December condo news
Sask. consumer watchdog investigating local company selling luxury vacation condos
CTV News (abridged)
Rory MacLean
Oct. 8, 2024
The province’s consumer watchdog is investigating a Saskatoon company selling luxury vacation condos in Mexico.
In a news release on Tuesday, the Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan (FCAA) put out a public call for information about the activities of Regal Property Developments Ltd. and Regal Properties De Mexico S. de RL de CV — collectively referred to as Caban Condos.
According to the FCAA, neither the company’s owner Mike Delaire, nor the Caban Condos companies are registered in Saskatchewan to trade in real estate.
Delaire and Caban Condos were the subject of a joint investigation published last month by CTV News Saskatoon and the Investigative Journalism Foundation (IJF) that documented a pattern of complaints about the company’s practices, including high-pressure sales tactics and persistent delays in construction.
The investigative team spoke with 11 groups of buyers from across North America who say they spent their life savings or retirement funds on a Caban condo deposit.
Despite accepting deposits in excess of US$150,000 from buyers, only one of four buildings have been completed to date. Most developments are years behind schedule, and CTV News Saskatoon and the IJF found Caban Condos and its owner Delaire repeatedly failed to return promised money to buyers.
Man and woman arrested after renting Toronto property, allegedly refusing to pay
Miriam Katawazi
CTVNews Toronto (abridged)
Sept. 11, 2024
Police have arrested a man and woman after an alleged rental scam in Toronto.
Police said the incidents happened between Sept. 1, 2021 and March 28, 2022 after a man and woman rented a property in the Maidstone Street and Rustic Road area.
The man and woman allegedly paid first and last months rent and refused to pay additional rent payments, police said in a news release on Wednesday.
The homeowners, police added, sought to gain assistance from the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board. But it is alleged that the man and woman allegedly provided fraudulent information to the board, which prolonged the eviction process.
Two suspects were arrested on Monday.
Robert Babos, 24, of Toronto and Adrienn Kompusz, 23, of Mississauga are both facing fraud related charges.
Images of the suspects have been released as investigators believe there may be more victims.
Lovely unit, not so nice building
It is difficult to sell the biggest, most expensive unit in a condo complex when the asking price is two to three times higher as the average unit. The condo fees are also very high because the unit is huge and it comes with two lockers and three parking spaces.
Look at the asking prices:
Late 2020 $948,800
Early 2023 $885,000
Late 2023 $885,000
Spring 2024 $675,000
Autumn 2024 $650,000
The unit will be a tough sell even with a 30% price drop.
B.C. strata owner loses bid to recover $15K in legal fees
Coast Reporter (abridged)
Jeremy Hainsworth
Sep 3, 2024
A Langley, B.C. former strata owner has lost his bid to get his former building corporation to pay him $15,000 in damages.
In her Sept. 3 decision, tribunal member Alison Wake said Michael Raymond Throssell claimed the strata unnecessarily charged him for legal fees associated with his alleged breaches of the strata’s bylaws.
Wake said that between May 5 and Oct. 25, 2022, when Throssell was still an owner, the strata — first through its strata manager and later through its lawyer — wrote to Mr. Throssell alleging multiple strata bylaw breaches.
“These alleged breaches included several instances of noise and nuisance, unauthorized parking, unauthorized rentals, unauthorized fob usage, an unkempt patio, smoking, and common property damage,” Wake said.
“The strata did not fine Mr. Throssell for all of the alleged breaches, but did fine him a total of $1,400 for noise, nuisance, smoking, and property damage.”
Building's surveillance video unmasks Sudbury thief
He swipes $400 from an apartment whose door was not locked
Sudbury Star (abridged)
Harold Carmichael
Aug 14, 2024
When Todd Hynes broke into a man’s apartment in a Larch Street apartment building just before dawn on Feb. 8, he stole a jacket as well as a wallet containing $400.
Hynes threw the jacket down the garbage chute.
Unfortunately for Hynes, the building’s surveillance video captured his break-in and jacket disposal. He was charged with break, enter and theft and possession of property obtained by crime.
The surveillance footage showed Hynes using a key fob to gain access to the building and then checking doors on a floor to see if they were locked.
