These three news reports are so long that I will hold the other condo news until the next posting.
The first article is a warning that marketing hype is just hype even if it is done by a celebrity. The second article surprised me when it said that condo construction in Quebec is not government inspected.
The last article is very unusual. When buying a condo, it may be very hard for a condo owner to realize that they are going to be responsible to pay the maintenance for a road that leads into a shopping mall.
Mike 'Holmes Approved Homes' demolished due to alleged defects
Consumer watchdog Tarion condemned 3 homes in a housing development endorsed by celebrity Mike Holmes
CBC News
Sophia Harris, Andreas Wesley
24 January 2024
A bulldozer tears through a modern house in Meaford, Ont., a picturesque community on Georgian Bay. Occupied for just two years, the home's once soaring ceilings, large windows and backyard patio are now just a heap of crushed glass and wood.
"It's traumatic," said Fayard Johnson, who lives just down the street. "Really surprised to see that my neighbour's house is going down."
Another home that belongs to Fayard's next-door neighbour is also slated to be torn down.
The demolitions are the latest chapter in the saga of TerraceWood, a housing development launched in Meaford in 2015 to much fanfare. The "boutique" subdivision of houses was built by Third Line Homes and endorsed by celebrity contractor and popular TV host Mike Holmes.
Holmes is famously known for rescuing homeowners from botched construction jobs. He promoted TerraceWood, including on a billboard, as "Holmes Approved Homes."
"Third Line Holmes Approved Homes are built with innovation, integrity, and a commitment to make it right," Holmes said in a promotional YouTube video.
But things didn't go so right according to Tarion, Ontario's new-home consumer protection organization. As CBC News previously reported, Tarion filed an $8 million lawsuit in 2021 against parties involved in the project, alleging 14 TerraceWood houses were built with defects.
Now, CBC has learned that Tarion has condemned three of those homes.
Two have already been torn down and the third is waiting for a demolition date.
"Given the nature of the defects discovered" in the houses, "demolition was a more reasonable option than repair," Tarion spokesperson Andrew Donnachie said in an email. Some defendants in the suit claim it was incorrect to condemn all three homes.
CBC also found land registry documents showing one of Holmes's companies provided Third Line Homes with a total of $390,000 in private mortgages to help it buy land for the development.
Some homeowners say they're disappointed that Holmes, whose motto is to "make it right," never returned to TerraceWood to help make things right in this case.
"The neighbourhood has been disturbed," said Fayard, whose TerraceWood house recently underwent major repairs instead of being torn down.
"If [Holmes] had come and taken a look and said, 'Well this is what's wrong and this is how I can help,' I think that that would have been a stand-up thing to do," he said. "After all, it was Holmes Approved Home[s]."
$8-million lawsuit
Tarion was established by the Ontario government to help ensure defects discovered in new homes still under warranty are repaired — even if the builder reneges on its warranty obligations.
In its lawsuit, Tarion alleges the 14 TerraceWood houses were built with flaws such as improperly installed roofs, water leakage and major structural issues that raise "serious safety concerns."
Tarion alleges the builder, Third Line Homes, failed to fix the defects, so Tarion has been paying for all the repairs.
The lawsuit targets more than a dozen parties associated with the project, including principals with Third Line Homes, the Municipality of Meaford, which inspected the houses, and The Holmes Group, Mike Holmes's company. The parties deny any wrongdoing in their statements of defence.
The case has yet to go to trial.
Fayard said Holmes's association with the project influenced his decision to buy into TerraceWood.
"You feel that if it's Holmes approved, that it's most likely something that you can put your money on," he said.
In 2016, Holmes posed in Fayard's doorway for a promotional photo during construction, giving his trademark "thumbs-up."
But, according to Tarion's lawsuit, Fayard's house had defects.
He said he and his wife had to move out in 2022 for more than a year to make way for major structural repairs, such as replacing a wrong-sized beam holding up the second floor.
"We were told that there was danger. As a matter of fact, when they did do the shoring up, we couldn't come in at any time," Fayard said.
"It was very emotional. I mean, before the move, during the move, and living somewhere else.… It's affected our life greatly, probably for the rest of our lives."
Neighbours Andrea Hart and Myles Johnson, no relation to Fayard Johnson, said they also had to vacate their house — for an entire year — while it underwent repairs including structural fixes.
That was in 2022. They're back in the house now. But six years after the couple first got the keys to their new home, it's still under repair.
When CBC News recently visited the couple, the home's exterior siding was being replaced.
"It wasn't installed correctly," said Myles.
"We're getting tired of it," Andrea said. "We just want to see it done."
The couple said Holmes's endorsement was the main reason they bought into TerraceWood.
