Correction: Federal government WILL review leaky condo crisis
Seems to be lots of leaky condo news lately - the federal governments review of the lower mainlands leaky condo crisis is back on:
“Prime Minister Stephen Harper won’t break his election promise to review the federal government’s alleged culpability in the $1.5 billion leaky condo disaster, a federal official said Monday.
A spokeswoman for Human Resources Minister Diane Finley said a new option has emerged since the minister wrote to owners in July saying it would be inappropriate for the government to even consider initiating a review while the issue is before the courts.”
I wonder if they got many complaints after news broke that they were unable to carry through on their election promise to review the leaky condo situation here. Whatever happened I think that a lot of people in affected buildings around Vancouver will be pleased with this turn of events, particularly if it leads to some sort of future solution. For a ‘world-class’ city Vancouver has some pretty awful architecture and some suprisingly shoddy construction, lets hope this gets us moving in the right direction.
This renewed claim to look into the leaky condo crisis is pretty vague at this point, hopefully some more specific information will be forthcoming:
“We’re currently studying options as to how we can proceed without compromising current legal proceedings, as we have recently learned that there may exist review options that will not interfere in these proceedings,” Colleen Cameron, Finley’s director of communications, wrote in an e-mail to The Vancouver Sun today.
“Unfortunately, I can not provide detail about these options at this time-only assure you that we remain committed to a review.”
story in todays vancouver sun.
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September 18th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
A leaky co-op in North Burnaby will likely face foreclosure unless a miracle happens, according to the co-op’s president.
The co-op’s two buildings are at the 8700 block of Centaurus Circle, a shady neighbourhood nestled at the foot of Burnaby Mountain. Everything about Norman Bethune is a little bit off. The floors are warped, the walls and door-frames don’t quite line up, even the shoring beams are bent. The spacious abandoned suites have a musty scent of mildew.
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Chopiak [Equitable Life Canada], wrote in his email that after two years of negotiations there is “no resolution in sightâ€.
Chopiak referred calls from the Burnaby NOW to his lawyer, who confirmed he is sending a letter of demand, giving the co-op 30 days to pay the rest of the mortgage. If the resident can’t pay the $720,000 they will foreclose the property. Cena received the letter Thursday.
Cena says the situation is a double-edged sword: the lender wonders why the CMHC won’t insure the mortgage and CMHC wonders why the lender is charging 12 per cent on the mortgage when the going market rate is five.
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According to Shackleford, the CMHC is in the business of insuring mortgages, not fixing leaky condos and co-ops, and for them, insuring Norman Bethune is too risky. He says the CMHC can’t deal with unusual circumstances.
“What it is, is that the CMHC in essence is a bureaucracy and they like things to sit in little boxesâ€, he says. “They are totally incapable of dealing with leaky condos in B.C.â€
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September 18th, 2006 at 9:06 pm