In foreign lands
Attorney leaks info on condo board member’s past legal woes to ‘embarrass her’ into quitting
Local 10.com (abridged)
Chris Gothner & Christina Vazquez
November 6, 2023
LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA, Fla. – A South Florida attorney found himself needing an attorney ahead of Broward County deputies arresting him on an extortion charge Thursday.
That’s because authorities allege he used inside information he had on a neighbor’s legal woes in an ill-fated attempt to get her to resign from the board of his Lauderdale-by-the-Sea condominium building, promising to tarnish her reputation if she didn’t.
Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies booked David A. Weintraub, a licensed attorney, into the BSO Main Jail on Thursday after filing an arrest warrant earlier in the week.
According to a probable cause affidavit written in July, Weintraub, 63, began the “smear” campaign soon after his neighbor was elected to the board of the Hampton Beach Club condominiums, located at 1800 S. Ocean Blvd., back in January.
After her election, deputies said he began a campaign to remove her from office and confronted her, promising to “embarrass her and make her life hell” if she didn’t resign.
The affidavit states that Weintraub began pulling public records and videos related to the woman’s arrest and shared them with other condo board members in an attempt to get them to oust her.
“When this did not work, he circulated the video and report to several other residents in order to get them to vote against her in a (recall) petition.”
Police officer killed, 2 others wounded in rare shoot-out in
northeast China
Violence began when a man entered a (condo) property management office and threatened people with a knife in Changchun.
South China Morning Post Hong Kong (abridged)
A police officer was killed and two others were wounded in a rare gun crime in northeastern China on Monday afternoon.
Police authorities in Changchun, Jilin province, said the killer, a 45-year-old man identified only by his surname Li, was also shot dead in violence that erupted at a property management office.
Police were called to the scene after Li entered the office armed with a knife and began threatening others.
As the officers tried to subdue the man, Li stabbed one of the officers and took his gun. He then stabbed another officer before opening fire and wounding another policeman as reinforcements arrived, according to the police report.
Li was then shot dead.
The first officer with stab wounds died later in hospital, while the other two had non-life-threatening injuries. No civilian casualties were reported, the statement said.
The Changchun police force did not offer a motive for the suspect or further details about him. There were also no more details about the slain policeman.
The report said the investigation was ongoing.
Witness photos and videos circulated online showed armed riot police and vehicles in the neighbourhood where the event took place. Some sources showed at least three police snipers in position.
Buying a pre-build condo in Canada is risky enough. Buying a pre-build in a foreign country is nuts.
Calling the police on a couple of deadbeat tenants in your condo is something I haven’t heard of before. I am pleased that it worked.
Having a beautiful but very expensive unit in a condo tower that has some of the cheapest condo units in Toronto makes it very tough to sell. This unit has been for sale for six years now.
In British Columbia, the strata boards can fine the owners when they breach the Declaration, Bylaws or Rules. They can’t do that in Ontario so the boards hit the owners with expensive lawyer letters. If you don’t pay the legal fees, they lien your unit. It gets very expensive very quickly.
Lock your door
Even when you are home, always lock your unit door. Roughly 30% or more of condo owners that live in residential units do not lock their doors.
Some criminals know this and once they gain entry into a condo, they take the elevator up to the top floor. Once there, they walk down the stairs checking each floor for delivery parcels and open doors. Their empty back packs are often full by the time they leave.
Where do you leave your car keys and purses? By your front door? Of course you do.
At one of Toronto’s most expensive condo towers, a new concierge working the night shift, saw an elderly woman trying to enter the building. Being a nice guy, he helped her gain entry.
She went up to the 7th floor and entered a man’s unit. The owner freaked out when he woke up and saw a mentally ill woman wandering around his apartment.
The friendly concierge was fired.
Florida:
Condo politics can get very nasty. This lawyer is paying a heavy price for playing dirty politics. Most of the time though, they get away with it.
China:
I lived, worked and went on vacations in Changchun so I know that city. All apartment buildings in China are condominiums. They have elected boards and they hire a property management company, just like we do.
When the police were called about the man with a knife, they responded with armed police. Regular police in China do not carry guns. There is no need to do so.
I wrote an article about the time I interviewed a Chinese condo manager. It’s very similar to our system.