{"id":9701,"date":"2021-12-16T13:38:28","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T13:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?p=9701"},"modified":"2021-12-16T13:38:28","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T13:38:28","slug":"niagara-falls-developer-company-charged-with-52-violations-of-ontario-new-home-warranties-plan-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?p=9701","title":{"rendered":"Niagara Falls developer, company charged with 52 violations of Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ontario Construction News staff writer<\/p>\n

Ontario\u2019s Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA)<\/a> <\/span>has charged property developer Christopher Lamb and his company at the time, 1970175 Ontario Inc., with 52 charges in violation of the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act.<\/p>\n

1970175 Ontario Inc.<\/a>,<\/span> advertised as Novel Condominiums, is charged with 26 counts of illegally acting as a vendor of a new home. Lamb is charged with 26 counts in his capacity, at the time, as an officer\/director of an illegal vendor of new homes. The charges stem from an HCRA investigation into home sales in the Niagara Falls area.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Chris Lamb said the numbered company is co-operating with the HCRA, though it is \u201cdismayed\u201d with the charges that were laid on Nov. 8. He said in a statement to OCN that the business is now properly registered and home buyer\u2019s deposits are \u201csecurely held in trust\u201d.<\/p>\n

“The HCRA is determined to identify and take action against builders or vendors who try and operate outside or below provincial standards,\u201d says Wendy Moir Acheson, the HCRA\u2019s Chief Executive Officer and Registrar. “This is a minority of builders and vendors, but it can result in significant hardships for home buyers and can damage public confidence and trust in the entire industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the second set of charges laid by the HCRA, which began operations in February of this year, following charges against Ideal (BC) Developments<\/a><\/span> in August.<\/p>\n

“Most of Ontario\u2019s licensed builders and vendors have a strong record of competency and good conduct. They can be undermined, however, by illegal or unethical competition,\u201d Moir Acheson said. \u201cThose who knowingly choose to avoid their legal obligations can expect the HCRA to use a broad range of regulatory tools \u2013 including, when necessary, charges \u2013 to curtail this unacceptable behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n

The charges have been posted to the Ontario Builder Directory (OBD)<\/a><\/span> and the HCRA\u2019s website<\/a><\/span>, as the HCRA is committed to disclosing any charges laid by the Registrar, to enhance consumer protection and home buyer confidence.<\/p>\n

“The OBD is a searchable database, complete with warnings if a builder is known to be operating illegally. We strongly encourage prospective home buyers to search the OBD to ensure the builder they are considering working with is licensed to build homes in Ontario,\u201d Moir Acheson says.<\/p>\n

Niagara Falls planning department documents show an application to develop 6583 and 6599 Montrose Rd. as a 26-unit townhouse development in 2019. The numbered company 1970175 Ontario Inc. is associated with the proposed development.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Chris Lamb issued the following statement to Ontario Construction News.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been made aware of provincial offence charges laid against 1970175 Ontario Inc., advertising as Novel Condominiums. The issues that gave rise to the charges have since been rectified and we are co-operating fully with the HCRA investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll units are enrolled with Tarion and purchaser deposits are securely held in trust as required by the Condominium Act and pursuant to our ethical obligations, which we take very seriously. Novel strives to ensure that all of its projects are in compliance with applicable laws and is dismayed to hear of the recent charges. Nonetheless, Novel is dedicated to satisfactorily addressing any legitimate issues that may have resulted in these charges being laid,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognize that purchasers put their faith in Novel when purchasing their dream homes from us. As such, we are committed to treating them with honesty, integrity, and respect throughout the entire homebuying and homebuilding process and have endeavoured from day one to meet the high standards we have set for ourselves and as expected by our loyal purchasers, to whom we are grateful to for their continued trust in us.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe HCRA regulates new home builders and vendors in the province. They protect the public interest through a fair, safe and informed marketplace that supports the goal of a continuously improved homebuilding industry in Ontario.<\/p>\n

