Ontario developer accused of extracting $18M from home buyers

Farrah Merali · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 12, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

An Ontario developer is accused of coercing 142 purchasers of pre-construction projects to wage much wealth for the aforesaid homes they purchased up to 2 years earlier — claims that are present the taxable of a disciplinary committee proceeding referred by the province's regulatory authority.

According to a connection of allegations listed connected the Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) website, purchasers were told by Briarwood Development Group that they'd person to motion a merchandise forfeiting their homes if they didn't hold to wage the further amounts. It's alleged the institution extracted much than $18 cardinal from the buyers.

The allegations centre astir pre-construction homes successful the Ontario communities of Stayner, Angus, Quinte West and Georgina. The claims are that Briarwood demanded increases that ranged from $16,000 for an Angus task location to $320,000 for a Stayner task home.

CBC Toronto reached retired to representatives from Briarwood for remark past week but did not person a reply. According to the HCRA's hearings office, Briarwood has not yet commenced its defence and has not yet entered the documents it relies upon arsenic exhibits.

CBC Toronto archetypal reported connected allegations made against Briarwood Homes successful 2022 related to its task successful Stayner. At the time, aggregate buyers told CBC Toronto that Briarwood representatives told them that they needed to wage much to person their homes built oregon motion a merchandise statement that would spot them suffer their homes and get their deposits back. 

At that time, a Briarwood spokesperson told CBC Toronto the abrupt terms summation was owed to proviso concatenation issues and precocious costs of labour and materials linked to the pandemic. 

The disciplinary committee hearing, which is being held virtually, began Feb. 24. 

According to the HCRA's annual reports, it's received 2,606 complaints from the nationalist since its inception in 2021. Since then, two person been heard by a disciplinary committee sheet – though, per the HCRA website, 1 different lawsuit was stayed successful 2023, and 3 different cases are scheduled to beryllium heard.

What happens adjacent with disciplinary process

A disciplinary proceeding is 1 of galore imaginable outcomes of a ailment filed with the HCRA. Its registrar determines the champion people of enactment – which could see the levying of fines, licence suspensions oregon the laying of charges nether assorted provincial acts.

"The due enforcement enactment for each lawsuit is determined based connected the circumstantial facts of the substance and the imaginable hazard oregon harm to consumers," an HCRA spokesperson told CBC Toronto. 

According to the connection of allegations successful the Briarwood case, the HCRA's registrar highlighted the applicable conception of its codification of morals arsenic the 1 connected "fairness, honesty and integrity," which states: "In carrying connected business, a licensee shall dainty each idiosyncratic the licensee deals with fairly, honestly and with integrity."

The registrar goes connected to say: "There was thing successful the APSs [agreements of acquisition and sale] that allowed Briarwood to demand, oregon required purchasers to pay, this other payment. As a effect of these unethical terms increases, Briarwood extracted a monetary payment of implicit $18 cardinal from these purchasers."

Hearings are heard earlier a sheet made up of a definite fig of radical who are licensed location builders oregon developers (licensees), arsenic good arsenic members of the wide public.

The disciplinary committee sheet volition find whether the codification of morals has been violated. If it finds determination has been a violation, determination are assorted outcomes from a builder being ordered to instrumentality acquisition courses to fines of up to $100,000. However, the HCRA told CBC Toronto that if a licensee is recovered to person received a monetary payment by failing to comply with the HCRA's codification of ethics, it could enforce a good adjacent to the magnitude of that benefit, and those funds could past beryllium directed to the impacted buyers.

Advocates for amended manufacture extortion for buyers are welcoming the determination to clasp a disciplinary proceeding for the Briarwood case.

"Anybody who wants to bash this again successful the aboriginal … They're going to beryllium precise cautious due to the fact that of the Briarwood case, however it turns out," said existent property lawyer Bob Aaron, who represents immoderate clients impacted by Briarwood's alleged actions.

"This whitethorn enactment a implicit halt to this benignant of practice," Aaron told CBC Toronto.

Aaron has historically been captious of user extortion organizations, specified arsenic Tarion, which administers Ontario's caller location warranty program, and the HCRA, for not doing capable to support consumers. But helium says helium welcomes the regulatory authority's caller actions.

"I'm truly encouraged present that these regulators are stepping up," said Aaron.

The proceeding has been adjourned until aboriginal this month.