Niagara Falls Snubs Citizens Stuck with Crumbling Subdivision: Let Them Eat Cake
NIAGARA FALLS, ON, Oct. 15, 2019 /CNW/ - A group of concerned seniors who have identified serious, and in some cases, life threatening deficiencies in the construction of their 70-unit condominium subdivision have been treated like second class citizens by being snubbed by Niagara Falls City Council. Each member of Council has promised resident Sandra Jeanneret that they would address the multitude of common area and unit deficiencies.
Among the problems include the following:
- The builder, SACCO construction's Fred Sacco Jr. is also a building inspector with the City of Niagara;
- Many homes have never received any inspection of any kind;
- Jeanneret received her final inspection 7 years after moving in (never provided a copy);
- Jeanneret has a large, gaping hole in her firewall;
- Jeanneret had a plumbing leak in her basement when a temporary plumbing cap blew off. She had to spend a considerable amount of money to remove mold and rebuild the dry wall in her basement;
- Some of the inspection reports are signed off without identifying which house was inspected and signed fully blank;
- The sound wall is filled with gapes;
- The grading in some cases pools the water towards the house, instead of away from it;
- Some homes have no window wells, with windows extending to the grade. Others have drains sticking out where window wells should have been installed;
- Some of the backyard decks have no footings and are an accident waiting to happen;
- The concrete is cracked throughout the development;
- Residents have asked but been refused basic documents such as a site plan agreement or site service agreement making it impossible to judge if the builder met the city requirements or whether those requirements met the legal requirements of the Ontario Building Code;
The subdivision was marketed to buyers by SACCO as an "impressive collection of condominiums." It has proven to be a catastrophically disaster.
Jeanneret said today: "I hoped that having contributed productively all my life, I was entitled to a quiet retirement. The ordeal of owning this home has been nothing but a nightmare. City Council is complicit in this fiasco by being negligent in not enforcing the building Code. All we want is a home that is comfortable and meets provincial standards. What we got was a lemon, courtesy of SACCO and City Hall."
The city offered $55,000 and has refused to negotiate. This money is for undefined drainage issues.
SOURCE André Marin Law
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