I’ve had two neighbours in our new condo (POTL) community volunteer to sit on our newly formed board of directors and have watched them be forced to work tirelessly with me to the borderline of exhaustion, fending off the illegitimate Property Management Company’s “intentional” stall tactics and interference and refusal to turn over the documents that are so clearly set out in Section 43 (after having the builder fail to deliver the Financial requirements of Section 55 of the Act).
This means consumers were lied to and outrageously misled in the sales process.
Consumers were then lied to in the builder’s brochures that showed glamorous photographs of kitchens (showing magnificent high end appliances (for example) that were NOT included in the homes) and a very tactful continuum of “NOT STIPULATING FINISHES” (for example) in their brochures and contracts, while promoting these (“to-be”) homes “the ultimate” when in fact the builder was delivering “ceramic tiles” and “laminate counter tops“! (how disingenuous are they really allowed to be!).
Fence completed yet going on 3 months and the mess remains, insulting buyers but also the established neighbours!
We then watch a totally unqualified, inexperienced and unethical guy , (COO) masquerading as a “reputable home builder” execute his flagrantly obvious plan to “exploit and rip off” consumers under a plan that really can be seen as nothing short of a “conspiracy to rip off consumers”!
This builder should not be allowed to conduct business in this Province, based on its provable and executed strategy to misrepresent to consumers and then execute a “Bait & Switch” when Closing comes around.
This builder’s site supervisor “Rick Wells” (when I met these people, and specifically Mr. Wells, I emphasized the popularity of my blog -1.6 million monthly viewers – that “I will make you famous . . . either positively or negatively based on your conduct” so please do not feel that I am taking unfair advantage or limiting this blog to one way dialogue as I have invited them to read and respond to my blogs) have proven repeatedly to lie pathologically . . . continually!
These guys are so incompetent and unskilled that they painted my home BEFORE the caulked which even a novice builder (like me) or contractor could tell you that this is “backwards“, “counter productive“, and just plain “Stupid“!
The fences were installed in early January (after I started exposing builder abuse of its buyers yet this mess remains today (April)! They don’t only insult buyers, think about the 3 years eye-sore”, the established “neighbours” have been forced to live with.
But Tarion continues to rate them as “in good standing” despite having had to threaten them I am told, after calling them in upon becoming familiar with their unacceptable behaviour.
Three builders teamed up to do what this builder could not do . . . sell these 18 homes, despite them, in my opinion as a buyer of one, pricing them initially well below “market value” (so much so that I bought mine on the Internet, site unseen) and despite t’ total lack of integrity, skill, and knowledge . . . not to mention this builder’s (and specifically Rick Wells) blatant willingness to lie to buyer’s faces.
Their inability to sell these beautiful homes at “under valued pricing” shows just how flagrantly incompetent this collection of misfits are!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not angry or upset with them at all. I bought right and selling prices recently have exceeded 50% equity growth so I would not suggest that I’m an “unhappy camper in this”.
I love the finished home (I “strong-armed” them and took over the management of the delivery of my own home)
Then buyers were required to tolerate a constant steam of outright lies, such as having this builder serve legal Notice of Delay (my home was finally delivered over a year and a half late!) “due to union strikes” (according to this builder ), despite NOT EVEN USING UNION LABOUR!
Let me remind you that there are no penalties or “Integrity Police” and this fact does not land on deaf ears when it comes to disgustingly offensive developers totally disregarding any standard of “civil conduct” and/or “integrity“!
The major portion of all construction was completed months ago, but the site remains a mess and an eye-sore strictly as a result of their unprofessional construction methods that notably does not include any awareness of “Clean Up”.
Look at these pictures of our disgusting community that has been manifested by this builder.
We saw the buyers lied to and then this builder broke contracts and “imposed Occupancy” in contradiction to the Subdivision Agreement prepared by the Town of Oakville’s lawyers (so much for educated professionals!)!
So, it is safe to conclude that even if consumers are protected under contracts, those contracts are frequently ignored to the detriment of the consumers who have believed the lies made to them by this builder and paid in excess of a million dollars only to end up living for over a year (contrary to their contracts!) in a disgusting construction zone.
We’ve seen this builder repeatedly lie about specified work (in “Settlement Agreements“) being done to get Occupancy, leaving the home owner living in a house under construction for months, and this builder’s lawyers lying about the work to be completed to secure Occupancy and then having the buyer wait for months for the work (that was promised by this builder and its lawyers) “to be remedied prior to Occupancy“).
This builder lied about this.
This builder’s lawyer lied about the work having been completed.
We closed in mid January and many of the items on the deficiency list just got worked on the other day!
Owners have been given no schedule for landscaping.
Despite the Subdivision Agreement requiring “fences and postal service prior to Occupancy“, many owners were forced to accept occupancy without either (the fence was completed, poorly but completed, in January and their construction mess remains today) and Postal Service commenced yesterday March 28th!
