GTA developer ordered to pay $180K after illegally selling pre-construction homes

An Ontario court has ordered a GTA-based developer to pay over $180,000 in fines and restitution after pleading guilty to illegally selling pre-construction homes.

Ideal (BC) Developments has been fined more than $34,000 and ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution as the company collected more than $5 million in deposits from homebuyers for a pre-construction project north of Toronto without obtaining a licence to sell or build new homes.

Illegally taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in deposits on the sale of new homes in Richmond Hill, Ideal (BC) never had a licence to build or sell new homes in Ontario. As a result, the Ontario Court of Justice sentenced Ideal (BC) to fines of $15,625 for illegal selling and $18,750 for failing to provide evidence required by a search warrant.

The Court also ordered Ideal (BC) to pay $150,000 to the Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) as a restitution order, who will then distribute the funds equally among those who placed deposits to partially offset the losses in what they had paid to Ideal (BC).

The HCRA opened an investigation of Ideal (BC) regarding concerns that they had entered into agreements of purchase and sale without a licence. The HCRA also refused to renew licences for all Ideal Developments Inc. and all related companies, and they are no longer licensed to build or sell new homes.

“This outcome reinforces our message that anyone building and selling new homes must have a valid licence from the HCRA. It’s the law,” said Wendy Moir, the HCRA’s Chief Executive Officer and Registrar, in a statement. “While this restitution does not compensate purchasers for their lost deposits, we hope it helps alleviate some of their financial loss.”