"You would think buying a Mike Holmes Approved Home, there would be no problems. It would be perfect," said Andrea.
Company connected to Holmes loaned builder money
Tarion's lawsuit alleges The Holmes Group failed to do house inspections for homeowners who had commissioned them and misrepresented Third Line Homes as a competent builder.
In its statement of defence, The Holmes Group claimed it "made no representations" to anyone regarding the development, wasn't hired by any homeowners to do inspections and, in fact, "had no involvement whatsoever" with the project.
Maybe not, but ads for the project and documents CBC News uncovered suggest that Mike Holmes, the celebrity, and two of his other companies were involved — in several ways.
Ontario land registry records show that M. Holmes Holdings Ltd., where Mike Holmes is listed as president and treasurer, provided Third Line Homes with two mortgages at 10 per cent interest to help it buy 25 TerraceWood plots of land. The mortgages totalled $390,000.
Fayard was surprised when CBC News showed him the mortgage documents.
"It shows that he was involved from the start," said Fayard.
"It's making me feel even a little bit more disturbed that he didn't come around to help us out when we were looking for help," he added. "That's hurtful."
Another company, a numbered corporation where Mike Holmes is listed as president, bought a TerraceWood property for an undisclosed amount.
The purchase was reflected in several TerraceWood ads that declared Holmes bought the subdivision's first house. In 2016, Holmes posed for a promotional photo in front of the house, owned by the numbered company he's connnected to, giving it a "thumbs-up."
According to land registry records, the company sold the house to a couple in 2017 for $790,000.
When it was listed, the Holmes Approved Homes Facebook page promoted the listing, stating, "You can't go wrong with this #HolmesApproved Home, buil[t] by Third Line Homes."
But Tarion's lawsuit claims this house also had defects. A letter from an engineering firm to Tarion stated that structural and roofing repairs were completed on the house in 2022.
"[Holmes] puts his thumbs up and then disappears," said Myles. "Then we're left holding the carnage."
He sent several private messages about TerraceWood's issues to Holmes's Twitter (now X) account. He never responded.
"You just sort of shake your head," said Myles.
The Holmes Group responds
CBC News showed documents detailing Holmes and his companies' dealings in TerraceWood to realtor and real estate law expert Varun Sriskanda, who was not involved in the development.
"As soon as you're lending money on the property and the project, you have a vested interest in seeing it be built," he said.
"As soon as you're marketing it and advertising that it's approved by you, then you're involved."
Sriskanda said he believes Mike Holmes bears some responsibility.
"He needs to stand by his word and ensure that these are Holmes Approved Homes."
CBC News was unable to reach Mike Holmes.
Nancy Tourgis, a lawyer representing the Holmes Group in the Tarion lawsuit, disassociated the company from the houses' alleged defects.
Tourgis said in an email no homeowner opted to buy an upgrade inspection package offered by The Holmes Group, so it "had absolutely no access to any of the residences in the project, from their design, to their installation and construction."
Andrea and Myles said they assumed the Holmes inspections were included with their house purchase.
"It was a Mike Holmes Approved Home," said Myles.
"It was one of the sales pitches," said Andrea.
What about Third Line Homes?
The lawsuit also targets Paul and Mary-Jo Osborn, principals with the builder, Third Line Homes. The company is now insolvent and no longer licensed in Ontario to build homes.
Tarion claims the Osborns "failed to take reasonable care constructing the homes," and "failed to discover and remedy deficiencies."
The Osborns say Third Line Homes built quality houses. They claim it was Tarion that caused problems by excluding Third Line from dealing with homeowners' complaints about defects.
"We are confident that Tarion overstepped themselves," the couple said in an email to CBC News.
Both the Osborns and the Municipality of Meaford suggested it was wrong to condemn three of the houses.
Based on "expert engineering advice," some of the homes which Tarion condemned "were more than capable of being repaired," said Matt Smith, the municipality's interim CAO, in an email.
The Osborns suggested owners of the condemned homes may have encouraged Tarion to tear them down, likely so they could pocket the compensation.
"There are so many cracks in the Tarion process that savvy homeowners know how to work the system," said the couple.
Reached by CBC, the owners of the three condemned TerraceWood homes said they were not able to comment.
Homeowners CBC did speak with say no one has benefited from the problems at TerraceWood, but, instead, many have endured setbacks and frustration — sometimes for years.
"It's worn us down. It's exhausting," said Andrea. Once the repairs are done, she wants to sell the house she and Myles had once hoped would be their dream retirement home.
"I just want to get the hell out of here," she said.