Now, this builder “nickel-and-diming” by jacking up monthly maintenance fees by almost 80% (prior to the “Performance Audit” and “Reserve Fund Study” that were to be completed “within 10 months of registration” to comply with the Act – it has never been completed yet, in a 3 year old condo corporation).
This builder is trying to follow two different tracks here!
They and their stooge-property management company are suggesting that “the first year procedures set out in the Condo Act are now to commence at the Turn Over Meeting despite the Act, specifying that this all commences at Registration (2014)!
So, does the law apply to the Condo Act or to this builder?
It has never been made clear, and the end-result is proving to be simply “chaos”, and discomfort imposed onto the owners (“consumers”) that have been abused throughout this experience.
So I had to call in a third party to mediate our difference in our attempts to Close on our purchase and you would be amazed with how “nickel and dime” this builder is as I heard nothing but a continuum of pleas to have me pay 50% of the bill (which I did immediately, unlike this untrustworthy and flagrantly dishonest company that this builder has proven to be).
And now we owners are spending inordinate amounts of time and personal resources trying to get to the bottom of this builder in collusion with this builders’ “Ringer” property management company (this builder’s selection of and hired under the old board to be our property manager).
This builders’ “Ringer” property management company have refused to hand over any “proof” of ever entering into a contract with our condo corporation, despite it having by law to be included in the Minute Book of our condo corporation, and has acknowledged in our recorded board of directors meeting that:
- they had some sort of communication and active involvement with t in 2014 regarding possibly being contracted to supply property management services
- but that all communication went cold immediately thereafter and they did not hear anything from this builder until February 2017 when they agreed (somehow) on and entered into a highly suspicious 3 year difficult to get out of “Backdated” contract
- they did “NO WORK” and supplied “NO SERVICES AT ALL“
- they did NOT RECEIVE ANY MONEY OR OTHER FORM OF COMPENSATION (this makes it abundantly clear that there was “never a contract that resulted in their efforts in 2014“
- BUT they were paid in 2017, the full amount of our condo corporation’s property management allocation in our budgets for 2015 and 2016.
- NO CONTRACT, NO SERVICES RENDERED, BUT PAYMENT FOR 2 FULL YEARS – PAYMENT OUT OF OUR CONDO CORPORATION’S BANK ACCOUNT!!!! This is really the only problem we have trouble with . . . . Had the builder chosen to pay the out of his company we would have no problem with him paying them for no reason! But he used OUR BANK ACCOUNT!
And now I watch two very committed owners spending inordinate amounts of their personal time (away from their family/home time) exhausting themselves at work for which they are untrained, and unfamiliar, trying to get our new community onto solid ground after is has apparently had its bank accounts “PLUNDERED” (and upwards of $30,000 stolen under false allegations of some sort of contract or exchange of services)!
We managed to “depose” this builder’ “Ringer” property management company at our Initial Board Meeting of the new board (consisting of buyers as opposed to the COO of the builder), and whom accepted the legal burden (and fiduciary obligations as a director of becoming President of our condo corporations board of directors during the time that he was building these homes 10 of 18 of them as his incompetence could not enable him to even sell homes well below market value).
I actually met a fellow the other day who used to own this parcel of land before these clowns got involved.
I found his characterization of this site quite telling: “each party dumped it to some unsuspecting group adding their million onto the top so the last guy ends up buying at exceptionally high prices compared to the first guys that grabbed their money and ran“. T simply does not know what they are doing and, masquerading as builders, proved the last guy in a long line of people making a million or so off of this parcel of land!
My fellow volunteers sitting on our board of directors have worked tirelessly now for a month and we have made little or no headway thanks to the constant interference of this builder’s “Ringer” property management company who have failed our new board by not delivering all the required transition material under the Condo Act and/or delivering the professional services that they were hired to deliver.
This really is a clear polaroid of what goes on in the closing stages of buying new! And even this filthy picture needs more clarification as the abuse simply does not stop here!
Nobody involved in the marketing, building, delivery, or continuation of this new community that has even considered “upholding the law“, yet we are said to be a country of laws (apparently that does not apply to Condoland)!
Our community and condo corporation did not even have access or control of our own banking!
This builder’s “Ringer” property management company (I’ve removed their name as their ambulance chasing litigators were right onto my heels), as I write here, a full month after the turn over meeting, still are the only signing authorities on our corporation’s bank accounts and still have not complied with the law and turned over documents and condo board property set out in Section 43, 44, 55 amongst others.
A substantial amount of money is missing from our condo corporations bank accounts during this builder’s reign of conflict of interest allegedly sitting as President of the board of directors (failing in his legal obligations to protect the best interests of the owners forming this condo association.
This story is a long way from over folks!
So stay tuned, and please share your thoughts. Your input is as important and many time moreso than the writer’s!
I’m Charles
