House construction has been halted and fences have gone up around a residential development in Barrie.
StateView Homes (Hampton Heights), including 18 detached houses that were being built just north of Ardagh Road, is in receivership as of June 15, 2023, according to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice commercial list.
The court-appointed RSM Canada as receiver and manager of all assets and properties of StateView Homes (Hampton Heights) at 39 Auburn Crt., along with 2, 4, 6, and 8 Teck Rd., off Wright Drive. RSM was appointed receiver/manager according to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.
On July 4, the Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA), which regulates new home builders and vendors in Ontario, suspended the licences of the StateView Homes group, including the Hampton Heights development.
As a result they cannot build or sell new homes in Ontario.
“The HCRA did not believe that StateView Homes could reasonably be expected to be financially responsible in the conduct of the businesses, nor could these (StateView Homes) licensees be expected to carry on business,” said Tess Lin of the HCRA.
“The HCRA continues to monitor the StateView Homes group as the receivership situation unfolds," Lin added.
The Barrie Hampton Heights houses had all been pre-sold to individual buyers. But a sale process approval order, also granted by the courts, means the sale of these homes began June 16 with a bid submission deadline of noon on Monday, July 17.
RSM says those who make an offer to buy this site will need to address the existing agreements of purchase and sale, in the terms of their offer. Buyers can either choose to assume the existing purchase agreements, or request that the court terminate the agreements as part of the offer.
Deposits paid by the existing home buyers are insured by Tarion, according to RSM, and in the event that the existing purchase agreements are terminated by the court, the original purchasers can submit a claim to Tarion to recover their deposits in accordance with the Tarion coverage.
All new homes built in this province come with a warranty provided by the builder, according to the Ontario New Home Warranties Act and Regulations.
Tarion ensures that new home buyers receive the coverage they are entitled to under their builder’s warranty.
RSM Canada said Monday, a week before the deadline, it was unable to comment on the number of offers received for the homes and property.
StateView Homes’ website still says the Hampton Heights homes are under construction and sold out.
In May, StateView officials told BarrieToday that construction would be continuing at Hampton Heights, and that should there be any further change in the status of construction or closing dates, purchasers would be notified directly by StateView Homes.
The company also said then that its first set of homeowners at Hampton Heights were tentatively scheduled to move in mid-2023.
But court documents from June 2, 2023 say construction at the project site completely ceased in early May. Concrete foundations of the houses had been set and the framing of the homes began, but framing is not complete, leaving the homes exposed to the elements, requiring substantial work to enclose and protect them.
“The houses are in the early stages of construction,” RSM Canada vice-president Jeffrey Berger said in an email to BarrieToday. “The construction can easily be continued by the purchaser.”
According to court documents, StateView Homes (Hampton Heights) owes almost $10.7 million to eight separate creditors — the most to Firm Capital Mortgage Fund, at $6.4 million.
StateView Homes (Hampton Heights) also owes $1.7 million in unsecured loans, which the Business Development Bank of Canada states are when a lender provides money to a borrower without any legal claim to the borrower’s assets, in case of default. This means the lender has to depend solely on the borrower’s financial capacity, and creditworthiness, for repayment, according to BDC.
Toronto Dominion (TD) Bank launched a $37-million lawsuit against Woodbridge-based StateView Homes, alleging it wrote thousands of bad cheques for large sums from corporate and personal accounts at other banks, according to TD’s statement of claim filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto, on March 24, 2023.
These allegations have not been tested nor proven in court. As of Tuesday morning, StateView had not filed a statement of defence.
Toronto law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, which represents StateView Homes (Hampton Heights), declined comment when reached by BarrieToday on Monday.
This residential development project goes back to June 2017, with a rezoning application and a plan of subdivision, both approved later that same year by Barrie city council, for a numbered Ontario company.
StateView is also the developer of BEA Towns at 189 Summerset Dr., in Barrie, which is 11 acres at Ardagh Road and Summerset. It’s to be 220 townhouses and a six-storey, 93-unit apartment building. It has been rezoned for this use and its site plan is under review, according to the city’s website.
The HCRA has also suspended the licence of BEA Towns to build or sell new homes in Ontario, along with a dozen other StateView Homes companies.
