trying to guide her through the civil legal process and we’re trying to determine whether or not there are criminal charges that potentially may come out of this," said Acting Inspector, Julien Gagne, CPS Criminal Intelligence Section.

The minister in charge of Service Alberta says there may be a place for police in this dispute.

"The fact remains if you violate the residential tendency act you can be charged and if you file a false lien then that's a sworn document you have lied on. So you can face consequences under the law for that as well,” said Manmeet Bhullar, Service Alberta Minister.

Caverhill says the ordeal is draining her financially.

Pirelli is paying her $775 a month, which is almost half the $1500 that she says was the amount agreed to.

Caverhill says that he’s also not paying the utility bills either which she says are mounting and will likely become her responsibility if she ever manages to evict him.