CCI Manitoba Chapter News

Grim prospects for owners of evacuated Edmonton condo

A case of latent structural defects due to shoddy construction, detected after expiry of typical new home warranty periods, at a condo built by a single-purpose corporation to limit financial liability of the parent company.  This article, originally published by Dana Hagg (HMC Lawyers LLP) in the spring 2024 newsletter from CCI South Alberta, descibes the problem, how it was detected, the difficulty in holding those responsible for the problem accountable, the legal process the board went through to unsuccessfuly recover costs, the introduction of the new home warranty and subsequent lobbying to provide a loophole in the protections for condos. The last two paragraphs are sadly insightful 

"Curiously, in 2021, Alberta lawmakers exempted new condominium projects from the New Home Buyer Protection Act’s mandatory technical assessment requirement, which proactively identifies construction defects in newly-built homes. Condos were apparently exempted from the “Building Assessment Report” requirement to appease developers and builders, although the government insists that this “will not compromise construction quality” because inspection and permit requirements will still apply.

Yes – the inspection and permit process that failed to detect the major construction defects at Castledowns Point. Sadly, it seems that Albertans could be facing a new generation of the shoddy condo problem."