No bailouts over faulty condos: gov't
Recommendations to be geared towards protection of buyers, province says
Darcy Henton
The Edmonton Journal
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
The Alberta government will take action this summer to better protect new homeowners from having to make costly repairs to their residences as a result of shoddy construction, says Municipal Affairs Minister Ray Danyluk.
Danyluk said he wants to avoid a leaky-condo crisis like the one that hit B.C. following its residential construction boom more than a decade ago, but there's no indication the situation is comparable.
The B.C. crisis resulted in water damage of an estimated $3 billion to more than 70,000 condo units as a result of poor construction. A provincial report last year suggests half of those units have been repaired so far.
Danyluk said when homeowners began coming forward during Alberta's residential housing boom with complaints about leaks in relatively new houses and condos an investigation was launched to determine the extent of the problem and find ways to address it. "I just wanted to nip it in the bud," he said. "Yes, they had a situation in British Columbia, and when we got some complaints we got on it right away."
The minister said he appointed his parliamentary secretary Thomas Lukaszuk to study the issue last summer and make recommendations.
He received the Edmonton MLA's report last month and hopes to bring in measures to address the problems over the next few months, he said.
But city condo builder Pat Adams rejects the contention there is a widespread problem of poor quality construction in the industry and slammed the government's consultation process.
"I don't see why they are getting that bent out of shape," he said. "We don't see that many problems."
The government pointed to problems in 30 homes out of thousands that were built, Adams said.
Neither Danyluk nor Lukaszuk would discuss what the government plans to do about the issue, but the Canadian Condominium Institute has suggested it make the home warranty program mandatory.
Adams, a past president of both the Edmonton and Alberta Canadian Home Builders Associations, said the province seems intent on doing that, and the industry will have to try to live with it.
Lukaszuk said Tuesday that he recommended "some tweaks" to the building codes, but he found Alberta's standards generally are already among the best in the country.
"If the faulty houses were built to code, by and large, we would not be having the problems we're having now," he said.
But he said many homes constructed during the boom were not built by experienced builders, and some contractors, under deadlines and desperate for workers, didn't produce quality work.
He said his recommendations are aimed at providing more protection for homebuyers, but there will be no taxpayer-funded bailouts to Albertans who bought faulty homes and condos.
"We made it clear that we're going to address the issue so it
doesn't happen again, or it at least minimize the possibility of it happening in the future. But government and taxpayers are not liable for what happened," he said.
Condo owner Stuart Krause says whatever the province decides will be too late to help members of his condominium at 102nd Avenue and 120th Street.
He said residents of the 29-unit Oliver Point condominium discovered two years ago that the exterior of the building is rotting beneath the stucco siding and four balconies were slumping. They brought in a contractor for a repair job that was estimated to cost about $16,000, but it ballooned to $65,000 when the extent of the rot was detected.
Now, contractors are saying it could cost $450,000 to repair the building that was built in 2000.
"It's a real mess and we're not even sure what we're doing today will solve it," said Krause.
Melanie Duhaime, who owns a unit in the same building, said she has checked around the city and found other new condo buildings with similar problems.
Duhaime said the problem could be more widespread than the government realizes and more study may be needed.
Marc Bateman, president of the Canadian Condominium Association, Alberta South chapter, said there should be more inspections by city building inspectors at the initial stages of construction and condo boards should hire independent inspectors to check the buildings before construction warranties expire.
Richard Johns, the institute's vice-president, says Alberta must build a regime, like Ontario's, that ensures builders are held accountable for their work. "If we can create a regime where the developers are encouraged to build properly, and we have mechanisms in place to make them accountable to make repairs without costs to the owners, it sounds like a good system to me."
[email protected]
© The Edmonton Journal 2009
Copyright © 2009 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
http://www2.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=7badf50a-97a8-4115-b70c-197c1ec85812&sponsor=
Prev
)
We don't want a regional. Most if not all were quite happy with the Edm Construction thread as a near catch all. Why fix something that's not broken. You want an SSP: Local Edmonton - why not create a relationship with C2E? This (c2e) - to most - is our BETTER version of what SSP: Local wants to be.
Linear Mode