\u201cHCRA holds licensed builders to professional standards, protects the public interest, and enhances consumer confidence in the homebuilding industry in Ontario. Novel is committed to upholding these values across its operations and will continue to make all possible efforts to rectify any remaining issues there may be,\u201d the Novel statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo clarify, the company had applied prior to sales, finalized enrolments prior to building (as you can verify on the HCRA website), (but) mistakenly sold the units prior to enrolments being finalized,\u201d Lamb wrote in an email. \u201cThese units are now near complete and being occupied in a timely fashion (this can also be verified via Tarion\/HCRA website) (and) six of the units have been occupied thus far.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ontario Construction News staff writer Ontario\u2019s Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) has charged property developer Christopher Lamb and his company at the time, 1970175 Ontario Inc., with 52 charges in violation of the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act. 1970175 Ontario Inc., advertised as Novel Condominiums, is charged with 26 counts of illegally acting as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":9702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28,64,43],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9701","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-contracting","8":"category-featured","9":"category-national-news"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNiagara Falls developer, company charged with 52 violations of Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act - Niagara Construction News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?p=9701\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Niagara Falls developer, company charged with 52 violations of Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act - Niagara Construction News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ontario Construction News staff writer Ontario\u2019s Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) has charged property developer Christopher Lamb and his company at the time, 1970175 Ontario Inc., with 52 charges in violation of the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act. 1970175 Ontario Inc., advertised as Novel Condominiums, is charged with 26 counts of illegally acting as […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?p=9701\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Niagara Construction News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-16T13:38:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Montrose_EXT_jpeg-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Buckshon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Buckshon\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/?p=9701#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/?p=9701\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mark Buckshon\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/05b8e9532cfd7ab38ddf01882e7c6bfc\"},\"headline\":\"Niagara Falls developer, company charged with 52 violations of Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-16T13:38:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/?p=9701\"},\"wordCount\":775,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/?p=9701#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/Montrose_EXT_jpeg-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Contracting\",\"Featured\",\"Provincial\\\/National News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/?p=9701#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/?p=9701\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/?p=9701\",\"name\":\"Niagara Falls developer, company charged with 52 violations of Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act - Niagara Construction News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/?p=9701#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/?p=9701#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/Montrose_EXT_jpeg-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-16T13:38:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/05b8e9532cfd7ab38ddf01882e7c6bfc\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/?p=9701#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/?p=9701\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/?p=9701#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/Montrose_EXT_jpeg-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/12\\\/Montrose_EXT_jpeg-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1440,\"caption\":\"montrose jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/?p=9701#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Niagara Falls developer, company charged with 52 violations of Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Niagara Construction News\",\"description\":\"News and information for the Niagara region's architectural, engineering and construction community\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/05b8e9532cfd7ab38ddf01882e7c6bfc\",\"name\":\"Mark Buckshon\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b9695bf5da59778222ce0a7b1e119d740314c4d718df668467b714dc75313379?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b9695bf5da59778222ce0a7b1e119d740314c4d718df668467b714dc75313379?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b9695bf5da59778222ce0a7b1e119d740314c4d718df668467b714dc75313379?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Buckshon\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\\\/?author=10\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Niagara Falls developer, company charged with 52 violations of Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act - Niagara Construction News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?p=9701","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Niagara Falls developer, company charged with 52 violations of Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act - Niagara Construction News","og_description":"Ontario Construction News staff writer Ontario\u2019s Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) has charged property developer Christopher Lamb and his company at the time, 1970175 Ontario Inc., with 52 charges in violation of the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act. 1970175 Ontario Inc., advertised as Novel Condominiums, is charged with 26 counts of illegally acting as […]","og_url":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?p=9701","og_site_name":"Niagara Construction News","article_published_time":"2021-12-16T13:38:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1440,"url":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Montrose_EXT_jpeg-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mark Buckshon","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Buckshon","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?p=9701#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?p=9701"},"author":{"name":"Mark Buckshon","@id":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/05b8e9532cfd7ab38ddf01882e7c6bfc"},"headline":"Niagara Falls developer, company charged with 52 violations of Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act","datePublished":"2021-12-16T13:38:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?p=9701"},"wordCount":775,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?p=9701#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Montrose_EXT_jpeg-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Contracting","Featured","Provincial\/National News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?p=9701#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?p=9701","url":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?p=9701","name":"Niagara Falls developer, company charged with 52 violations of Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act - Niagara Construction News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?p=9701#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?p=9701#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Montrose_EXT_jpeg-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2021-12-16T13:38:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/05b8e9532cfd7ab38ddf01882e7c6bfc"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?p=9701#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?p=9701"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?p=9701#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Montrose_EXT_jpeg-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Montrose_EXT_jpeg-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1440,"caption":"montrose jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?p=9701#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Niagara Falls developer, company charged with 52 violations of Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/","name":"Niagara Construction News","description":"News and information for the Niagara region's architectural, engineering and construction community","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/05b8e9532cfd7ab38ddf01882e7c6bfc","name":"Mark Buckshon","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b9695bf5da59778222ce0a7b1e119d740314c4d718df668467b714dc75313379?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b9695bf5da59778222ce0a7b1e119d740314c4d718df668467b714dc75313379?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b9695bf5da59778222ce0a7b1e119d740314c4d718df668467b714dc75313379?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark Buckshon"},"url":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/?author=10"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9703,"href":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9701\/revisions\/9703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niagaraconstructionnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}