Rosie Hollard plunked down her $100,000 deposit, then another $3,000 for upgrades, toward a new, million-dollar home in Barrie.
She’s not getting her new home, although she expects to get most of her money back.
Hollard (not her real name) is a home buyer in StateView Homes (Hampton Heights), which has been in receivership since June 15, 2023, according to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice commercial list.
Its 18 detached houses at 2, 4, 6 and 8 Teck Rd., off Wright Drive, and at 39 Auburn Ct., are half-built at best.
“We are hard workers, average people, we save money for years to invest and buy something and this is what happens to us,” said Hollard, who does not want her real name used.
“Beside the downpayment I put out, they took the upgrade (cheque) and God knows I wasn’t the only one who they fooled.”
On July 4, the Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA), which regulates new home builders and vendors in Ontario, suspended the licences of the StateView Homes group, including the Hampton Heights development. As a result they cannot build or sell new homes in Ontario.
StateView Homes has several developments, including one it proposed in Newmarket on Gorham Street. Although that development has not yet received approval and has not started construction, the developer had said on its website that homes for the proposed development had been fully reserved, and had advertised to be selling spaces in the project.
Holland said she has spoken to Tarion, a not-for-profit consumer protection organization established by the Ontario government to administer the province’s new home warranty program.
She expects to get her downpayment back.
“Most of the people on that street (Teck Road) I would say put down between a $100,000 and $120,000 deposit,” Holland said. “There are bigger houses in front of me, so I’m assuming these people put down more downpayment.”
She estimates her house would have been worth just more than $1 million.
“To be honest, I don’t want this (Hampton Heights) property anymore because I cannot sell the one I’m living in,” said Hollard, who lives in the Woodbridge area. “It’s just so complicated for us.”
All new homes built in this province come with a warranty provided by the builder, according to the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act (ONHWPA). Tarion ensures that new home buyers receive the coverage they are entitled to under their builder’s warranty.
“If a person has entered into a purchase agreement for a new home with a vendor/builder, then the purchaser is eligible for deposit protection under the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act,” said Andrew Donnachie of Tarion. “If a project and the associated purchase agreements are cancelled, and the purchaser’s deposits are not refunded by the vendor, including refunds through a receivership process such as the one StateView is going through, a purchaser may submit a deposit protection claim to Tarion.
“If the purchase agreements are ultimately terminated as part of the court-ordered sale process, and their deposits are not refunded by StateView through the receivership process, Tarion will honour lost deposit claims in accordance with the ONHWPA.”
Hampton Heights houses had all been pre-sold to individual buyers, but a sale process approval order, also granted by the courts, meant the sale of these homes had a bid submission deadline of 12 noon on Monday, July 17.
RSM Canada, the court-appointed receiver and manager of all assets and properties of StateView Homes (Hampton Heights), said Wednesday it is unable to disclose any results of the sale process at this time.
But in due course, RSM said it will issue a report to court on the results of the sale process, and the report will be posted to RSM Canada’s web page, found at rsmcanada.com .
StateView Homes was also to be the developer of BEA Towns, slated to be built at 189 Summerset Dr. in Barrie. It is now listed for sale.
BEA Towns was to build 220 townhouses and a six storey, 93-unit apartment building on these 11 acres at Ardagh Road and Summerset. It has been rezoned for this use and its site plan is under review, according to the city’s website.
The HCRA has also suspended the licence of BEA Towns to build or sell new homes in Ontario.
Toronto Dominion (TD) Bank launched a $37-million lawsuit against Woodbridge-based StateView Homes earlier this year, alleging it wrote thousands of bad cheques for large sums from corporate and personal accounts at other banks, according to TD’s statement of claim filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto, on March 24, 2023. These allegations have not been tested nor proven in court.
According to court documents, StateView Homes (Hampton Heights) owes almost $10.7 million to eight separate creditors - the most to Firm Capital Mortgage Fund, $6.4 million. StateView Homes (Hampton Heights) also owes $1.7 million in unsecured loans.