Water kept seeping into new condos north of Montreal. Now, more than 160 owners could lose their homes
Water damage makes buildings uninhabitable, lawsuit alleges
CBC News (abridged)
19 April 2023
A group of condo owners in a suburb north of Montreal have learned that their recently built homes will have to be demolished — or repaired at an exorbitant cost — because of flawed construction and design, according to a lawsuit.
The condos, part of a development in Boisbriand, Que., that includes 27 buildings, each with six units, were completed just 15 years ago.
But Édouard Safi, who owns one of the units, can't live in it. Water has seeped into his condo, spurring the growth of mould and spores that contaminate the air — the consequence, according to an expert analysis of the building, of faulty building and design.
What's more, all the buildings are affected — to varying degrees — by the same defects, since they were built by the same contractor, whose plans were designed and approved by the same architectural and engineering firms.
reconstruction about $500,000 per condo owner
The owners now face a difficult choice. They could commit to spending a massive sum to rebuild their homes, but, at nearly $3 million per building, the cost of reconstruction would be about $500,000 per condo owner.
"People won't be able to afford it," said Marie-Josée Leclerc, who heads up one of the condo boards. "They won't be able to pay for it if, obviously, we don't have outside help."
Yves Joli-Coeur, a lawyer with expertise in condominium issues, deplored the absence of a law requiring the supervision of construction sites.
we build badly in Quebec
"We have to ask ourselves: why is this situation occurring? The first cause, obviously, is that we build badly in Quebec," he said. "The government must assume its moral responsibility for a legislative deficit that has existed for decades in Quebec."
Calgary condo complex on the hook for road repairs after litigation with developer
Global News (abridged)
By Adam MacVicar
21 June 2023
A condo complex in the city’s southeast is facing significant costs for upgrades and repairs to a privately-owned access road, and the condo board hopes the City of Calgary can step in and expropriate.
At issue is an access road south of 130 Avenue S.E., and who is responsible to maintain it.
The South Pointe Condos were one of the first developments in the area 20 years ago and the condo’s developer acquired the land from Shepard Development Corporation, which involved an agreement for the condo complex to assume responsibility for the maintenance of the access road.
Since then, the shopping complex around the access road has grown and other agreements were signed between Shepard and the various businesses, but the condo board said none included cost sharing for maintaining the road.
“We are less than five per cent of the actual traffic that actually uses that road,” South Pointe Condos president Barbara Miller told Global News.
Shepard Development Corporation said the condominium did not carry out any maintenance or repairs on the access road between 2003 and 2019.
According to Miller, the conflict came to a head after Shepard Development Corporation completed repairs on the road in 2019, and sent the condo board an invoice for approximately $67,000, which represents the repairs as well as the lack of maintenance over the previous 17 years.
“We were just told that our contract says that we’re responsible,” Miller said. “We continued to kick back, in turn, Shepard started litigation against us and we fought it.”
judge ruled in favour of Shepard
Earlier this month, a judge ruled in favour of Shepard and ordered South Pointe to pay $25,000 in damages.
Miller said 72 hours after the judge’s ruling, Shepard sent the condo board a letter outlining its expectations for maintenance and repair obligations on the road.
“We will now have to pay for all the road maintenance, the cleaning, snow removal, and insurance,” Miller said. “They are also doing a big study on (the road) now because of the amount of traffic and truck traffic that is going in there. The roads aren’t meeting the capabilities to have that volume.”
Miller said the total cost expected for the condo complex is more than $500,000.
The letter also served the condo 15 days’ notice to clear the gravel from the road or face a charge of $7,000 for the service.
According to Miller, the costs to the condo residents will be “significant,” adding that almost half of the residents are seniors.
$30,000 or $40,000 special assessment
“Many of them won’t be able to afford a $30,000 or $40,000 special assessment to fix a road that is 90 per cent used by the rest of the city and not by us,” Miller said.
Miller has since reached out to the area councillor, in the hopes the City of Calgary can expropriate the road to shield the residents from the incoming costs.
However, Ward 12 Coun. Evan Spencer explained the situation is complex, and is bound by the 20-year-old agreement.
“I would imagine it’s going to be a longer process and take some time to unwind,” Spencer said. “There may not be a path forward that gets them off the hook of the financial obligations related to this.”
Spencer said the situation is the fallout of a decision by the condo’s developer to “keep costs low” on the condo units put the costs associated with maintaining the road in perpetuity instead of paying for it upfront in the cost of the land.
“attractive pricing” for the condo complex
In the letter to the condo board, Shepard said it would continue carrying out snow removal duties on the road with an offer of “attractive pricing” for the condo complex.
“Time is of the essence,” Miller said. “If Shepard follows through with everything they’re saying, they could almost bankrupt our complex.”