According to the Edmonton Journal, about 150 people who live in a newly constructed Leduc condominium complex will have until the end of March to leave their homes because of what fire department officials describe as “critical life-safety concerns” at the building. Wow, I feel horrible for those people!
Residents have only lived in the building located on Grant MacEwan Blvd. for one year.
Fire Chief Ernie Polsom is quoted as saying the order was issued “after numerous, serious Alberta Fire and Building Code violations were revealed, yet were left unaddressed by the building owners. The City of Leduc has taken extraordinary measures to address several life-safety code deficiencies that have extended occupancy of this building,” the statement reads. “However, these measures are no longer sustainable.”
One such violation is an improperly installed fire alarm system that could leave the entire building completely without fire detectors or alarms.
I am not familiar with this complex, but have found some information on it:
- It was developed by "Voipus Developments"
- Phase 2 of the development was under construction and has been abandoned
- It was to be an "environmentally friendly" complex with rooftop gardens, energy efficient appliances and a community smart car that could be booked by residents
A news conference is taking place this morning. I'll add more details as I find them as well as some tips to avoid this kind of situation when buying a condo.
I'm doing some background work right now and will update this story shortly.
About Sara MacLennan
Sara MacLennan is the Director of Marketing at Liv Real Estate and a licensed Real Estate Associate. The bulk of Sara’s experience and wealth of expertise lies in on-line technology and marketing both for agents and consumers. Sara is the former National Director for Interactive Marketing for Coldwell Banker Canada where she was responsible for an extensive training program traveling to offices across the country training agents and brokers on marketing and technology. Find Sara on Twitter @edmontonblogger.
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Isn’t there a final inspection by the city inspectors before the occupancy can begin ?? Did they miss it ? I feel sorry for the residents , its not their mistake.
I totally agree. If the problem is with a 80 year old building, then it’s another story. But with a newer building, let forget about the developer’s work quality for a while, did city stamp the permit? I know for a single house at least 3 different permits during the construction process.
How does this happen? I would have to think that someone didn’t do their job in checking that the building was up to code – but whatever the case , there was a bit about this on Global News and they said the developer is MIA. They also commented that there were going to be a lot of bank foreclosures as owners were just going to walk away. One owner was quoted as saying the title had never been transferred so he wasn’t sure if he actually owned the unit. What will be interesting to find out is if the deficiencies are fixable – they almost made it sound like the moveouts were final, not temporary.
Big mess for sure.
I’m not sure about the City of Leduc, but I know that other municipalities tend to give developers alot of slack when it comes to approvals. It sounds as though there were some conditional approvals in place, which the developer then failed to meet.
The developer ought to be in alot of trouble, but chances are the owners of the company will simply bail – leaving the condo owners in the lurch.
If that’s the case, the city employees should be charged.
Shouldn’t they be able to put him in jail for criminal negligence?
Should. but probably not. The public and consumer safety laws aren’t at the point that this would constitute criminal behavior. Charging the owners with fraud might work, but they would have to proove intent.
Really the only legal recourse would be a civil suit.
How come the city of luduc is not responsible for this mess along with the builder/developer ? They issued the permit. Now all residents will either be bankrupt or in foreclosure. They should just walk losing their downpayments, then the banks might take some civil action. The whole process seems like a sham.
Something definitely doesn’t seem right that people received occupancy not knowing that this was an outstanding issue. It definitely seems like the people who relied on the reasonable public protections were definitely burnt.
Sucks for the owners for sure. I hope the builder goes to jail. Unfortunately, the bank won’t care about a sob story. They want to be paid. These people will lose their down payment…probably be forced to go into bankruptcy if they don’t pay the entire mortgage amount.
Alas, there’s another risk to buying condos. Forgot about the condo fees and the
“Surprise!!! We need 10K from each tenant to fix the roof of the building!”
I suppose this could technically happen even in new housing developments as well.
I wouldnt say the banks don’t care as they are probably the largest % equityholders with the most to lose. Their losses however will get passed on to us in our fees. I’d rather have all the builders assets. Where is the warranty company in all this?
the amount the banks stand to lose if everyone defaults is minimal in their big picture. It would be about equivalent to us losing $200.00. As we all know the banks consistently post billions of dollars of profits but that won’t stop them from using every legal opportunity to recoup their money from whoever they can.
CMHC should be part of the picture here but we all know how useless they are. As well, if Leduc gave the developer some leeway as Nathan mentioned, then they should be prepared to take on the cost risk if things go bad. I can understand giving a developer who has been in business locally for many many years some leeway, but not the company that springs out of nowhere.
The latest on the news today is that the deficiencies can probably be fixed but will definetely be expensive. And they say that the issues were due to changes that were made after inspection – of course! Another Ft. McMurray story unfolding here.
If you’re referring to National Home Warranty, forget it.
NHW is a sham, worse than the builder noted above.
If it’s NHW then their money is gone.
Well, most likely CHMC will make the bank whole on many of the notes.
While everyone knows I am anti real estate,I feel for these people. Market conditions didnt wipe them out. I totally feel some level of government should step in to protect owners in this case. Some sort of a bailout. The owner of the construction company is probably laughing in the tropics.
Having to go through bankruptcy because of a shoddy builder is just plain wrong.